Dziekanski and Taser Gun

By now, the whole world has watched the news that Dziekanski, a new immigrant from Poland to Canada, was tasered to death at the Vancouver Airport.

This is my arbitrary dissection of Dziekanski's name, which spells his own fate: can you see ' die ' in Dzie ? Also, the Z is the last alphabet, the end. 'Kan' means 'Kanada', the transliteration of Canada. 'Ski' refers to a sport or popular activity in a cold country with snow. His name means he will die in Canada.

My dissection of the name is rather arbitrary. I admit it is a play of letters and words. It has nothing to do with Science or Religion. It has nothing to do with prophecy or astrology. It just happened that the name Dziekanski kept coming back to my mind, when I thought about police brutality or use of excessive force. The letters of the name separated themselves, showing repeatedly in my head the fragments of Die, Z, Kan and Ski, and I was trying to make some sense out of it. Call it a co-incidence, fate, or whatever, but my concern is not about the name of Mr. Dziekanski. My concern is about Police bruatality or use of excessive force.

Canada is not a bannana republic. It is a democratic and free country. The R.C. M.P. (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) are well regarded. It is a positive symbol of Canada. However, no country is perfect in this world. You can find corruption and failure everywhere, yes, even in Canada.

In this particular incident, the man was tasered by the Canadian Police more than once. My opinion is that the Police used excessive force against this new immigrant from Poland. Poor man, he was an emigrant to Canada with the shortest life ! As soon as he had landed in Canada, as a new immigrant, he died. Maybe, the taser was not a direct cause of his death, I don't know, but it would be a reasonable presumption, that the use of taser on him would have expedited or indirectly caused his death. If you used the taser, or stun gun, on a person with poor health, you would cause the death of that person, either directly or indirectly.

It looked rather stupid, for the police to defend themselves, by saying that Mr. Dziekanski held up his hands, as if he was telling the police that he didn't care, hell with you guys ! The police even said that he was holding a stapler, as if he was trying to use it as a weapon to attack them. My views ? Holding up one's hands could mean different things. To the police defending themselves, it could mean " I don't care, go to hell you guys ! ", but to others, it could mean " I surrender ", or " What do you want from me ? I am giving up. I am not a dangerous man. I am only a new immigrant."

I watched the news about this Dziekanski incident many times. The man did not look dangerous to me. He looked tired and confused. He could be frustrated, even frightened and culture-shocked coming to a new country. Perhaps he didn't speak English, and was not able to communicate with the police effectively. Just imagine you were the man, who came to a new country, and suddenly four policemen appeared and came after you. What would you do ? What could you do if you didn't know how to speak the language of your adopted country ? All these factors must be taken into consideration, before jumping to conclusion that he was a dangerous man trying to attack the police. I look at the incident the other way around: the man was not trying to attack the police or anyone. He held the stapler, just in case, to protect himself, to fight back, if the police would attack him. He was frustrated, tired and confused, and nobody came to help him.

If I were the judge, I would not accept the police's excuse or presumption that the man was dangerous, holding a stapler, trying to attack them, or it would cause serious danger to the public. If he were holding a knife, it would be different. It would justify the police in using the taser on him. If he were holding a gun, it would justify the police in using not only a taser, but a real gun.

The point I want to make is this: don't tell me that 4 policemen would not be enough and able to control and subdue one man !!! It would be incompetence, don't you think ?

Well, I don't think the police should be charged with murder. They would not have an intention to kill the poor man. They were probably thinking of only doing their job, but sadly, they were being overly enthusiastic. It was an 'overkill' that they over-used their authority by using the taser and excessive force. The poor man was tasered not just once, but a few times. I think the family of the dead man should be allowed to sue the police for being negligent and using excessive and unnecessary force causing death.

The Police should change their policy, in disallowing or restricting the use of taser on unarmed people, who post no immediate danger to the police or the public.

What is your opinion ?

Edi Lee

Throw a shoe at Bush

Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi man who threw shoes at George Bush has been sentenced to 3 years in jail. His crime ? Assault of the head of a foreign state ! But he became a hero of the Iraqi people.

My views: Politics and the Law have a strange connection, mutually affecting each other. I use the word 'Law' instead of 'Justice' , because I don't believe there is any perfect justice available, in the current legal systems. Well, it is still better than having no laws at all.

When it comes to Politics, it often depends on which side you are on, in debating who is right and who is wrong. In litigation, it also depends on which side you are on: are you the plantiff or the defendant ?

There is no perfect objectivity or impartiality in either Politics or the Law. Often it became a game of power-struggle, tough bargaining, deal-making, and controlled optics, in creating an outcome which appears to be nice and fair. Appearance of being nice and fair, however, is not necessarily the same as actually being nice and fair, which can satisfy all parties.

In this example, it is rediculous to the Iraqi people that al-Zaidi has to go to jail for 3 years, for doing something which exactly represents their sentiment against Bush and his gang. On the other hand, I don't think we can expect the judge to simply set a-Zaidi free. That may offend U.S.A. and the Bush-supporters (how many ? very few, I think). There is a way out: al-Zaidi should appeal, or the Iraqi people, his supporters, especially the journalists and reporters, should make a request to the Iraqi Government, either the President or Prime Minister, for an unconditional pardon.

Did Bush get hurt ? No, that seems to be the only thing that he did well, sucessfully ducked and avoided being hurt by the flying shoes. If al-Zaidi should go to jail for 3 years, I think Bush should go to jail for at least 30 years, for breaking so many laws: U.S. laws, the U.S.A. constitution, international laws, UN Charter, human-right laws, and military laws. Bush and his gang caused the death of thousands upon thousands of innocent people: Americans, Iraqi people, and people of other nationalities. Innocent human beings died because of Bush and his gang !

The Iraqi War did not break out. It was manufactured by Bush and his gang. It is an illegal, immoral, stupid and unecessary war. Using God and Religion , to justify going to war, killing other human beings, and causing the death of so many innocent people, is not Holy War. It is Holy Shit. Bush, who created the Holy Shit, deserves to be hit by the Holy Shoes, don't you agree ?! So much Bullshit, I mean Bush-it !!!

More shootings, violence and horror

Shootings could happen anywhere, not only in a church, but when it happened in a church, it made one think. How could there be an all-loving, all-knowing and all-powerful god really ? Yes, you should think about this question, too, if you are a genuine truth seeker.

I am not against any religion, as long as the believers are peaceful and loving, and not becoming deluded and fanatic. For those closet atheists, please have courage and come out. There is nothing to be ashamed of, if you don't believe in the existence of a supernatural god. If you live in a free country, there is no excuse that you must stay inside the religious box and be afraid of being ostracized.

When I said "I feel sorry for the Christians", I didn't mean to be disrespectful. I am an ex-Christian. I understand the Christian faith very well. What I mean was this: I feel sorry for those closet atheists who continue to stay in the Christian box where they no longer belong. Come out of it. Have courage. Set yourself free ! You can still keep and practice all those good teachings of Jesus about love and forgiveness, without having to stay in the Christian box. You'll find less hypocrisy, and more freedom and honesty, outside the box. In the end, the decision or choice is yours. I am just expressing my views and giving you some suggestions.

Yes, there are more shootings, from Vancouver Canada to Alabama U.S.A. Next time if you happen to be in a shooting scene, don't presume some people are making a movie. It could be real !!! Protect yourself. Duck. Run. Leave the dangerous zone. Enter a safe place.

The news is bad. They found 5 human heads in some chests in Mexico. No, it is not a horror movie. It is real. Ha, violent and horror movies are so plenty in real life !!!

But not all is bad. Amidst the world financial crisis, Wall Street stocks went up :))) We are living in interesting time: hard time for most, and easy time for some. Happy time at any time for a few spiritual and enlightened people :)))

I wish you well !!!

Fast Edi

What's going on ?

What's going on ? Another shooting in a church killing a pastor ? Where was god ? Either he did not exist, or if he did, he was not all-knowing, all-loving and all-powerful. A god and father who just sat back and did nothing to protect the pastor and his own child was not a god at all. The pastor died.

Had he survived, the religious people would say it was a miracle performed by god. Praise the Lord !!! Now that the pastor died, what could they say ? Nothing, except the usual non-answer: it was god's will.

By the way, I am not against the Christians, only feel sorry for their belief based on blind faith that there is a supernatural god. I was a Christian myself. I understand their belief, but I finally woke up from my religious dreams to face the truth: there is no supernatural god. As Jack Nicholson, the famous actor said : hey you want the Truth... you can't handle the Truth !!! It is time to leave all superstitions and imaginary gods and demons behind, and deal with the real problems of this world in a scientific, practical and rational manner.

Praying, or not praying, won't prevent the crazy people from shooting you and your loved ones to death. In this example, it was not god's will that the pastor died. Had he survived, it would not be god's will either. It just happened, that's all.

New Creation

I created this new Blog on March 8, 2009 (Sunday). It is just the beginning.