Rutgers suicide: The life and death of Tyler Clementi
Two Rutgers students are accused of surreptitiously videotaping a college freshman, Tyler Clementi, while he had sex with another man, and broadcasting it on the Internet.
That student who was taped, a few days later, reportedly jumped off the George Washington Bridge to his death last week. Unfortunately, there's been a sad spate of suicides of young gay people recently, as documented in this ABCNews report.
My thoughts on this: the technology we have at our fingertips gives us unprecedented access to a worldwide audience. But we need to think about the appropriateness of the content we choose to share. And we need to respect people's privacy and desire to control their own personal information.
As for Tyler Clementi, at the moment, many news reports seem to be making the connection between the video surfacing on the Internet and his suicide. I'm hoping that people who are closest to him, who maybe spoke to him about the video, will give us all some insight into why this promising young man would kill himself. Suicide can be a complex decision.
You can scan the news reports about Clementi here.
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Comments
Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei ARE guilty of a hate crime, no matter how you look at it. But they probably won't be charged with one:
http://gravelle.us/content/tyler-clementi-hate-crime-victim
http://www.dailyscoff.com/?p=2645
Tyler Clementi may have done his attackers a favor by not taking them with him to the beyond.
But I'm not so certain he did society a favor by leaving them behind...
-jjg
Posted by: J. Gravelle | September 30, 2010 4:07 PM
This is just a minor annoyance, but everywhere in news stories on the Internet, on TV and on talk radio, I see this reported as a "videotape," "sex tape," "secret recording," and the like. It wasn't taped. It wasn't even recorded (at least by the perpetrators). It was livestreamed to the Internet via webcam.
Yes, this is a minor point, but it does underscore the gap between the technology available to today's kids -- technology that would make a Cold War spy jealous -- and the language of our current laws. If the laws had actually caught up to technology, this would not just be an "invasion of privacy," but something much worse.
I am sure that the fact that the student was gay and was "outed" in the most humiliating manner possible accentuated his mortification, but really, I see the "gay" part of this story as largely irrelevant. I would be equally disgusted to read of a heterosexual couple being the victim of such a thing. I know I would be humiliated, mortified, and really really angry if someone livestreamed any of my "private time" to the world over the Internet. Absolutely disgusting behavior no matter how you slice it, and worthy of a long long time in prison.
Posted by: GregR19 | September 30, 2010 5:00 PM
Tyler Clementi may have known about the webcams. Take a look at independent reporting.
http://gothamist.com/2010/09/30/students_say_webcam_spy_guy_is_misu.php
Posted by: None | September 30, 2010 5:17 PM
Sad and tragic series of events.
My condolences to Tyler's family and friends.
Laura Quebbemann
Posted by: Laura Quebbemann | September 30, 2010 5:57 PM
"None" wrote:
"Tyler Clementi may have known about the webcams. Take a look at independent reporting."
Clementi certainly knew about the webcam after the first incident, because the talk of his sexual encounter was all over the dorm. How does that justify what Dharun did?
Since Clementi found out about the webcam after the first incident took place, that may well be why Dharun's second attempt failed.
Posted by: D.S | September 30, 2010 7:41 PM
Perhaps I have an unjustifiably low regard for human nature, but I suspect this case, rather than being a cautionary tale, will inspire emulation by others. I did read one article that said that such antics (although usually directed at straight couplings) are common -- even something of a "tradition" at Rutgers ... and probably at other schools as well.
Posted by: BankStreet | October 1, 2010 6:19 PM