What the Heck is Going on Here?

I am worried that we are approaching a dangerous point. Back in the 60's and 70's it seemed like police didn't hesitate to crack some heads whenever they lost control of a situation or couldn't get the violators to cease and desist. I am referencing for the most part the non-violent protests of the Vietnam war in which a lot of heads were tee'd off on with police batons.

You don't really see a lot of this anymore except for in other countries, but in this country is seems like the taser is the new police baton. The image of someone's head being split open or someone swatting at their back like they are a lumberjack chopping wood is pretty unsettling. By it's nature, the taser is not nearly as dramatic and doesn't really have the same visual impact.

Despite maybe not looking near as violent though, I hear that being "tased" is extremely painful and I believe it. I can't imagine being electrocuted is at all fun. I have noticed over the past year that tasers seem to be being used all over the place.
People of all ages have been getting a healthy dose of volts; There doesn't seem to be much discretion in the application of them as far as age or situation either.
Yesterday a University of Florida student was tasered after he asked some questions at a talk being given by ex next president John Kerry. It wasn't Kerry that asked for the guy to be removed; it really isn't clear who made that call except it looks like it may have been the cops themselves. The subject of them and the way he asked his questions was clearly meant to provoke Kerry, but he wasn't doing anything illegal. Kerry responded by saying he would like to answer but he didn't really have the opportunity.

The officers seized Andrew Meyer and dragged him away from the podium. Meyer did resist and was a little hysterical but the officers got him on the ground without any excessive force. It is while he is lying there saying that he will walk out on his own if they let him stand that one of them lights him up. You can hear Meyer plead "Don't tase me bro!" but the cop wasn't having any of that. If you watch the video it doesn't really seem necessary at all.

I should say that I respect police officers. I wont ever pretend I know what their job is like and that I could do it better. However, I think there should be some responsibility when it comes to this type of thing. There is some serious controversy over whether tasers are safe or not and some people have died from them. I think that maybe tasers should be reserved for a little more serious situations. People should be able to ask shocking questions without actually being shocked.
The article and video are here.