By Justin Tam
Staff Writer
Intolerance and bigotry take many different forms, whether in laws restricting human rights or the abuse of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, in order to pester a certain demographic.
In a recent case, social networks were used as vehicles for callousness and harassment, resulting in the death of Tyler Clementi, a gay student at Rutgers University. This begs the question: when will action be taken to stop acts like this from occurring in the future?
Clementi, who was reportedly not open about his sexuality, had his privacy invaded by his roommate, Dhuran Ravi, and another Rutgers freshman, Molly Wei. They secretly recorded Clementi’s sexual encounters with another man and posted a link to the video on their Twitter accounts.
Three days after the incident, Clementi posted a Facebook status saying, “Jumping off the GW [George Washington] bridge sorry” and his body was found in the Hudson River a week later.
Backlash regarding the incident was immediate. Condemnation of Ravi and Wei’s acts came from all over the country, with critics citing anti-gay sentiments, the rise of cyberbullying and the increasing intolerance of the American youth over social networks.
Garden State Equality (GSE), a New Jersey statewide gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) group, called for schools to better educate students regarding bullying and for Ravi and Wei to receive the highest possible punishment for their acts.
“We are sickened that anyone in our society, such as the students allegedly responsible for making the surreptitious video, might consider destroying others’ lives as a sport,” GSE chair Steven Goldstein said in an interview with the Princeton Packet.
Ravi and Wei are currently charged with two counts of invasion of privacy, each with a maximum sentence of five years, and pending charges of bias.
Besides these charges, the pair may also be expelled from Rutgers for violating the code of conduct which prohibits cyber-bullying, harassment and recording someone without consent in a setting of presumed privacy, according to Director of Student Content Anne Newman.
On the surface, the problem seems to be the result of lax education regarding cyber-bullying and tolerance. In recent years, cyber-bullying has risen dramatically, often because of intolerance toward a person’s sexuality or mannerisms.
In the three weeks between Clementi’s suicide and when he was found, four other boys, some open about their sexuality, others not, committed suicide due to bullying.
This rise of intolerance is driven by the message sent to America’s teens by the continued efforts of intolerant organizations as well as laws and regulations put in place by the government. Policies such as the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and the lack of recognition of same-sex marriage in all but eight states fuel intolerance toward gays and others.
The hope is that, in the future, tolerance will become the status quo in a progressive America and that incidents such as the tragic deaths of Clementi and four other young men will never happen again.
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