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University of Florida Taser incident

University of Florida Taser incident (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log)

WP:NOT#NEWS. The University of Florida police overreacted to a borderline heckler at a John Kerry speech. Footage was shown on television because it contained the memorable line "Don't tase me, bro!" and some print sources ran stories, but this has no lasting, encyclopedic interest. ObiterDicta ( pleadings • errata • appeals ) 04:06, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Keep. First, 'Footage was shown on television because it contained the memorable line "Don't tase me, bro!"' is not the reason I'm interested. In fact stating that this is the only reason there is interest is overreaching...and insulting. Obiter you do not speak for everyone...clearly! This is a current event of some interest; obviously. Stating that the line "Don't tase me, bro!" is the only reason there is interest and thereby qualifies the article for deletion is beyond ridiculous. Second, if the two videos are watched and listened to carefully one will quickly realize that everything stated in the article as of this point in time is accurate. In fact one can clearly hear an officer threat to tase Meyer before he begs not to be tased. Third, POV tags should NEVER be thrown without a reason being given. William (Bill) Bean 13:43, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

  Um, I didn't add the POV tag to the article. Nor have I commented on the article's accuracy or who was "right" in this incident. You obviously have me confused with someone else. ObiterDicta ( pleadings • errata • appeals ) 15:24, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Keep. This is the Kent State shootings of our era, a demonstration of excessive police state force against students massively reported in the media. It is also reminiscent of the Rodney King beatings. Ejeder 13:19, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
  • I must say, comparing this to Kent State is in rather poor taste. Phil Sandifer 13:32, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
  • I will agree with Phil, above. Nobody was seriously hurt in this incident; nor did it involve a shooting of any sort. Tom Sullivan 1500, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
• Keep. This story is meaningful from several angles: the passivity of Sen. John Kerry, former candidate for U.S. President, the forebodings of the beginning of a police state in America, the loss of free speech, historically one of America's most treasured traits, and with all the video evidence, this story is not going away. This event may stand the test of time, much like the murder of four students at Kent State University during the Vietnam War.--RuthStar 11:31, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
• Keep - Let the facts be presented as the vision of Misplaced Pages allows for. This event is clearly of interest beyond news and internet video --for anyone wishing to research contemporary issues in free speech in the college system of the U.S. 75.35.23.193 07:37, 19 September 2007 (UTC)Benzl
• Support/Delete I agree. Already, we've had 1 user (not saying any names), going through and removing hidden notes, and people referring to the prankster as "douchebag". A delete is what this article needs. 04:09, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
• Keep - Huge story, of relevance and interest to the American and world public, and which users will come here looking for. This story will not go away or be forgotten, and thus merits coverage in our encyclopedia. Badagnani 04:09, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Comment - To Badagnani: But it doesn't belong here, as per WP:NOT#NEWS. 04:11, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• No, you're incorrect. This is a rare example of use of force with a Taser on a college campus, against a student asking a question at a forum, something that doesn't happen often and raises questions about the use of force (specifically with an electro-shock weapon) in the United States. As such, it is a very high-profile example of the Electroshock weapon controversy and not to treat it would leave an illogical lacuna. Badagnani 04:22, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Keep This was #1 story earlier this evening on cnn.com, videos have ~500,000+ views on utube, hundreds of news stories and thousands of google hits and we still have an article for UCLA_Taser_incident which happened a year ago. Leafyplant 04:14, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Comment But if people wish to know about this, they can easily look it up on Yahoo News, YouTube, etc. 04:15, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Keep Interesting event, during the election campaign, may spark debate about policing in the USA. I'm sure much worse happens every day, but this case is particular because there was a violent reaction, a will to censor political critique. A peaceful political opposer was tortured by electrical shock until he accepted to wear handcuffs and be arrested for no reason. This is a rare happening in the USA, normally political censorship and intimidation is more discreet. It's an interesting turning point, especially as it was ordered by the democrats who often oppose the heavy handed way the Republicans have of dealing with problems. Democrats have often campaigned for the use of tasers instead of guns, and gun control in general, this gives an interesting insight on how they may be planning to use them. Jackaranga 04:18, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
• Right. It's in the news right now, but it's unlikely that it will have lasting historic importance. And now we apparently have the danger the article will turn into a coatrack after the rest of us have forgotten about it next week. ObiterDicta ( pleadings • errata • appeals ) 04:25, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
• Delete per WP:NOT#NEWS, this is a NN event. Just because lots of people watch it on YouTube does not make it notable. meshach 04:40, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Comment This is a great deal more than a "popularity of viral video" issue. First amendment rights, use of excessive force, student rights, and broadcast rights can all be seen in this article. Though there have not been many reported incidents of campus police use of excessive force, there have been other cases as well. I can see the article being incorporated into another article that deals with free speech, student rights, use of force etc., but for now it should stand. William (Bill) Bean 15:06, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Keep This is much more than a story about a prankster that loves attention. Using violence to put an end to what amounts to disorderly conduct is rather disturbing. It won't be long before this story is lost in the clutter of the ever changing news sites. At least here, we'll have a chance to view this story to its natural end. This is not always the case when relying on broadcast/cable news.Alecquaid 04:54, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
• Delete. WP:NOT#NEWS. No encyclopedic longevity. - Crockspot 04:55, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
• Delete - WP:NOT#NEWS - time will tell this event to be without lasting significance. If something notable emerges and there is more significance, a new article can be written with the benefit of more hindsight. Dlabtot 04:57, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
• Delete This is classic WP:NOT#NEWS MarkBul 05:05, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
• Comment - Wow, AfD seems to have died down. I still stand by my delete. This will end becoming a hatrack soon 05:20, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
• Keep This is a very notable story right now. Keeping and closing off edits for the time being until we see how impactful it really is may be the way to go User:Edgecution03 04:57, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
• Delete I agree with Dlabtot's statement. This is not notable, and if it somehow turns into the root cause of a major policy change, then the article can be re-created. This kid was being pulled out for disruption the same way a heckler would be thrown out of a comedy act, and the police used vastly excessive force. This sort of thing happens so much these days that police have a reputation for it, especially in certain communities but even in general. There was no lasting injury. A couple of years ago, University of Central Florida students were tailgating, and there was an altercation in which an undercover UCF officer had his gun drawn. An Orlando cop was in the area, and due to a lack of communication between the two police forces, the Orlando uniformed cop shot and killed the undercover UCF cop who had drawn his gun. Guess what? This story does not have an article, nor even a mention anymore anywhere in Misplaced Pages (no, this is not supposed to be a police brutality example, just an example of notability). Mbarbier 05:24, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Comment So create one. William (Bill) Bean 15:08, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Keep - We've got an article for Rachel Corrie of all people; this guy's just as notable. Evan1975 05:35, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
• Delete, per Not#News -- best handled at Wikinews:Student_questioning_Senator_Kerry_is_tasered. – Zedla 06:01, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
• Keep per Badagnani. --Itub 08:31, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
• Keep. This was a news story, but it's not only a news story. There are enough references to it out there that, as Badagnani said, someone who missed all the coverage in 2007 may come upon a mention of it a year or a decade from now and want to know more. I don't agree with Tyler Warren that we should dump an article if people could look up the information elsewhere on the Web. We don't do original research, so most of Misplaced Pages's content is available elsewhere on the Web, and the rest is available in libraries. JamesMLane t c 09:48, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
• Keep. Very significant event, not just a news article. Someone could want to read this article months/years from now. Connör 10:22, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
• Keep per JamesMLane. Darksun 10:24, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
• Keep why the hell would it be deleted? - mnuez —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.13.148.23 (talk) 10:43, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
• Delete This is not Wikinews. --ElKevbo 11:15, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
• Keep - Just one day since the event's occurrence, and this article has already been nominated for deletion. Amazing. Why on earth such a rush to delete??? Evidently some editors are blessed with psychic powers, able to determine that a month or a year from now this story will have been forgotten, and is thus of no lasting value -- and accordingly, not worthy of an article on Misplaced Pages. Or perhaps I'm wrong -- maybe they have access to that time-travel vehicle from Back to the Future. If so, I'd like to at least see some sort of physical evidence -- you know, a cancelled check or something like that. :)

Ahem. In all seriousness, this nomination is based on nothing more than a personal view that supposedly "minor" incidents of police abuse, where the victim wasn't maimed or killed -- aren't deserving of attention. That might be a valid argument -- if we were talking about Iraq or Afghanistan. But this sort of thing is not supposed to take place here in the United States. So unless it turns out that it was all staged -- nothing more than some sort of "performance art" on the part of both the student and the police -- it should be considered intrinsically worthy of documenting here on Misplaced Pages. But wait... that would be notable in itself, wouldn't it?! (And by the way, let's not forget that most online newspapers don't keep their articles online permanently.) Cgingold 11:27, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Keep for now. At the moment, this is a major event, with plenty of non-trivial secondary coverage by major news organizations. Revisit it in 6 months and, if by then it's no longer considered major then it can be merged with the applicable articles. I have to express concern that some of the arguments above (on both sides of the issue) cross the line of WP:NPOV and WP:ILIKEIT/WP:IDONTLIKEIT. 23skidoo 11:56, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Delete - this is a subject for a wikinews article not an enclycopediac one. People feelings about the importance of the event don't change it being simply a newsworthy event. - Peripitus (Talk) 11:58, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Keep -- how can you assume so quickly that it does not have long-lasting encyclopedic significance? Surely we need to wait a while and see how it plays out to determine that. In the meantime, this clearly satisfies the first criterion of WP:BIO -- subject of multiple, independent, reliable published reports. Dylan 12:03, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Merge to List of cases of police brutality or some similar article due to recentism.... There is no telling that this event will have any actual historical impact. When it does beyond the initial media hype (as with all passing events), then perhaps a stand-alone article is warranted. It is way too early to determine the long-lived impact of this, and a case should be proven to keep it (other than to avoid deletion), not the other way around. —Erik (talk • contrib) - 12:44, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
  • Comment Saying that "a case should be proven to keep it…not the other way around" has no basis in Misplaced Pages policy. dcandeto 14:18, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Sure it does. Read WP:NOT#NEWS and WP:NOTE -- the long-term historical significance has not been established for this. I was published in a few newspaper articles, so maybe I'll be a big deal someday -- let's create an article on me, shall we? This is not evidenced to have far-reaching impact -- it's just the topic of the week as far as anyone can tell. Not even the I-35W Mississippi River bridge has its own article about all the national press that it received. It didn't stay in the national scope forever, and there's no evidence that this will, too. I don't want to blank mention of the incident from Misplaced Pages, but it needs to be more concise (less WikiNews) and placed in a broader article. —Erik (talk • contrib) - 14:52, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Keep -- We don't know how this will play out and what kind of impact it may have, i believe this AfD is premature, it should be kept for the time being. DTGardner 12:46, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Keep -- The University of Florida Taser incident story is just developing. It MUST be kept and eventually cleaned up. But any move to delete it is suspect. -- Greenpagan1 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Greenpagan1 (talk • contribs) 12:50, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Keep -- the massive media coverage more than establishes notability. As for the "performance art" argument, if it turns out that this was all staged, in my mind this does not diminish notability. I mean, if this was staged, it is probably one of the most successful (in terms of media exposure) acts of performance art ever; such an event -- a student successfully creating a scene that captures global media attention and provokes a "serious" national discussion regarding excessive force used by police and freedom of speech -- would perhaps be even more notable than a tasering incident standing alone. Interestingstuffadder 13:11, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Keep. Although I find most of the keep votes ludicrously offensive (Comparing this to Kent State?) for the moment this seems notable by any measure we use. Phil Sandifer 13:32, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Keep No question there is censorship in the United States, and also there are those who would censor any mention of this censorship, as evidenced by the sprinkling of delete votes here. But, sorry, it's a little too late to "keep a lid" on this one now; even the BBC has reported on it. Os Cangaceiros (Yippie!) 13:45, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

Why isn't there an entry for this nomination in the September 18, 2007 nomination for deletion list? Damned hard to discuss a nomination like this, in the broader community, if no one knows where to comment on it. William (Bill) Bean 13:47, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Comment SOFIXIT already. Edison 13:55, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

  It's already listed at the log for 19 September. Just because it was September 18 in the United States when it was nominated does not mean it was September 18 everywhere else in the world. ObiterDicta ( pleadings • errata • appeals ) 15:28, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Weak delete It is offensive to compare a publicity seeking student (perhaps the only white guy in this millenium who would call a black cop "Bro") who gets tasered by the police in their attempts to remove him when he stays at the microphone too long during a question and answer session, with four students going about their business at a university being shot dead by the National Guard, or with a young lady being crushed by bulldozers when she puts her body on the line to prevent homes being demolished, or with a man stopped for speeding and beaten half to death because of his race. Go to a political event, a town council meeting, a stockholders meeting, or any other forum and seize the microphone, refuse to yield it after asking a question, and you will likely be removed, by force. The force may be taser, mace, or just arm twisting, but you will eventually be carried out. That said, this is one of those stories which might or might not prove to be encyclopedic. We have the philosphy "notability is permanent" but so far this is just a news story, and per WP:NOT#NEWS it may be deleted. Our newshungry 24/7 newschannels take any titillating video footage and run it around the clock for a couple of days, and every paper runs lurid stories to try and coax coins out of someone's pocket at the news stand. This is not "Currenteventspedia." For that, see Wikinews. People wanting to look up this news story 2 years from now can check the NY Times online files. The news editors are not trying to choose enyclopedic stories. "Notability is permanent" implies that "only things with enduring notability should have articles." See also the essay WP:NOTNEWS which distinguishes between the encyclopedic and the merely "newsworthy." We might have a philosophy of creating an article about a newsworthy (but posibly not encyclopically notable event) and then later deleting it if coverage rapidly drops off, which is what I prefer. In such a case, our initial impression of notability was mistaken. If it has no enduring effect on society (such as laws passed, defeat of a political candidate, regime change at a college, new rules for campus police using tasers) it can be deleted later. Or in accord with "permanent notability" we can wait and recreate the article if it proves to have enduring importance. Who can say at this point what its long term effect will be? At least the story is appropriately about the incident and not the non-notable person. Edison 13:55, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Keep This is big news, newspaper all over the world are reporting it. Vote to keep it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.255.106.75 (talk) 14:06, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Weak keep My guess is that there will be something else about this case that cements its notability, but my crystal ball isn't working very well. Saying that this should be covered at Wikinews is cute, but nobody actually reads Wikinews (I came here, looking for an article called Andrew Meyer; I haven't visited Wikinews in months—it is usually hours behind Misplaced Pages in getting news-like updates.) dcandeto 14:20, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
• Keep. This incident might not be the Kent State of our time, but it is certainly newsworthy, particularly in the context of comparable incidents of police over-reaction in recent history (the UCLA taser incident, the Seattle WTO riots) that all are Wiki articles ApolloRPL 14:21, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Keep - This is one of few 'live-footage' police brutality incidents in current times. --Joffeloff 14:29, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

• Comment: Greetings to all the visitors from the 9/11 truth movement. CWC 15:18, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

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