How to Answer a Serial Attention-Seeker

There is commentary adrift that pretends to discredit Andrew Meyer as a crazed attention-seeker. I find it illogical and suspiciously political. First of all, Meyer was thought to be off-center when he started talking to Kerry. What sense does it make to change the headlines now? Besides, what does attention-seeking have to do with being tasered by the police? It doesn't matter. Short of intending to harm property or person, police should not have used any sort of gun. His crime was annoying a crowd of people. You can see how shallow real tolerance is in our culture. He annoyed the crowd, so he deserved to be shot. This from a room-full of people gathered to see John Kerry. Look folks, he did not have a back pack full of cocaine. The book he was waiving was not a weapon of mass destruction. He wasn't trying to steal your identity. But somehow he was annoying enough to "deserve" being roughed up by the police. Aren't there more important things to be annoyed by.

Despite his rude behavior, he was prompted to speak. Apparently, Kerry continued to speak past his scheduled limit too which provoked the short Q&A session. If campus police had approached Kerry with handcuffs for going overtime, don't you think Kerry might have inquired with a curious "what for?"

The Best Way to Answer a Serial Attention-Seeker

People who don't subscribe to the Britney Spears/Paris Hilton genre of marketing don't go after the celebrities with tasers. They don't buy their videos, they don't visit their websites, or buy their perfume. How did we get here? We reserve ample latitude for people who commit violent crimes and show utter contempt for those who disrupt our meetings.

Imagine it if Britney walked into the University of Florida auditorium in her classic attention-getting style. Imagine she refused to leave and suggested that she had some questions for Kerry. Perhaps some of Britney's questions were uttered with slurred speech and infringed upon the ability of others to ask questions. Imagine Kerry invited her to speak anyway. Now annoyed by her rudeness, what if the police grabbed her without warning. Petite as she is, what if she managed to slip away to inquire why she was being arrested? Do you taser her and bring on worldwide sympathy for her cause. Or do you drag her out of the room and let her behavior bring on the adjustment she needs?