By Nicholas Proch
At Rutgers University in New Jersey a homosexual male student was made a victim of cyber bullying and privacy invasion by two of his peers at the university. Tyler Clementi was shown to many via webcam having a sexual encounter with another man unbeknownst to him. The embarrassment that this caused for Clementi led to his suicide, by jumping off the George Washington Bridge.
This is not the first time that invasion of privacy assisted by technology has caused an individual to commit suicide. In 2008, Jessica Logan hanged herself after her ex-boyfriend showed nude ‘sexts’ that she had sent him to many of her peers. Coincidentally, or perhaps not so, this case also involved invasion of sexual privacy.
There is much debate over how this situation should be handled, as this type of technology is very new in our society. There is no precedent that has been set as to how to handle a situation as complex as this. It’s going to be nearly impossible to directly pin Clementi’s suicide to the webcam incident, but there is little doubt that a team of lawyers will attempt to do so. There is also little doubt that this issue will simply be tried as a murder case. This will also be tried, or at least be viewed as, a matter of sexual orientation and human rights.
Being that there are thousands upon thousands of suicides a year, why is this one getting so much attention? Is it because of Clementi’s sexual orientation? Is it because of technology that was involved? Is it because we’ve run out of things to talk about? It’s a combination of all of these things. Whenever someone commits suicide it’s certainly a tragedy, but the following that this case has gotten has become ridiculous. There is a sense of rallying among the gay and lesbian communities against this type of exploitation.
There are those who are pushing that this case be tried as a manslaughter case, which seems very unwarranted. As a matter of fact, there is very little to link his death to the incident. If it was this one incident that set him off, it was surely only after being bullied and harassed his entire life, so why go blaming the last ones in a string of these types of incidents when there are more to blame. The crime must always fit the punishment, but in this case the punishment has a chance of fitting the outrage over this case, which ultimately isn’t how our justice should work. Manslaughter can and should only be charged if it is found that the aggressors saw this a foreseeable and desirable outcome.
The real issues that should be talked about in a case such as this are not even being discussed. Why do certain individuals have a certain angst towards the homosexual community? Why is suicide in this country the 11th leading cause of death? Why do only certain cases of suicide receive national attention? Why has no one questioned how insane Clementi may have been to jump off that bridge?
This incident was not a matter of a violinist from Rutgers University jumping off the George Washington Bridge due to bullying, but instead an issue of civil rights and tolerance. There is no doubt that the aggressors in this case should be tried for invasion of privacy. We should have no patience and room in this world for misusing a very powerful medium such as the Internet. However, with that being said, it will be very hard to differentiate what is harmless and what is malicious in nature. There isn’t a precedent to fall back on and every case is different as technology grows and shapes into something new.
Suicide should never happen and no one ever wants to see it happen, but it is completely preventable. Ultimately, no one would be talking about Clementi’s death if it never happened. It was very avoidable and didn’t have to happen. Until all the facts are presented society will point fingers in all the wrong places.