Oh, I know I'm going straight to he%% for this one. I was sent a request to write about Andrew Meyer, University of Florida (UF) student, being tasered at a speech Senator John Kerry (D-MA) was giving. I was traveling and buried in other work and am just getting to it now. That's my excuse this time, anyway.
I think my studies in anthropology have simply taught me to take a longer view of things than most people care about.
But enough of that. I read the Andrew Meyer Taser Incident Wikipedia entry, I read a supposed eye-witness account and a few other things and watched a video or two.
First, the whole thing sickens and horrifies me. I don't like violence. Never have and never will. Second, I'm the guy who asks people's permission to do things that involve them. The idea of bullying my way into something is anathema to me.There are also 3rds through 5ths here and I won't bore you with them.
What I will bore you with is the question of whether this was an example of Eventing. The great democratizer -- the internet -- both gives and takes identity from people and on the largest scale witnessed in the past fifty years. It creates gulags, ghettos and worse in ways people will be studying for years to come. There will be those of us in the research community who see this Andrew Meyer - Senator Kerry incident as a way to get that 15 minutes of fame, to become somebody in a way only available in the internet-information age.
Or not.
It worked for Kayla Ebbert and Setara Qassim, didn't it?
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Upcoming Conferences:- DC Emetrics Summit on 14-17 Oct '07
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