On September 19th a young man named Tyler Clementi was secretly recorded by his college room mate having sex with a man in his room and then posted it on the internet. On September 22nd, Tyler jumped off the George Washington Bridge to his death. His room mate, Daharun Ravi, and his room mate’s accomplice, Molly Wei, will be charged with invasion of privacy which is a maximum of 5 years. If it is proved to be a hate crime, which unfortunately is unlikely, the sentence would be raised to a maximum of 10 years. In order to prove it was a hate crime they will have to prove that they intended to cause harm to Tyler. I’m assuming they are only referring to physical harm.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to write about this story. It has taken me days to finally decide that it is too important to leave unsaid. At first I thought that all the media attention this story is getting is somewhat disrespectful. Tyler obviously did not want the masses to be discussing his sex life. I now feel that this is an opportunity for some people to learn what intolerance and bullying can do to a person. Tyler, just like anyone else, was a person with a heart and feelings. Some people have nowhere to turn when they are pushed to the limit and feel that the only way to not feel pain, is to not feel anything. I can only hope that it won’t be too long before homosexuals don’t have to have the worry of being accepted. That they wont be made to feel different and wrong; because they are not. Things like don’t ask don’t tell and prop 8 are supporting the backwards idea that gay people should be separate from all the “normal” people. It supports the belief that a gay person is some how less deserving of civil rights, thus less human, than a straight person. It’s embarrassing and I’m sick of it. Disgusted, really. The only problem is that the government wont change any laws until the public changes their opinions. This makes me feel hopeless. The only chance that homosexuals have of complete normalcy in society rests with the hateful and moronic people of our country to suddenly become loving and educated. It’s a depressing thought, really. I can only hope that the next generation is at least tolerant enough to keep these unnecessary deaths from happening.
I was going to blog about this story too, but decided against it. I'm really glad you did though. I too feel it is disgusting which is why I decided not to do it. Like you said, now its too important to leave ignored. Most people love Facebook and Twitter bc it really a tremendous tool to have socially, but we can see that in the hands of the wrong people it can change people's lives. In this case, it ended one. It is sooo easy now to post a video or tweet about something you just saw or heard no matter how personal it is. I hope they find them guilty. Even without a jail sentence I'm sure they will be hating themselves for the rest of their lives. The gay rights groups are using him as a prime example for the mindset of the country. These kinds of people make it seem like being homosexual is a dirty thing. Jeez, people just want to live their lives. All in all, I hope Tyler is in peace now and those people go to jail.
ReplyDeleteThis story is horrible and comes at a time when stories like this seem to be getting more and more prevalent. Not too long ago, there was Jesse Logan, who killed herself after her ex-boyfriend sent nude photos of her all over their high school.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be a growing trend of people's privacy being invaded and the things they hold most personal being put on display for everyone to see. A lot of the blame rests on technology and its tendency to compromise individual privacy. I feel for these teens' family and friends and hope that our society can figure out a way to put a stop to this “technology bullying”!
I am so glad that I am not alone in the feeling of hopelessness in this area. Hoping for a large portion of the American public to suddenly become loving and tolerant seems quite a long shot.
ReplyDeleteBut I do hope that with future generations, homosexuality will become sort of a "non-issue."
From what I have read and understood about Tyler was that he was a wonderful and highly accomplished musician - music we will unfortunately never get to hear because of intolerance.
Glad you blogged about this