“Jumping off the gw bridge sorry”

That is, I hope, the most chilling Facebook status update you’ll ever read. Posted by Tyler Clementi, a young college freshman whose privacy and trust had been shattered by his trollish roommate. It was moments later that he would walk from his car onto the George Washington bridge and jump off, killing himself. Suicide in response to a personal crisis is never a rational act. So there is no understanding of it. Media reports have sentences like this one:

His exposure on the internet as gay caused him to kill himself.

There is obviously no doubt that the unbelievably heinous act of his roommate did drive this college freshman over the edge. It is also impossible to know what else contributed to this outcome. I’d rather we all just said, “I don’t get it. I don’t understand.” But we have to remind ourselves that when people are robbed of their human dignity, they can be robbed of their rationality too.

Who robbed this nice young man and talented violinist of his dignity? His roommate, Dharun Ravi. Both he, and his accomplice Molly Wei thought it would be great idea to surreptitiously broadcast Tyler’s intimate encounter with another male over the internet. Note: it is not a “prank” to so wantonly invade someone’s privacy who had placed their trust in you. It is a crime. Read More→