Taser tide turning in Canada as U.S. drowns in ignorance

The disparity between Canadians' awareness and that of Americans about the deadly concoction of police and Taser guns is staggering.

As hundreds of bodies pile up here in the United States, last Tuesday "the (British Columbia) government took a crucial step towards establishing an independent, civilian-led, office to investigate any serious incidents involving police."

The U.S. has two things going against it when it comes to the emerging public safety threat posed by Tasers.

The first is our collective anti-crime stance born of classic Republican propaganda. Before 9/11 and the subsequent War on Terrorism, Republican politicians used crime to scare voters. Richard Nixon initiated the War on Crime, which eventually complimented Ron Reagan's War on Drugs during the crack epidemic of the 1980s and then paid political dividends for George H.W. Bush. All these jackals needed to do was terrify white voters with crime.

For example, to win the presidency in 1988, Bush Sr. simply exploited white America's fear of minorities with scary black killer Willie Horton. That was the nail in the coffin for challenger Mike Dukakis; it was just a matter of convincing Americans to equate black folks with criminals, which half of them probably already did anyhow. White America has always been afraid of black people rising up and revolting; it's a sentiment as old as the days of slavery.

In other words, in America we love our police and side with them almost no matter what. Whoever opposes the police is automatically perceived as a criminal who deserves the punishment they get. It's a belief system ingrained in our national DNA. We Americans love our guns, and police are seen as the brave gunmen who protect us.

After the Rodney King beating in 1991, it was pretty obvious that most white folks sided with the L.A. police and vice versa; and if that's not accurate, I'm sure it was by the time of the L.A. riots the following year, and certainly after the O.J. Simpson murders.

The second obstacle we face in this country regarding government-sanctioned Taser torture is our general ignorance, which has allowed a frivolous context to permeate the unknown Taser problem in our society. Taser victims are punchlines; the whole thing is a joke. Show a random American on the street footage of a man being shocked with a Taser, and I guarantee the result will be laughter.

Tasers have been a joke in America ever since our first nationally televised Tasering, that of University of Florida student Andrew Meyer who acted a little obnoxious, refusing to hand over the microphone at a John Kerry forum in Sept. 2007. Meyer didn't exactly earn anyone's sympathy; he was seen as a rabble rouser who deserved what he got. His unheeded plea ("Don't Tase me, bro!") immediately entered the national lexicon and became a viral joke coast to coast.

It will surely take a more vulnerable character than Meyer, and definitely a more dead one, to change the way we as a country perceive the problem. Unfortunately, it's going to take the death of a young, elderly, or disabled person plastered on the airwaves before the American public understands the depth of the problem.

Steve Consalvi, the 17-year-old kid that was Tasered for running onto the field during a Phillies playoff game in May, 2010, would have no doubt created a perfect national moment of reckoning if he had died in front of a ballpark full of fans. If ever there was a clear-cut case of a lazy officer's life not being threatened by the person he ends up Tasering (the supposed standard for Taser use by police), that was it.

So not only do we lack that Rodney King moment, but Tasers are used for gags in our entertainment, which only reinforces the idea that they are silly slapstick props that make people convulse for our amusement.

But it kind of makes sense. There's no denying the violence involved in a ruthless beating, stabbing or shooting. In the case of the former, overwhelming force is evident from how hard the aggressors have to work; Taser attacks are the exact opposite since police can introduce overwhelming force with the push of a button while acting casual. There's no mistaking the seriousness of shootings and stabbings because a bloody scene leaves no doubt, but witnesses to Taser attacks don't necessarily see the obvious signs of violence apart from the screaming. Police don't even have to lay a hand on the subject.

Tasers are so new and extraordinary that people can't tell how brutal they are. So it's somewhat understandable why Tasers have become synonymous with entertainment. For example, 2009's summer blockbuster The Hangover used the weapon for comedic effect.

In the movie, the characters played by Ed Helms, Brad Cooper and Zach Galifianakis each get Tasered by elementary school students, and for their amusement. Helms' character is drive-stunned in the neck just before Cooper's character is Tasered "right in the nuts!" And for the grand finale, Galifianakis' character is Tasered in the face and then drive-stunned in the neck before a flock of laughing school kids. The movie became the highest grossing R-rated comedy of all time.

This Tasertainment obviously only further reinforces the notion that Tasers are hilarious and harmless. That is a deadly misleading message, especially for young people who haven't even had their first encounter with police yet. They didn't even have to be among the throngs of people who saw The Hangover to receive that misinformation because a clip from the Taser scene was included in the movie's preview commercials. And this is just one example.

Canada, on the other hand, is years ahead of us. The main reason they understand the threat more is because they've already had their Rodney King Taser incident.

In Oct. 2007, Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski died of a heart attack just minutes after being Tasered by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) at Vancouver International Airport. The unnecessary Taser attack was caught on video and, once nationally televised, galvanized the country against Tasers. It no doubt happened a little easier there than it would here since Canadians don't assume--as we generally do--that anyone who encounters police must be a criminal deserving of what he or she gets. But nevertheless, they woke up.

The most comprehensive anti-Taser work is being done by our northern neighbors. For instance, Excited-Delirium.com is perhaps the most vast and intelligent anti-Taser resource, and Patti Gillman's website features the world's only known compiled list of Taser victims. (Patti's brother was Canada's seventh Taser death in 2004).

Despite Canadians' growing awareness, the RCMP have been involved in more highly publicized Taser incidents since then, including the Tasering of an 11-year-old in B.C. just last month.

Although Canada's Taser death toll is only 18 percent of what ours is, the public there seems to react to every incident whereas in the States it's not even national news.

For a little perspective, last week I heard that a South Carolina police officer was sentenced to more than five years in prison for breaking a detained man's leg with 27 whacks of his baton. That's right: 1 broken leg = five years imprisonment; 600+ lives = still working and drinking beer on the weekend.

Just as the U.S. could learn a thing or two about defending against terrorism from Israel, B.C.’s new program that thwarts the highly corruptible scenario in which police investigate themselves after an incident would be a wise adoption for us, and the sooner the better. Until then, comply or die.

I'm just sayin'.

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(Monday, May 16, 2011, was the 18-month anniversary of my friend Matt's death. He died after being excessively Tasered by police in his home in Nov. 2009; as of now he is #565 on Patti's list of North American Taser victims.)