Florida Taser Incident

Florida Taser Incident
Cameron Pichon
Mitchel
English 2123
10/05/07
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SaiWCS10C5s
An incident occurred a few weeks back which caught the attention of myself and news organizations across the country. John Kerry was giving a talk to students at the University of Florida. At the end of the question and answer portion of Kerry’s talk, a student named Andrew Meyer grabbed the microphone and asked many questions and said many controversial things. His microphone was then cut off and the police dragged him away from the stage to the back of the room. He was wrestled to the ground by a group of police officers and then tasered. The scene where the officers tasered Meyer was played extensively on news channels after it occurred. It became a popular online video on Youtube also, especially the part where Meyer screamed “Don’t tase me bro!”
This video shows a raw event of protest in the modern-day United States. The textbook mentions this, “it is hard not to be captivated by the potential of witnessing something uncensored.” When the modern person hears the word “protest,” he immediately thinks of it as something far from his everyday experience and something that does not happen close to him. This protest was at a college, during a speaker’s talk. The arena in which this video took place is not some long ago anti-war Vietnam protest or a Washington D.C. event. The time of the video was a few weeks ago. The place was at a college. Meyer was tasered by campus police for saying things people didn’t want to hear and not leaving the room. This video is a dose of a reality that most American citizens do not see. It shows the power that those with weapons and government-backing really have over the citizens.
The audience for this video is those who see a link or hear of a student being tasered at a college and want to see it. Those who will look at it are probably more politically-minded Americans. They will think to themselves “Hey, I say and think some unpopular things, and I wouldn’t want someone tasering me for getting passionate about my beliefs in public.” The audience is going to be those who disagree with Meyer being tasered, and don’t want to see something like that happen again. This audience sees this and condemns it, thereby putting pressure on the university to change its policies on situations of this nature in the future. This, in fact, happened. The University of Florida was witness to the protesting of the tasering after it happened, with many students marching near the police department on campus. (Stripling) The audience’s reaction is the reason that this video is out on the web. The viewers are appalled when seeing it, which gets them feeling politically excited and in the mood to do something.
However, the message is not exactly clear. The response to the video was universally that it was wrong for the cops to do what they did, but the video itself simply shows what happened. There is no comment on the events to the viewer. The audience at the event itself does not want Meyer tasered, which could hinder the viewer’s perception of the event somewhat. Meyer’s screams of pain definitely make the viewer cringe and want to help him. Also, the police are armed and gang up on Meyer, thus giving him the underdog status in the video. Still, a side is not taken by the cameraman. The event is simply shown as it happened. Meyer is shown in a negative light in the beginning. He does not simply ask his question to Kerry, he talks on and on and says things that many people may disagree with. So, the truth of the events as they happened is shown in the video.
Bibliography
Convergences, Sara Tucker. 2001 page 163
Online source is http://www.starbanner.com/article/20070918/NEWS/70918007/1053/BREAKING_NEWS by Jack Stripling.