Thank You, Creepy Middle-Aged Guy!
1. I was leaving Hibbard Hall several days ago, headphones on and enjoying the somewhat decent weather when I was approached by a balding man with a stack of papers in his hand. He said something to me – what it was, I couldn’t tell you – and offered me one of those papers he held. I accepted it, more interested in not being rude than in reading the flier.
What I found in my hand was a pamphlet titled “Who Killed Junior?” The following pages showed the different ways that an unborn child may be aborted, accompanied by cartoon pictures of babies being cut into pieces, literally sucked out of a woman’s womb with a vacuum cleaner and burned to death by chemicals. The final pages give the reader valuable insight into the sanctity of a woman’s body, telling us that “No woman has the right to interfere with a life God had created” and “Some foolish women say ‘I have a right to my own body.’” Finally, on the very back of this Pulitzer Prize material, abortion is compared to the Holocaust, aided by a tasteful picture of infant corpses thrown into a pile.
2. I live in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where people are generally tolerant…as long as you believe the correct things. Every year, from about mid-April to late-October, every day a person driving by the Bellin Hospital on Webster St. (a heavily used street in Green Bay) can see a group of anywhere from ten to fifty people picketing outside the front doors of the hospital. In their hands, they have five foot tall pictures of aborted fetuses and signs with thoughtful expressions like “Abortion Doctors are Murderers!”
These past years, this same handful of people have sparked countless debates and police intrusions, mostly for the gruesome photos and their comments to passersby. For reasons unknown to most, these tasteless displays, which are specifically designed to shock and appall people, have been allowed to continue.
3. The recent tasing of Andrew Meyer, a University of Florida student who was arrested for “attempting to incite a riot.” For the unaware (Jump onto YouTube as soon as you can), Meyer was arrested and eventually tased for his actions at a question and answer session with Senator John Kerry. He began shouting profanity after his microphone was cut, and for this he was arrested. After he was led outside, Meyer settled down, claiming he would walk on his own if they let him go. Meyer was then wrestled to the ground by Florida cops, where he was tased numerous times, all the while saying he wasn’t fighting.
I know you guys know this. What most people don’t’ realize is that Meyer had been disruptive during the entire session with Kerry, shouting out several times during Kerry’s speech. Finally, when he reached the podium, he rambles on for minutes, claiming a question is coming. When he begins to use profanity, his microphone is cut. When he is arrested, he struggles against the officers, which is by definition, resisting arrest.
Let me be very clear: In no way did Meyer ever deserve the arrest or the tasing. All I’m saying is that by definition, he did resist arrest by struggling with police as they tried to bring him into custody. All of this could have been avoided had Meyer simply stated his case and asked his question in a logical manner, rather than trying to draw attention to himself and discredit Kerry. The profanity and disrespectful nature towards both police and Kerry are what caused his arrest in the first place. Again: the arrest and tasing were unwarranted, but so was the manner in which Meyer handled himself beforehand.
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The first story sparked me to write this article, but all three of these instances document something that has slowly been bothering me more and more over the past two or three years: the need of some to shock instead of use facts to support their beliefs. In the case of the man handing out tasteless pamphlets condemning abortion, my question to him is “What did you intend to prove?” Call me crazy, but I can’t logically see someone who opens this publication, reading it, and saying “Oh! Now I understand! Thank God there was a cartoon picture of a child being cut into pieces!” A simple flier stating the medical and religious facts against abortion would be just as effective, if not more. And I use the same logic for the picketers in my hometown. All these kinds of displays do is disgust and draw away from the point you are trying to make. Now, because of you, people are talking about the way you handle yourself instead of the reason you protested at all.
The Andrew Meyer case is another example of people taking unnecessary steps to make themselves seen. Meyer even has his own website dedicated to himself and his vigilantism. He purposely goes over-the-top with his displays to gain recognition. Remember the picture of the guy on the day the last Harry Potter book came out? The one of that guy walking down the street with a sign that says “Harry Dies”? Yeah, that was him. I will grant Meyer that his points were valid and thought provoking, but had Meyer chosen to present the fact he had in a calm manner, he would have had his questions answered and wouldn’t have been arrested and tased. Then again, he wouldn’t have had his fifteen minutes of fame, would he? Why else would he have brought his own camera and asked a female student to film him asking his question just moments before he went up?
All I ask is that people ditch the shock value approach and try to present their facts intelligently. But for some of these people, that might be too much to ask.