It seems there may be one small positive thing to come out of the suicide of Webcam victim Tyler Clementi -- cyberbullying
is all anyone can talk about. Although
the "debate" epitomizes the need for Jon Stewart's upcoming march -- either the roommate and his friends were simply kind-hearted, gay-loving practical jokers or should be charged with murder and sentenced to death -- it's definitely started a dialogue that you didn't get in past cases involving mean girls. Gawker dug up what is obviously Tyler's
final online communication about what had happened, and from what I can gather he seemed to be handling the situation surprisingly well, and mature beyond his years. (I thought maybe he hadn't realized his private acts had been viewed by more than just his roommate at the time he wrote on the message board, but when I went back and re-read his postings, he does know about the open invite from his roommate for people to log on and watch.) But clearly he was more distraught than his postings let on.
No one deserves to be humiliated like he was. But like all suicides, we'll never know exactly what caused the victim to go through with the final act. Life is a series of events, not just one moment.
And frequently when you're a gay youth, it's series of really painful events., which is why it is so important for our leaders to set an example that it's not OK to treat gay people like second-class citizens. The perpetrators in this tragedy should definitely punished for what they did. Still, you can't punish people for what you think they did
caused another person to do. That's just not how our justice seem works.
It seems there may be one small positive thing to come out of the suicide of Webcam victim Tyler Clementi -- cyberbullying is all anyone can talk about. Although the "debate" epitomizes the need for Jon Stewart's upcoming march -- either the roommate and his friends were simply kind-hearted, gay-loving practical jokers or should be charged with murder and sentenced to death -- it's definitely started a dialogue that you didn't get in past cases involving mean girls. Gawker dug up what is obviously Tyler's final online communication about what had happened, and from what I can gather he seemed to be handling the situation surprisingly well, and mature beyond his years. (I thought maybe he hadn't realized his private acts had been viewed by more than just his roommate at the time he wrote on the message board, but when I went back and re-read his postings, he does know about the open invite from his roommate for people to log on and watch.) But clearly he was more distraught than his postings let on.
No one deserves to be humiliated like he was. But like all suicides, we'll never know exactly what caused the victim to go through with the final act. Life is a series of events, not just one moment. And frequently when you're a gay youth, it's series of really painful events., which is why it is so important for our leaders to set an example that it's not OK to treat gay people like second-class citizens. The perpetrators in this tragedy should definitely punished for what they did. Still, you can't punish people for what you think they did caused another person to do. That's just not how our justice seem works.
6 comments:
What is bullying if not the act of goading someone in hopes of eliciting some type of response? This may not have been the response they wanted, but who really cares what they want; someone is dead now as a result of their cruelty. I don't see any jail time for either of them.
What these two did was violate USC 18 § 2257 and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Accordingly, for each of the actual persons seen in the video broadcast, the perps should get 5 years for not collecting the age verification documents, 5 years each for not cross-referencing the docs by name, 5 years each for not cross-referencing the docs by "porn" name, and 5 years each for not cross-referencing by the title of the depiction... meaning that the two students who pulled this "prank" could go to jail for 40 years. Oh, and they have to register as sex offenders for the rest of their lives.
This is the law that pornographers have to follow, and just because these two were students pulling a "prank" doesn't mean that they shouldn't be held to the same standard.
As much as I would like to see these two serve time in prison for their actions, I just don't see it happening.
The school hasn't even expelled them yet -- which is completely outrageous & disturbing. Does anyone really think they'll get any jail time? Poor Tyler -- he looked so sweet, I can't stop crying bout this.
I, too, am having trouble reconciling Tyler's seemingly calm and rational analysis of the situation one day with his suicide the next day. Perhaps someday a solid timeline of what exactly happen will come out. Did his RA or the university give him a hard time, for example?
"Still, you can't punish people for what you think they did caused another person to do. That's just not how our justice seem works."
Couldn't they be charged with some type of manslaughter? Their actions resulted in someone's death.
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