This is just too bizarre to be true.

The situation we’re talking about is the one currently surrounding Andrew Meyer, a 21-year-old telecommunications major at the University of Florida who was tasered by police at a Sept. 17 John Kerry speech on campus.

Meyers was tasered by officers after resisting removal from the auditorium where his microphone was cut while fielding a question to Kerry.

The events are simple enough to understand, the facts are there.

It would be incredibly easy to just say there was a tremendous abuse of power by the police officers. Or to say that they should’ve been there to uphold their traditional maxim “to protect and serve” instead of offering up AC or DC.

All of that is completely obvious.

There is no excuse for how the police officers acted, let alone violently tasing a student still in the auditorium within earshot of other audience members. But this is just part of what’s so horribly wrong here.

The real issue lies in the actions of Andrew Meyer – or lack there of.

Meyer merely asked a rambling, somewhat confusing question about the final vote tallies in Florida’s 2004 vote.

What in that question deserved to get him tasered?

To localize the issue, Meyer was like one of those annoying high school students who always seem to hijack the open mic at the Tate Student Forum.

Annoying? Definitely. Who hasn’t sat there and rolled their eyes and prayed that the guy would just get on with it?

But taser-worthy? Not even close.

Just because the question asker was getting on people’s nerves doesn’t mean it’s OK to zap the hell out of him.

He was never a threat to the speaker or anyone in the audience.

In fact, if you watch the raw video, Kerry can be heard in the background pleading for the situation to stop and wanting to answer Meyer’s question.

One of the things every American has a right to is freedom of speech – no matter how irritating it may be.

In a university setting, especially, this right should be honored.

It wasn’t. And for that all of us are a little poorer.