Posted on 09/30/2010 5:50:53 PM PDT by Tribemike1
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The shocking suicide of a college student whose sex life was broadcast over the Web illustrates yet again the Internet's alarming potential as a means of tormenting others and raises questions whether young people in the age of Twitter and Facebook can even distinguish public from private.
Cruel gossip and vengeful acts once confined to the schoolyard or the dorm can now make their way around the world instantly via the Internet, along with photos and live video.
"It's just a matter of when the next suicide's going to hit, when the next attack's going to hit," said Parry Aftab, a New Jersey lawyer who runs the website WiredSafety.
Last week, Tyler Clementi, a shy, 18-year-old Rutgers University freshman and gifted violist, jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge after his roommate and another classmate allegedly used a webcam to secretly broadcast his dorm-room sexual encounters with another man. The two classmates have been charged with invasion of privacy, with the most serious charges carrying up to five years in prison.
The suicide shocked and disturbed gay rights activists and others on campus....
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Doesn't mean it was a voluntary fall is what I was getting at. The report was he left a note on a facebook page saying he was going to jump off the GW bridge. Who left the note?
Oh sorry...I had forgotten about his note.
But, I think I did read that there was a witness who saw a kid on the bridge, can’t remember if they saw the actual jump or not.
This case is not at all what it originally seemed to be, especially now that we are hearing the young man reportedly had been exposing himself on film over the internet. And the other messages he allegedly left on the internet asking for advice don’t read as if they’re written by a desperate young man.
Maybe the invasion of privacy didn’t drive him over the edge. Maybe something else happened to drive him to it, or maybe this wasn’t a suicide. His “suicide message” was so short. So many questions his family must have.
Yeah I saw a few things as well. He did not sound desperate just mad at the other kid. He did expose himself and looking less and less like a waif or sad nerd.
Who was the older man (?) supposedly in his room? Why would you post a bunch or mild posts and then go off the deep end and kill yourself. Like you said - he has all these internet posts then a short suicide note?
Maybe Ravi or the boyfriend killed him, dumped him in the river and parked his car there. Weird.
This is becoming now less a bullying or invasion of privacy case then another example of the madness of the university system especially the dorms.
He writes all these posts on the web where he just sounds a little angry. Had experience in exposing himself voluntarily on the web. So it looks like Ravi’s streaming was not totally devastating based on his posts.
He even talks about sticking it out because he is not a terrible roommate!
So this recording/streaming do not appear to be that devastating. He writes all these posts then has a two word suicide note? Huh? How did he get so distraught?
Someone said the man in the room was older? Maybe a professor? I am starting to think this may not be a suicide. Where was Ravi and his “boyfriend” when he was on the bridge?
Or was he on the bridge or just dumped in the river? This is may be a murder mystery.
And no I do not condone his lifestyle choice and no he sure “ain’t” looking like a waif/naive bookworm. But yes I still think Ravi is an idiot.
This kid may have been murdered. Types long posts where he is not distraught about the taping just angry and really more annoyed. Types a two word suicide note?
Where was Ravi/Molly and the boyfriend the night he went in the river? Ravi might have worried about getting expelled.
The boyfriend who one site said was “older” might be a professor. Professor Plumb with plumbing wrench?
I had no idea what any of this internet slang meant. Why can’t people just say it is objectionable without risking that a reader may have no clue as to what all those “shorthand” letters represent? Thanks for clearing it up though.
It’s not the webcams, although what you say happens. It’s the general and awful sexual mores of the common culture, and in this case far more so in the college culture.
Why does the University administration and adults at Rutgers, and at most US colleges, not only look the other way, refuse to provide clear moral guidance, but they actually encourage and even demand adherence to newer codes of moral perversion: that celebrate perversions.
As we know — for THIS IS WHAT HISTORY TELLS US, AGAIN AND AGAIN — in such situations, as great evil grows and takes over a culture and a system of laws, most go along as if all is normal, for to most people the rise of evil appears quite normal.
So in this case the two foolish children Ravi and Wei are publicly hung by the mob.
What of the older man who came to a kid’s room for casual sex, perverted sex? What of the dorm regulations, the student life culture, that says one MUST surrender one’s own room for such casual sex acts should a roommate demand it?
Young people who become trapped in such morally comprised situations have always and will always become — some of them — suicides. It is NOT the webcam that causes that.
It is the role of ADULTS to provide good, safe, moral guidelines for children gone off to college. Instead, gradually, we have come to accept the moral horrors and perversions of what is currently extant in colleges: amoral chaos and sexual depravity.
Okay, Roses, I will have to give you the benefit of the doubt because I am not going to watch a video of him “performing,” but (and now I can’t remember if you or another posted this) there were comments about an “argument with his older lover,” and again, sources, sources, sources. Direct quotes with a source listing is good. I tend to be very skeptical (for good reason).
Okay, so what’s wrong with someone posting text from a quote and citing a source. Citations can be made without a link. Meanwhile, DJ, that link was UP and I clicked on it without knowing and, well, it was a bummer. I wasn’t on there long enough to check it out.
Obviously this perverts suicide is a hate crime caused by a bystander.
Until you run into a poster that says "Prove it". And I was taught by old timers to ask for proof. Otherwise anyone can say anything and insist it's true. And get grumpy about "dead" links. I don't know if it makes a difference on FR. Porn links aren't allowed. Yech anyway, right?
Meanwhile, DJ, that link was UP and I clicked on it without knowing and, well, it was a bummer. I wasn’t on there long enough to check it out.
I never did click on it. Don't need to see it. Guessing you didn't either. Need to see it that is.
Not likely. It was initially reported that two witnesses saw a guy jump off the bridge at about 9 pm, that Clementi's car, with his wallet and his computer in it, was found nearby, and finally that he'd posted on his Facebook account that he was going to jump off the GW. Since then, his body has been recovered. I'm sure the ME will give it a good going over, looking for any signs inconsistent with death by bridge jump.
As for the boyfriend
, I'm curious about him, too. Clementi must have discussed the situation with him. He, too, must have been pissed at the privacy invasion. And the privacy invaders and / or their iChat audience may well know who he is, in which case the whole campus probably knows by now.
This makes me wonder.
Not only are we dealing with the late Mr. Clementi’s death, but it seems that in the last couple weeks, there have been THREE OTHER cases of suicides by suspected gay teenagers. A 15-year-old and 2 13-year-olds were constantly bullied about their supposed orientation. All three killed themselves because the bullying was too much. This was in three different areas of the country (California, Texas, and Indiana).
What the heck is going on? Is it now okay for people to bully others about their sexual orientation in order to get them to off themselves? Don’t get me wrong...I also believe homosex is vile. But I have a BIG problem with ANYONE bullying someone to the point of suicide.
My own take is that a lot of us are truly fed up with the homosexual lifestyle being shoved down our throats and more and more of us are fighting back.
One of the results is that a bunch of homos are being harassed and bullied.
Homosexuality is not normal, and this pushback is as normal as defending yourself in your home against intruders.
On young kids? To the point of suicide?
To me, there’s a difference between ‘pushing back’ and ‘terrorize and demean to the point of hopelessness’.
A friend's wife who is socially liberal/libertarian but votes GOP worked with a gay guy. He came from the midwest, very naive. He complained about the superficial gay scene to her about money, lots of drugs and clubs, etc. in the bigger city. Fast forward 18 months later and he is a meth addict and been through the ringer. Trying to get back on track, etc etc.
She has son's who like girls etc. She said she knows more about the gay lifestyle than she ever wanted to know. She said if she ever found out one of her son's was gay then she said he might be better off dead.
Drugs, beatings, insanely dangerous behavior, etc. When she told the story, I almost fell off my chair. I did not want the gory details but what ever they can think of - they will do. Gay men have figured out the most effective methods for spreading disease, viruses, you name it. I live in a pretty normal middle class neighborhood and their are two houses with men who are low key and keep their homes very nice - so there are exceptions to the rule. I think these monogamous types are the minority. I thought this Tyler kid was naive, just away from home but he sounds like he had been around the block. The school should not allow one student to have to stay out of their room so other students can have sex. Ravi should have said no. He should have been able to tell the dorm monitor - no. You go tell Tyler no or get me a new roommate...now.
I’m not excusing it, just my take on explaining why it happens.
Liberals have no understanding of human nature, and probably wouldn’t care even if they did.
Homosexuality will never be accepted, except for short periods of time in tolerant societies. Nature will always push back, and in this case kids indoctrinated with liberal nonsense end up in the crossfire.
Yeah, DJ, well... just got flamed big time on facebook (and blocked) and insulted by several people for having the audacity to say that there is more to this story about Tyler and that I don’t think it was homophobia. Imagine expressing a different view? Today, if you do not toe the politically correct mantra, you are in for it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.