Tyler Clementi posted those words on his Facebook page moments before he apparently leapt to his death on Sept. 22, according to a friend. But the message did little to hint at the crisis unfolding in the life of the Ridgewood teenager.Read it all, including a timeline, HERE.
In the days before, the personal life of the 18-year-old Rutgers freshman had been exposed on the Internet when, authorities say, his roommate used a webcam to surreptitiously broadcast a sexual encounter involving Clementi.
The Twitter page of Clementi’s roommate, Dharun Ravi of Plainsboro, hinted that Clementi was involved sexually with another man and invited others to watch a live webcam feed from the dorm room.
“Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with another dude. Yay,” a Sept. 19 tweet said.
Two days later, Ravi used Twitter to invite others to watch another encounter:
“Anyone with iChat, I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and 12. Yes, it’s happening again.”
Ravi and another student, Molly W. Wei of Princeton, have been charged with two counts each of invasion of privacy, the Middlesex County prosecutor and Rutgers police said Wednesday. Ravi faces two additional counts for attempting to view and transmit the second encounter, authorities said.
“His privacy was violated, very, very violated,” Rutgers student Daryl Chan said of Clementi. “His roommate was a very tech-savvy-type dude. He set up cameras all over the room and didn’t tell him.Dharun Ravi, left, of Plainsboro and Molly W. Wei, right, of Princeton are charged with illegally taping Clementi having a sexual encounter and broadcasting the images on the Internet.
Nothing. Just, nothing.
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I cannot think of a punishment apt enough for Ravi and Wei. Would that the Furies hound them *constantly* both during the rest of their *long and painful* lives with the guilt and horror of causing another person to take his life.
ReplyDeleteWhat a waste of such a young life.
ReplyDeleteHow would Ravi and Wei feel when they were taped secretly, while having sex, and someone would put it on the internet?! Once on the net it's very hard to remove it.
They can kiss goodbye to their studies at Rutgers or any other university, and say hello to the other inmates for years to come, not only for invasion of privacy but for murder as well.
This is heartbreaking. First that young Tyler was so ashamed of his sexuality that he felt the need to destroy himself once it was made public. This is our culture today, the stigma of being gay is still alive and well. We are less than whole and will remain so as long as our government legitimizes homophobia by continuing Don't Ask, Don't tell and the DOMA act. Such a waste.
ReplyDeleteI have a post of my own on this, following a terrific video...
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