Every day there seems to be another example of how our disfunctional society is tightening the spiral to chaos. The recent footage of a citizen getting tased by a patrolman in Utah is just the latest log on the fire. In the footage, the trooper stops a driver who then stridently disputes the signage and proclaims his innocence.
He refuses to sign the ticket and is then told to get out of the car by the patrolman. As directed, he walks to the spot where the patrolman asks him to stand. Foolishly, he persists on debating with the patrolman. The patrolman pulls his taser gun and warns the driver to stop and turn around (presumably for a target on the belly). As the driver walks away, the patrolman fires the taser and drops the driver to the ground.
What is troublesome to me is that the patrolman was not being physically threatened by the driver, only ignored. The only apparent risk to the patrolman up to that point was the possibility that the driver would take some time to answer to the patrolmans request.
I think the driver did not know what kind of peril he was edging towards while attempting to use his “rhetorical skills” to persuade the trooper.
Could it be that the trooper used the taser as a matter of convenience rather than self defense?
Some will advance the argument that troopers are asked to risk their lives daily by pulling over potentially dangerous citizens. They should have this kind of latitude in their judgement calls. But I would say that electrocuting citizens because they are annoying is not a valid response.
What has happened in law enforcement the last decade is the institution of a more militaristic police presence in the USA. SWAT teams, tasers, armored vehicles, and aggressive tactics all aimed at putting down troublesome citizens.
The whole criminal justice system is out of control. Our failed drug policies and overcrowded prisons are completely ignored by legislators. US drug law only seems to create scarcity and high prices for illicit drugs. It would seem that our puritanical War on Drugs only benefits special interest manufacturers of police equipment, security companies, and private prisons.
Our prisons have had scant success with rehabilitation and only serve as a brutish, anti-civilizing crime practicum for prisoners. Prisoners are stigmatized with a felony record and consequently barred from most gainful occupations in the US. Why are we dismayed with high recidivism?
Many of my fellow citizens have a mean and brutish side that is not much changed from the days of westward expansion, the Klan, and the Indian wars. Unfortunately, we have a federal administration that is sympathetic to American exceptionalism and manifest destiny through superior firepower.
We Americans are pretty damned good at demolition. But when it comes to the careful assembly of civilization, we’re bloody cavemen. We confuse the advance of civilization with tax law or better law enforcement. Building a more comprehensive police state is not progress. It is consolidation of power by paranoid groups who are intolerent of the inherent disorder of pluralist populations.
Lamentations on Chemistry 
great! yet another reason to be afraid of cops. (should mention that i’m a law-abiding citizen who’s never so much as gotten a speeding ticket.) law enforcement seems to go too far in too many cases. sure, they’re supposed to be public servants…but…look at firefighters. they save people from burning buildings and rescue kittens and never tase people.
(note to self: do not comment before morning coffee.)
What really bothers me is the ease with which we can slide into a nanny state that, under the guise of protection, mainly serves the interests of those in power. Police work is hazardous. But I fear that tasers may fall into patterns of use that have more to do with convenience that safety.
You’ve probably heard of the famous case of Robert Dziekanski, who was tasered by the RCMP at the baggage claim lounge of the Vancouver Int’l Airport a couple of months ago. A bystander caught the incident on video and it has been widely broadcast. It’s a major story here, and yet another blight on the RCMP (despite the caricatures, in most of Canada, the RCMP is the equivalent of both the FBI and the State Police).
http://www.thestar.com/article/280437
(The main source of outrage with the Dziekanski saga is that a junior officer asked for and received permission to use the taser within seconds of arriving on the scene, used it three times on Dziekanski — who was by then squealing like a wild animal, and then pinned him down on his stomach. He was dead within seconds.)
I hadn’t heard of it. That’s pretty sad. In many ways, being in transit via the airlines resembles being under arrest. When you get your seat assignment, you turn over many freedoms in exchange. Even the act of questioning authority (cabin crew, gate attendants, etc) can rapidly lead to the appearance of the police. Anymore, the expression of displeasure is viewed as threatening behaviour by airport and airline people.
The details of the story make it even sadder because he was unable to communicate with anyone (he spoke no English) and was basically out of the restricted area. There’s a whole Wikipedia page that tells the story better than I can — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Dziekanski It was front-page news all over the country for several weeks and is yet another black mark on the RCMP.
1) Stanley Milgram’s Yale inflicted pain study.
2) Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford imprisonment study.
3a) Ayn Rand: “A government is the most dangerous threat to man’s rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims.”
3b) Ayn Rand: “The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.”
Support evolution – shoot back. Vigilante mobs are effective, selective, and ethical. Honest citizenry must carry and use concealed weapons at will. Whatever persists after 30 days is not criminal.
4) “An armed society is a polite society,” Robert A. Heinlein.
We do seem to pay attention to riots. I’m thinking of Chicago, Watts, Rodney King, etc. Adhering to civil process devised by corrupt authority is basically flawed citizenship.