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TechnoratiIt's My Party: I'll Taser if I Want To
Marketing Tactic Jolting Sales of Self-Defense Item
GILBERT, Ariz. - Before she lets them shoot her little pink stun gun, Dana Shafman ushers her new friends to the living room sofa for a serious chat about the fears she believes they all share.
"The worst nightmare for me is, while I'm sleeping, someone coming in my home," Shafman says, drawing a few solemn nods from the gathered women. Shafman, 34, of Phoenix, says she knows how they feel. She says she used to stash knives under her pillow for protection.
Welcome, she says, to the Taser party.
On the coffee table, Shafman spreads out Taser's C2 "personal protector" weapons that the company is marketing to the public. It doesn't take long before the women are lined up in the hallway, whooping as they take turns blasting at a metallic target.
"C'mon!" she says. "Give it a shot."
Shafman isn't an employee of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Taser International. She's an independent entrepreneur who's been selling Tasers the way her mother's generation sold plastic food storage containers.
As a single woman who lives alone, Shafman says she's the perfect pitchwoman for Taser as it makes a renewed push to sell weapons to families.
The company agrees. Taser officials like Shafman's homespun sales tactics so much that they plan to build a living room set at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and have Shafman hold a Taser party for buyers and dealers. The show, which runs Jan. 7-10, is one of the world's largest tech trade shows.
Taser doesn't expect its dealers to start imitating Shafman. But Steve Tuttle, a Taser spokesman, says company officials think people can learn from her approach.
"When I talk about Taser, I come across as a salesman," Tuttle says. "When you see her it comes across as very real."
Shafman, a freelance construction consultant, says she always had a natural interest in self-defense products. She loved the idea of the Taser, which would allow her to stop an attacker from across the room without getting physical.
She tried moonlighting as a door-to-door Taser saleswoman. But years of negative press about Taser made it tough.
So the Taser party was born.
Shafman says she's sold about 30 guns per month at $349.99 since her first Taser party on Oct. 15. She doesn't get a commission from Taser. Instead, Shafman says she gets a discounted dealer rate for the units and keeps the difference.
Taser has been growing on Wall Street two years after the Securities and Exchange Commission concluded its investigation into the company's safety claims and business practices. Its stock more than doubled in 2007 from a low of $7.44 to a high of $19.36 a share.
Company officials say that they're now selling Tasers in 43 countries and that more than 12,500 police agencies in the United States are either using or testing their weapons.
It launched the C2 in August. Though it packs the same electric punch, the C2 is smaller than the bulky personal stun guns Taser developed years ago, and its sleek exterior makes it look more like an electric razor than a weapon. They're legal in every state except New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Michigan, Wisconsin, Hawaii, and Washington, D.C.
Amnesty International, which has criticized Taser's assertion that its weapons are nonlethal, objects to any attempt to spread the use of stun guns. Officials with the human rights organization say the weapons are frequently used in excess by trained police, and they're likely to be abused by the public as well.
Shafman says that if she had a choice between getting shocked or being attacked with a knife, a gun, or something else, "I'd much rather be assaulted by a Taser."
And unlike other weapons, she says, Taser forces its customers to submit to a criminal background check before giving them a code to turn on their weapons.
© 2007 Associated Press
78 Comments so far
Show AllRegarding protection against a tazer attack. Instead of someone's suggestion of grounded chainmail, I think all that might be needed is a layer of tinfoil under one's clothing to simply short out the tazer's electrical jolt. Instead of the electricity passing through your skin the electricity would take the path of least resistance and would hopefully harmlessly travel through the tinfoil between the probes shot into your clothing (and into the tinfoil). Any ideas about this out there?
Just waiting for the first report of rape being committed with the aid of a taser.
It doesn't matter whether the user is an officer, a citizen, or a criminal, the Taser *seems* more humane and is thereby more likely to be used. But the Taser is more pernicious than that. A person can choose to resist a gunman because it forces the gunman to make an absolutely clear moral choice about using their weapon. The taser user doesn't think they have to face that choice. That's the whole point of non-lethal weapons: to diminish the moral culpability of using violence. In addition, by limiting the lethality of the weapon, the Taser actually becomes a more effective means to gain power over someone else. That is precisely why police think they have the right to taser someone for "noncompliance". And although a firearm is also usable as a means of control, every decent cop would tell you it's rare that they'd ever have to (or want to) use it. Even most criminals want to avoid using a lethal weapon unless they think they have to. Take away the lethality and the moral absoluteness of using it, and you have a recipe for increased use, plain and simple.
I don't want police, citizens OR criminals ever thinking they can more effectively use force because it has been toned down and sanitized.
$350 apiece?! You could do a lot better, for a lot less. And without worry about batteries.
Think of all the crap in most people's garages -- axes, crowbars, baseball bats, chainsaws, etc. that maybe it all depends on what room you're in when you hear the sound of the "terrorists" entering, and what's available in each room.
TWISTER 22 I just went back and looked at the You tube clip.
You gave me 2 good laughs in one day.
Thank you.
ren ren I know iq doesn't mean shit.I was attempting to point out that the TV is not helping add to the sheeples mental horizons by and large.
Since I offed my TV my reading time has at least tripled( and I don't get news papers either.)
By the way if you haven't seen Aaron Russo's film yet check it out.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1656880303867390173
"nuclear chastity belts"
LMFAO
If personal tasers are here now, can personal waterboards be far behind?
Celabrate....
You make a very critical point in writing... "we liberate ourselves" and being sure to include men in this observation. Many of us men are raised to respond in challenging situations with violence; and there is genetic predisposition (sp) I believe among males to use violence as means of control. So, I would certainly feel liberated to know I didn't need to 'front myself' in order to relate to many of my male friends... it occurs to me it has much to do with our competitive society as well. Very Sadly; it seems too many men think they will only get a woman (or whatever they want) by the threat or act of violence. On a side note here... maybe that is why I am increasingly disturbed by the game of football.
Celabrate says to me:
"So, tasers are bad, but physical agression is good? Come on? This is progressive?
And why are you making it my burden as a woman to end gender violence? How is my attitude supposed to stop violence? Mostly men perpetrate gender violence - what is YOUR responsibility?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VeaA6rXGrs
FYI, I AM a woman. I would never allow a man or a woman to try to physically dominate me. If a woman attacked me I'd kick the crap out of her. If it were my boyfriend/husband/father/brother and they attacked me I'd defend myself to the max but only to inflict pain and get away, not to kill or maim. Why do women continue to not want to fight back? I'd say a little whup ass is better than a potentially lethal tasering any day. Not saying that men shouldn't be encouraged to be respectful of women, but as a woman, you should know that a good number of men are not and if you expect respect you must demand it.
Vaudree:
"didn't Dr Ruthless's demo guy star in the movie Space Balls? I just keep picturing a Taser in the hands of Willy Picton the pig farmer - or Paul Bernardo."
Sorry.. don't know who you're referring to. I've seen SpaceBalls, but don't know who Picton or Bernardo are.
Shakker: "nuclear chastity belts"..
Now that's funny.
How do you know you are not bringing a TASER to a gun fight? Rapists will upgrade to drugs or other means not prevented by TASER.
I suggest nuclear chastity belts. You must be careful not to be out gunned.
RE: - Sorry.. don't know who you're referring to. I've seen SpaceBalls, but don't know who Picton or Bernardo are.
Paul Bernardo is a famous rapist who murdered two girls with his former wife (Karla Homolka) - one of them his wife's underaged sister which she drugged and presented to him as a birthday present.
Robert William Picton said that he killed 49 prostitutes and wanted to make it an even 50. He fed the remains of his victims to his pigs.
Can you understand why I would be hesitant to put tasers into the hands of people like that?
The freaky thing about Paul Bernardo is that he looked, in appearance and occupation, like the type of guy your grandmother would try to fix you up with on a blind date.
People always fear the wrong people and the wrong things - and never the right people and the right things.
Rather than be killed or raped in my home, I could stop the intruder cold with a taser. I don't want a gun, because my police officer friends say, if you have a gun, you better be ready to use it. I don't want to kill or seriously wound anyone with a gun. I also don't want it wrestled from me and used on me or my family. I can shout out, "leave now, don't make me taser you". The police training for taser includes giving two warnings to someone, for example, "Stop, or I will taser you." They could be saying, like they did before the taser, "Stop, or I'll shoot." Which would you prefer, shooting a perpetrator, tasering them, or being raped or killed?
I questioned my police friend about causes of death of the small percentage of people who were tasered. He said one of the primary reasons is that the person is high on drugs and their heart rate is already dangerously high. I ask again, would you prefer to stop someone with a taser or a gun? Mis-use of any weapon is on the user.
The taser was developed to give police a tool that is non-lethal, rather than shooting someone. The lethal events with tasers have extenuating circumstances that have to do with the person being stopped. Perhaps we should look into how many people have not lost their lives by being shot since the taser came on the market.
The founders and employees of Taser have all been through being tasered. It is highly unlikely they would do that if they feared dying. The company is here in my community, I have been to the facility, met the founders, and asked many questions before forming the opinions I have shared with you today. BTW, I have no personal or financial interest in the company.
What is 'TV'?
This society is teetering on self-destruction. The question is: which way do we want to go? Do we want to be like it was displayed in "Mad Max Thunderdome" movie with Tina Turner as they portrayed a supposedly post-nuclear world? A world of no compassion, no morals, of violence, of whoever is strongest survives, like animals?
Or do we want to grow spiritually, each on our own way, to a better future, for us all, and all of our off spring?
To taser or not to Taser....I can see, hypothetically speaking, were my late mother and/or late sister still alive, if, for some reason, either of them worked or lived in an area where they were particularly in danger, how it might, I said MIGHT, be appealing, even to me, to know that they were "armed" to protect themselves, but the question remains.....
could they do it, or would, in a moment of hesitation, they find themselves DISARMED by the intruder, who then USES IT ON THEM, leaving him the ability to do whatever he wanted to do, while they were paralized?
There may be times and places where it is necessary, or better than nothing, for sure, but barred windows, a security system, and a GOOD DOG are VERY helpfull in being safe AT HOME.
One that KNOWS it's expected to DEFEND and PROTECT, that is TRAINED to do so, that will LISTEN, hear BEFORE you do, and REACT.
Yes, an intruder CAN shoot a dog, but (A) better the dog than you, and that gives you a moment to escape, perhaps, and (B) it's not IMPOSSIBLE for the dog to SNEAK UP ON and get the drop on him, and take him by surprise. After all, by nature, they DO HUNT.
I have a shot gun. I only have it because a prior partner demanded it. But we're VERY rural, and it was for snakes, which he was terrified of. My position was unless it was on the porch or in the house, leave it alone. If he saw it in the yard, he went after it.
As to SAFETY, I would MUCH rather have a dog. ANY dog. My last dog that was ANY GOOD AT "protecting" in that she'd listen and try was a Chihuahua. Of course, she couldn't accomplish what she wanted to, but at least her EARS were a LOT better than MINE, and I cannot tell you HOW comforting it was going to sleep at night KNOWING that IF something strange happened outside that she'd RAISE CAIN about it WAY before it got INSIDE, and ALERT me.
"The worst nightmare for me..."
There isn't a rational response that follows a lead-in like that.
workreno-"Just disconnecting the TV cable alone would dbl the average iq of the USA-holes ."
I think a society more welcoming towards outlets for aggression would do just as well (good or bad) as one that tries to cover up something that is pretty well saturated in our behavior, by unplugging the television. I know pbs to be a pretty calming thing for the most part. I know satire on the fake-news that is the daily show to be something that can be highly beneficial (when they have writers)
If you want a healthier society, I'd start with honesty. If you're mad, which happens sometimes, I don't think acting like you're elated and calm helps with anything. In a lot of people this is just a band-aid on greater discontent. I say, use some constructive commentary. Allow a few swear words to slip in if necessary, but address whatever the problem is. Swearing can be therapeutic when you're not directing it towards people. I mean, why not? and it can be personal swear words. Mine is a fictitious name, along with the standard set. I think it's great when people swear instead of being physically upset.
and while it is a fun phrase, I don't believe I.Q to be something that is 1. a useful measure 2. something that can be swayed with the introduction or removal of the influence of television. Not that having television is a good idea, but I wouldn't say it is so far below the internet as it is sometimes made out, the internet is just as bad.
Cosmicchalie There you go stereo typing .
You've missed more than just a few threads posted here if you think that all here are beyond violence.
Lets explore the extremes of a society that condones violent behavior.
Shall we start with schooling young minds to be competitive and hence violent to survive in the society?
Or would you prefer the old minds that lead the society into endless war?
The taser of course fits neatly into said society.
My answer is to disconnect from this violent society in any way possible.
Just disconnecting the TV cable alone would dbl the average iq of the USA-holes .
"The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads only newspapers."
Thomas Jefferson
Twister22 - didn't Dr Ruthless's demo guy star in the movie Space Balls? I just keep picturing a Taser in the hands of Willy Picton the pig farmer - or Paul Bernardo.
RE: and when she was mugged, the perpetrators overpowered her and were able to use her own gun on her.
Also, unless one expects to be mugged, one's gun will be probably in one's purse. They shove you, they grab your purse, they've got your gun, they sell it. They are definitely not going to let you open your purse one way or another.
RE: - Gun ownership in the U.S. has clearly and absolutely nothing to do with defending the country or even a state against internal and external enemies; and it has really nothing to do with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Did anyone see the online doc on the Firebolt - you should see the type of gun sellers that the NRA defends in court!
http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/firestar/video.html
And I don't see it being any better with the taser - which probably has the code on its packaging the same way combination locks do.
RE: - It's not the "less harmful than guns" that's important, it's the "doesn't leave marks."
That is not true always. Matthew Gray, an ex-soldier with PTSD who has been hit repeatedly with a Taser on different occasions has the marks on his back to prove it. Though, the police can choose how long they taser a person - and prolonged tasering does leave marks.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2007/11/21/mba-taser.html
RE: - What does the law say if you taser an intruder and the intruder dies? Manslaughter or first degree murder?
They will try to prove Manslaughter. However, taser would provide the woman with lawyers free of charge to "prove" that their product was in no way responsible for the intruder's death. And there is at least one coroner that I've heard of that Taser has sent on an all expense paid vacation - er - conference.
RE: - hope to never hear considerations of castration again, even jokingly. / if you're a woman, and you think that is funny, you've betrayed everything that women, and people in general are supposed to have as sensibilities.
I don't think the person was joking. Castration would not solve the problem any way - the creeps would just just use a broken beer bottle or a knife. And, there is a danger of castrating the wrong person. Both David Milgaard and Steven Truscott were wrongfully convicted of rape and murder. No one wants that!
RE: - Rape is nothing else but domination
The sad thing is that the US prides itself on being number one - of being able to dominate other countries. I disagree with Ron Paul on many things but you should have seen the flack that he got when he tried to explain that countries don't like to be dominated by foreign governments. Ron Paul rightfully asked why Canada (which has gay marriage - which right-winged Islamics don't approve of) has not been the victim of a terrorist attack. You would think that if it was all about cultural domination that they would be more threatened by Canada than the US. Yet, according to the others, it cannot be America's foreign policy.
When a country promotes the virtue of domination, many of it's subjects will feel that it is their birth-right to dominate.
RE: - I once offended a girl by holding the door open for her.
I think we've got past that. Whoever gets to the door first should open it. It is only fair. Usually there are two sets of doors so everyone has a turn being decent.
OK celabrate and ren ren - I say let's settle this once and for all.
I say Tasers at 50 paces!
Just joking ladies. Really
I doubt that there's a single person that posts to this topic who would condone the use of violence against anyone. I believe we're all on the same page otherwise we wouldn't be here. So, as chessgames suggests let's refrain from shooting arrows.
God, I LOVE this site
Peace
Just remember American sheeple: it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye or their life!
It's interesting, if you ever watch talk shows the most heated debates come with themes where it's women vs men, and black vs white. But ya know folks we cannot have it both ways. Words like "misogynist" or "male chauvinist pig" are incendiary and offensive when used to stereotype (or really when used at all).
I remember back during the woman's movement, I once offended a girl by holding the door open for her. No doubt by the expression on her face she was thinking, "male chauvinist pig!" While it seems to be in vogue to bash "white people" for being racist, or men for being misogynist, or falsely accusing them of sexual harassment, reverse labeling is strongly condemned and prohibited.
What many fail to realize is that one begets the other, hate begets hate, regardless of which "side" starts it. Worse yet, it tends to increase the bitterness women feel toward men and men toward women, or black toward white. So let's all refrain from shooting arrows here.
"Very few things you think should be "I as a woman" just as much as it shouldn't be "I as a liberal," or "I as a forty five year old" "I as a heterosexual," all of that can be dropped, as it only serves to separate us." (ren ren)
Separates us from ourselves, our reality(ies), as well; 'delusion', I think you have said elsewhere. Self delusion; reasoned self delusion. If only we could see ourselves, our humanity, without judgment.
Personally, I'll wait until they combine Tasers and Botox in a single party; a real cultural phenomenon.
Oh that's great!! So now we're going to arm housewives with weapons??
Boy, I'd hate to run across an armed lady who feels my glances are suggestive or inappropriate. Or a neurotic mom who feels her children are out of control.
Hey, what a great concept for a couple new reality shows:
- Desperate and Dangerous Housewives.
- The Taser Nanny
:)
No surprises here either. Any people who put more stock in what we own than in who we are will arm themselves to the teeth in order to preserve what we have. Just another confirmation of the fact that it won't be neccessary to build fascism in the United States. IN the United STates, our public has already been convinced that we must purge ourselves. Who needs a central committee to tell you to inform or shoot your neighbor? We're willing to do it now on slight suspicion.
Human beings are painfully averse, and understandably so, to seeing that they are the problem.
They prefer to blame their behavior on whatever malignancy is prevalent in their environment. They do things because of their gender, their family history, their group, what they read today, what they ate or drank or smoked, the last thing they think someone may have said or they imagine someone might have thought; anything but their own choices; any excuse.
Human beings do this for an understandable reason; they are by nature averse to pain; having experienced the pain of seeing things the way they are, they avoid this.
Like much of what human beings do, this is a mistake. Mistakes are not problems but opportunities, opportunities to learn. To take advantage of these opportunities human beings must admit their mistakes. Admitting mistakes is painful.
Human beings know that not admitting mistakes is even more painful. They also know it is a missed opportunity to see themselves, and by extension others, the way they really are; sensitive, fearful and vulnerable.
Choosing not to see this and over time building on this choice, leaves them feeling disconnected, isolated from themselves and the realities around them, frustrated, and angry.
Compounding this already unfortunate set of choices human beings often choose to direct this frustration and anger at others.
They rape, they pillage, they steal; they tell themselves this all makes sense. It doesn't. And choosing this they miss out on the love, the beauty, and the joy, they might otherwise experience.
At any moment, any human being can change their choices and begin to live their life as they prefer they would have from the start; any moment.
COCO,
thank You, even though I often struggle to find the 'right' words. Much like You said, not because I would be afraid of 'other's' observations, but more though through this microscopically small window that allows truth and wisdom to enter the skulls of
the American citizenry.
Tasers are as much an illusion as anything else that promises You to protect You. The only protection to the contrary comes from the inside. Quantum physics are not fairy tale material. Therefore mind over matter. Thus said, those women, as much as everybody else in this context, are trying to control an 'imaginary' situation, causing that situation to manifest itself, because they think of nothing else than hordes of mean spirited people trying to take everything away from them. That is so silly that it hurts.
Has anybody tried to prolong the life of a person that is doomed to die? It must be this combat-evangelical thing. Christians love to kill. They almost depopulated the entire Americas.
Christianity is actually the breeding ground for all this oppression. The oppression of the world on behalf of the 'strong' males.
With a Male god like the one they talk about ALL THE TIME, males have a great shining example of injustice and the oppression
of the female principle. My own Grammy told me that women have to live with menstruation, because god punished them for seducing Adam to eat the apple. It becomes apparent that the first male was a spineless moron with no brains and guts, or plainly horny. Not a lot has changed ever since.
Without females there would be no males, right? Rape is nothing else but domination, and that is a field well covered in the US of UnA. There are so many little cocksucker guys abusing and raping their girlfriends and their spouses, that the number of rape victims that do not know their rapist is far, far below the number of the ones who know their rapist.
This is a very sensitive area and I can only hope that there will be more widespread recognition of the abuse of women at any age.
I have to stop here. There is so much to say, so much to do. And on top of it all, everything is connected and related to everything else. Great White God & Great White Army, Porn & Rape, Lying, Stealing & Cheating and so forth are all related
to each other.
Fear keeps those despicable things alive.
Finally I found the 'right' metaphor for this. Those people buying Tasers are like somebody that brings a parachute into an elevator.
ITSJUSTKARMA
i think it was a very good piece and eloquently and passionately said. you are so right about men loving to fight and show their male prowess. women like to be feminine. (well, ok, not all, and the same about the men, before someone jumps on those observations.) now as far as violence against women goes and rape, i believe (and i'm by no way a prude) that all this sex and pornography that is rammed down our throats (pun intended) and pictures of semi clad women in trashy msm tabloids has a lot to do with this increase in rape. how many women do you see raping men.? well ok maybe they aren't capable to overpower a man but my point is, we do not see male nudes in these tabloids or magazines. (well again maybe a few but not nearly as much as naked women) why not? and i believe that deep in the subconcious this display of nudity and pornography will eventually have an effect upon the male psyche. just as these psudeo 'tupperware' parties are instilling fear in the people who attend them.
And on top of it all this thread is drifting into gender issues. Wow. That's cool. Why?
Because I can tell You something about gender. Itsjustkarma is a Male To Female
Transgender person and the only reason I would ever come up with that, are those
ridiculous arguments about women being target of men. Since when do males and
females share the planet? 500 years? 5000 years?
Who has invented, developed and manufactured all kinds of weapons on this planet,
male or female?
Who is leading the biggest corporations and governments on this suffering planet?
Women or men?
Generally speaking women give life, men take it. Has always been that way. Looks
like it is going to be that way for much longer too.
Men love wars, fighting, killing, raping, torturing, oppressing and controlling. That does
not mean, that there are not women out there who are equally fucked up in their mind.
Like women in the armed forces are the biggest blasphemy I can think of. Knowing what
it means to carry a child in one's womb for nine month, only to kill it, no matter how long after
birth doesn't make sense. Women who kill are the weirdest glitch in evolution. As if the males
want to draw the females into their shitty world of violence and murder, to tell them later,
"What do You want, You are in this Yourself."
Any woman that denies the true nature of femininity is a waste of bio mass. Don't You remember
how it was in Your mom's arms?
If You arm women, You most certainly finish Your society. Well I know, there's not much 'left'
of this one here, but there got to be an effort.
Gender is the last religiously instigated divide of humans. Gender has no meaning other than
being fit to copulate and multiply to maintain the species.
Do Whales or Dolphins need tasers against sharks? Or against the Navy?
Why is it so god damn difficult to focus on the only really important thing in life, to be a good
human being, stepping in for the ones that need help.
Watch the movie 'The Secret'. They're really excellent in telling You WHERE Your fears come from
and what they do to You. Women get raped by their fear before they become a victim in life.
Remember the 'Hate Crime Bill' the senate passed a few month ago? Well, do I need to buy
myself a Taser now? Most hate crimes are directed against the gay and lesbian community, to which
You are counted if You suffer from the 'Henry Benjamin Syndrome'.
Maybe Common Dreams wants to 'tease' the remaining progressives (minus pseudos) with stories
like this one?
Celabrate, don't give in into fear. Don't be afraid. Don't be like those women.
The fact that most rape crimes are committed by family members, 'acquaintances', or co-workers
makes it clear that the Taser is not the means of choice to protect You from rape.
Enough commenters have mentioned what happens if You get mugged, carrying a gun or weapon
Yourself. Or taking a shower...
The world is ripe for somebody that takes fear away from people, not like the bushistas, giving You
ever more reasons why You have to be afraid.
The other thing that comes to my mind is a situation in traffic, where somebody doesn't drive the way
the guy with the Taser on board wants it. His passenger window is open and he shoots his Taser at
others in traffic, like on the freeway in a jam...
Sorry for the lengthy piece, but sometimes it just pours out.
http://www.trance-formation.com/
"All I wanted was to open a dialogue about ending violence. Sigh. Maybe someone out there will have something else to say?"
explain to me why what I was saying was not to the effect you were seeking. I am asking for clarifications, that you can easily squash if you think they are wrong.
fear is not a good adviser. That's what Vincente Fox said as a matter of fact. About the U.S and our xenophobic and racist tendencies toward mexico and the rest of the world beyond our blinders.
All I wanted was to open a dialogue about ending violence. Sigh. Maybe someone out there will have something else to say?
It is obvious that these people deserve what they get. Together with that stupid Taser they get the 'Law Of Attraction' package.
Whatever You fear, You draw to You like flies are drawn to shit. If You are afraid of getting raped, if You are afraid the burglars will take Your money, if You are afraid that You won't get a parking space, You are in for exactly that. We attract what our mind spins around about.
Surely those women look like they need to protect themselves. The question is: From What? Most likely from people like Dana Shafman, that are like so many other 'Good American Scammers' only interested in the dough, but not in the safety of those people. Safety comes from 'feeling' safe. Some people tend to build a 'virtual' ICBM launch pad to feel safe. But even that won't protect You if Your time has come.
Such is the belief of the American soul, that weapons, including non lethal ones like tasers, are a guarantee for anything.
Well, maybe it has to do with the MK-Ultra, CIA mind control program, that runs on high rpm 'right' now? That would be a really good excuse. You could say: "Hell I don't know why I bought this shit, but something told me I need it..."
As a notorious optimist I have to tell You all is lost. Americans are dumbed down already to a degree, where they can't free themselves anymore of the iron grip of a corporate police state that tells the people the same shit Shafman tells those women. There is no difference. The thing is, that those people really believe what they say. How do You go about that? A citizenry that has lost its common sense and dignity through fascist principles, hammered down on them on every channel, every radio station. Dream on, if You think NPR would be a difference. To hell with NPR and all those editing hypocrites. How deep can You stick Your head into the 'Ass' of this 'Ministration'.
Fear is a very bad advisor. Always was and always will be. Yet it is the easiest way to control people of the like in the picture.
Scared of Commies, Terrorists, Rapists, Murderers, Burglars and Aliens, Americans need to concede to the realities of life, not to some bs weapons manufacturer or as a matter of fact, the ungovernment of the U. S. of Un-A..
Tell me if I have forgotten anything. ;-)
celabrate: the misunderstanding is that misogyny is perpetrated against women on the virtue of them being female. But this, also requires one to group women together, as a single entity against which violence is more or less justified. I'm not disputing that misogyny exists, I know damn well that it does.
"That is sorta the point of this article, right? If I get attacked, I don't get to choose to not be female." I'm saying by polarizing this like you do, you make yourself into the type of thing the misogynists look to, those nagging overly emotion based women. I'm saying you draw unnecessary lines while building your arguments. And in the castration thing, I was pointing out that only an insensitive close minded woman would bring that into play (not that you are that way), just the same way the small jokes bother you (in some cases rightly so).
"Why can't we liberate ourselves and our culture from violence? Why "doesn't it work that way?" Isn't that why we read "common dreams?" Because we dream of a different way of living?" You keep flexing the language of my argument. I'm not saying "stop dreaming, you can't win" not in the least. Not in the least! why would I entertain this exchange like you try to, if I believed nothing could be gained from it? I say asking for liberation from violence, especially by providing yourself with better arms to fend men off with is not the way to go. Liberation as far as I understand has been achieved by women through often extraneous measures, which in some cases helped to isolate and victimize them. (read some of the fringe feminist activities) If you present a rational argument you can do fine. I don't think tasers are the answer to anything. A woman on the street with a taser, is just as endangered, the same way a man with a gun is threatening his own life just as much as any attacker who might come his way.
I can't stress enough how capable we should be to step outside of our defined roles when speaking to one another, and to a large extent in our daily lives. Yes when physically attacked, gender will not be something you can ignore as immaterial, but when you're not naked and controlled, your personal being should be as evident or incognito as you want. You say you don't have this ability at the beginning of your reply, but I don't think this is the case. Very few things you think should be "I as a woman" just as much as it shouldn't be "I as a liberal," or "I as a forty five year old" "I as a heterosexual," all of that can be dropped, as it only serves to separate us.
Well, I don't have the privilege of "separating" myself from my gender association. That is sorta the point of this article, right? If I get attacked, I don't get to choose to not be female.
Why can't we liberate ourselves and our culture from violence? Why "doesn't it work that way?" Isn't that why we read "common dreams?" Because we dream of a different way of living?
Of course we don't all agree or have the same ideas about how to create social change; that is why I asked you and all readers in good faith about your ideas and strategies.
And misogyny is a learned behavior exhibited by people and institutions. It isn't based on "misunderstanding." It's about power wielded violently by one group over another.
I would stop making it a matter of one vs. the other
be it in terms of gender, or race, or politics. "I ask you- and all the male progressive..."
you group yourselves in with one another in given sections only, why? Do you agree with all the women or progressives or any of those, probably not. You agree with people who share your sensibilities and your needs and for the most part your world view. Don't set yourself up with false parameters. I purposefully separate myself from age, gender, and any other affiliations I can avoid, because they don't offer anything. I would feel the same way about this as a female as I would a male. Gender violence is not something you can be 'liberated from' that's not how it works. misogyny is just another level of misunderstanding, that we like to attribute to males because of that barrier, but so far as I'm concerned, the way to fix that is not stronger, better armed women. It is a more stable human to human relationship, built not on defensiveness, but in openness. You make yourself sound like you too are on a pedestal looking down, right on with how the biggots would dismiss you.
Ren ren - you are RIGHT. Sexual violence is no joking matter. Violence begets violence. Agression does not create safety.
That is why you must agree that all of the uninformed comments about teasing, tire changes, small dogs, can do attitudes etc . . . are all ridiculous, unhelpful, and small-minded.
So, I ask you - and all the male progressive-minded commenters - how do you propose we liberate ourselves (including you) from gender violence? Which means, how do we prevent attacks from happening in the first place, rather than focusing ONLY on defending ourselves from attacks?
I hope to never hear considerations of castration again, even jokingly.
Celabrate said "Because if you're looking at violence as the solution,
I say male castration and mandatory curfews are much, much, better options."
you would have to be a total basketcase to consider that funny, and to act as if it is something of an answer?
if you're a woman, and you think that is funny, you've betrayed everything that women, and people in general are supposed to have as sensibilities. don't you know about empathy. this isn't some matter of lifestyle, you are talking about. This is a part of their being, physical and emotional. What type of a person jokes about that?
Castration with a dull spoon is the best option for sex offenders but we need to do something about the worthiness of our courts. I feel I need to address this. I hate sex offenders. I was raised by 5 women and one loser. To the ax!
Heck I know I can't talk because I'm a guy, but I would like to enter hacky sac as an option to fighting and tasers. I used to get beat up all the time as an inner city youth until I learned hacky sac and I have not been in a real fight since, the whole hood would watch. Self esteem plays a big part in it for me.
The ability to but my foot down where ever it may need be put, with the necessary force and direction, is a big thing. There is nothing more beautiful than a woman hacker, need I say more? I hope all the women hackers age as beautifully as they play! WOW!
All right - I am calling you boys out on your sexism.
Twister22 - So, tasers are bad, but physical agression is good? Come on? This is progressive?
And why are you making it my burden as a woman to end gender violence? How is my attitude supposed to stop violence? Mostly men perpetrate gender violence - what is YOUR responsibility?
Whatfools - what about protection for "the married woman?" - since married/partnered women are way more likely to be attacked by their partner?
Can we be a little more progressive, people?
Because if you're looking at violence as the solution,
I say male castration and mandatory curfews are much, much, better options.
Dreamertoo, most violent crimes against women are perpetrated by acquaintances. If you think this is my opinion, look it up. I am not blaming women, silly; I am blaming a culture that tolerates violence against women. And then tells women to learn judo to stop the violence.
Sigh.
Tasers should be outlawed because it would create a criminal society. There would be swarm of innocent people tasered from behind and then robbed by criminals.
America, the land of morbid obesity and... Tasers.
"...what are better ways of liberating ourselves from gender violence?"
Judo. Kung-Fu. Tae Kwon Do.
And a can-do/don't-take-shit attitude.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0piEyfcVAk
Um, I wish I was kidding about my friends.
"It's My Party: I'll Taser if I Want To "
I just heard about the new drinking game with tasers that have a rheostat! These crazy floks in Bellevue tase(?) themselves till it makes them react and they have to drink! As it goes around the room you just turn it up! Isn't that smart?! Just like politics and the law! Now I know I have smart friends!
I think I'll buy one because I'm afraid of burglars when I'm in the shower...
If tasers don't leave marks, I'm with those here who see them as the new domestic violence weapon of choice. Fists leave bruises...
This country is insane - unleashing destructive technologies like these into the world because the "free-market is the most compassionate" donchayaknow.
I'm for people using tasers if they let me use the defibrillator on Cheney. Repeatedly.
or would I prefer waterboarding? Surfs up!
Decisions, decisions!
She's using Bush's scare tactics to sell. What does the law say if you taser an intruder and the intruder dies? Manslaughter or first degree murder?
A fool proof protection for the single woman:
a suicide belt
a hand granade
a small dog
take your pick.
"mostly perpetrated by the acquaintances of women" (celabrate)
Who's a misogynist?
Blaming women for being attacked is obscene.
Stop the hate and stop the violence.
I agree with the gist of most of the comments but as usual, the issue of violence against women, which is endemic and mostly perpetrated by the acquaintances of women, is minimized or ignored by the commenters.
Look at the misogyny of dreamertoo's comment:
"Teaser or Taser? Let her change her own flat tire."
Progessive, eh?
So, all of you commentors, if we all agree that taser-toting is a horrifying and fruitless way of stopping vilence against women, what are better ways of liberating ourselves from gender violence?
Sorry celabrate; I read 'acquaintances' as 'acquiescences'.
re: Whatfools January 5th, 2008 2:57 pm above,
"Now we can 'taser' our misbehaving children?"
I was just reading about a dad abusing (and almost killing) his children. He might not have used an available gun (too permanent and hard to cover up) but he would surely have grabbed a taser in a second. These will be used to torture in the home. I'll bet it takes less than five years before we start to hear horror stories.
It's not the "less harmful than guns" that's important, it's the "doesn't leave marks." Tasers for kids sounds like a sick joke, Tasers ON kids is gonna be the story that'll open a few peoples' eyes. Makes me cringe to think of it.
Sailia asked What does the law say if you taser an intruder and the intruder dies? Manslaughter or first degree murder?
What y'all seem to be missing is that in many states it is illegal to shoot an intruder, UNLESS they threaten your life with a weapon (knife, gun, etc).
What y'all are also missing is that in all states an intruder has the right to sue (and win) if the homeowner harms the intruder. I guess when the first tasered intruder brings a civil case against the homeowner this will open people's eyes.
I bring this to your attention to demonstrate that our laws, and society, is really f**ked up.
A significant number of guns used to commit crimes are guns that are stolen in home burgleries. It's comforting to know that yet another weapon of violence is being introduced into the criminal arsenal as the "free market" for weaponary continually expands. I suppose it's better to be silently tazered in an elevator by a mugger than shot with a conventional gun thereby disturbing people who are peacefully sleeping nearby.
whatfools January 5th, 2008 2:57 pm,
yeah, where did they say you can get them?
You could put somebodies eye out!!!
Another piece of evidence that the govt has sold it's souls to the money scoundrel, devil; and the citizenry follows, much.
Gun ownership in the U.S. has clearly and absolutely nothing to do with defending the country or even a state against internal and external enemies; and it has really nothing to do with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Sure, the Constitution and BoR are used to argue in defence of the right to gun ownership, but all it's really about is as per the status quo "me, myself, and I, alone, screw all of the rest of you" culture AGAIN, as usual; in the good'ol US of A, whatever you want the 'A' to mean.
Oh well, US of As want to give the rest of the world all the more cause for mocking and hating the U.S. It's not like the rest of the world and sane Americans needed more proof, but it never ceases to be added to.
Even bearers of loaded guns can have these removed and turned against the owners. It only takes a little "savoir faire".
Gun-happy US of As.
"She loved the idea of the Taser, which would allow her to stop an attacker from across the room without getting physical."
Teaser or Taser? Let her change her own flat tire.
"Are we going to arm out teens as well. How about something for the baby in the stroller?" (since1492)
strollerblades?
This falls into the same logical category as the great global arms trade.
M-I-C-T-C (Mil. Indust. Congr. Tupperware. Complex)
vaudree-
Being a woman tasers don't make me feel safe either.
In the 1980s I lived in Philadelphia in a relatively crime-ridden neighborhood. Many people I knew were mugged. The thing that always stuck with me was a story of a woman who carried a gun, and when she was mugged, the perpetrators overpowered her and were able to use her own gun on her.
Coming soon to a WalMart near you. In many new colours, too! Watch your MSM ads for the next sale!!!
this brings to mind a 'keystone' cops-like scenario where the bandits are facing the police and they all keep bumping into each other and falling down. it could be the same with the tasers: joe public versus the police force. all tasering each other simultaneously and falling down, then recovering and getting up and doing it all again...............ad infinitum
Now we can 'taser' our misbehaving children? Egad!
The story behind this story is the absurd, usually unwarranted, paranoid, class and race-based fear among bourgeois USAns. Please get over it.
Wow-this is not our father's bb gun now, is it? May I introduce my solution to this problem
As a 50-y/o independent woman working in food service and care providing with all over the clock working hours, I have carried an excellent quality nickel-plated brass whistle on my key chain since high school as a deterrent/alarm and it has worked fine both times I have had to use it. Scares the pants off anyone nearby; assailant takes off running, adrenalin reabsorbs and on with my life I go. A bit shaken but not harmed-proactive, aware, anticipatory.
Also watching myself and the environment, walking purposefully with my head up and not looking lost or stupid–we've all heard this common sense repeated a million times. If only we could remember it in moments of need.
I have always been afraid that if i had a weapon it would (or could anyway) be taken from me and used on me instead-not a pretty thought since I have a low pain tolerance and a broken up body to begin with.
Is there a demo at the presentation?
"Ladies, who wants to go first?"
Anybody breaking into your house in the middle of the night is either armed, on drugs, or some little prick from the FBI trying to get a peek at your address book. If they are on drugs, the taser, probably won't work. If they are armed they will have the gun pointed at your head way before you get close enough to taser them. That only leaves the FBI prick, and I say, taser 'em bro.
I was wondering when this story of Taser parties was going to be covered. There was a report on Taser parties way back on November 21 on CTV - go to video where it says: "CTV British Columbia: St. John Alexander on how Tasers are viewed south of the border 2:11"
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071121/taser_kennedy_071121/20071121/
As a woman, tasers don't make me feel any safer.
RE: - for a serious chat about the fears she believes they all share.
The Shock Doctrine used to make money - surprise surprise!
RE: - And unlike other weapons, she says, Taser forces its customers to submit to a criminal background check before giving them a code to turn on their weapons.
Like they do for handguns and other fire arms? Or is this like the locker combination you are not supposed to share with your friends?
What did people used to do to cars when they did not have the key to start them?
Former adviser to Harper and Day lobbies for Taser
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071214/taser_lobby_071214/20071214/
What a country! Only in America could we have the freedom to buy a pink taser. Are we going to arm out teens as well. How about something for the baby in the stroller? And then Grandma and Grandpa. Let's just replace the stars on the flag with guns, put on our brown shirts and help the empire stomp all over the world in its IRON HEEL.
Hoa binh
Making money-convincing people to purchase instruments of torture. Some people wouldn't recognize a moral or an ethic if it bit them in the arse.
absolutely stunning..........
From pepper spray to pink tasers. Remember when Fascinating Womanhood was encouraged to carry little bottles of pepper spray around? Wonder how taser sales to the Gay community will be framed?
Switzerland has outlawed the use of tasers by police as being instruments of torture. But Switzerland is civilized. The US is not.
Finally they are now a "consumer" item, I think our legislators have missed the boat, there should be a law that says every newborn infant shall be presented with a personal protection device of the parents choosing of a revolver, pistol or taser. we would have a citizenry armed and therefore safe and more importantly feel safe while they slept. Lets do it right. The fine print also deals out a full suit of body armor to make you doubly safe. Bring on the turrists and bandits etc.