Tuesday, October 26, 2010
My reaction to the suicide of Tyler Clementi
The suicide of Tyler Clementi is a tragic event, which unfortuanetley has become much more prevalent in America with the rise of the internet and cyber bullying. Such acts in my opinion are unexcusable no matter where you live or who you are. The most interesting aspect of this story to me is the debate on whether or not this constitutes a hate crime. The outright psycholigical torture inflicted on Tyler by his roomates, in my mind definitley consitutes hate crime. Although I am not an expert on the American judicial system by any means, I know there is a gray area when it comes to hate crimes. If you are not aware, if this crime was deemed to be a hate crime, the two defendants who filmed Tyler would recieve a much harsher sentence. If the two roomates had pyhsically beat Tyler because he was gay, it would consitute as a hate crime. However, because the instigator for the suicide was psychological it is a lot harder to make a linkage between the filming and the subsequent suicide. To me bullying of any kind that leads to a suicide should be closely examined to see just how much the psychological abuse led to the suicide. If Tyler was a happy go lucky guy before the knowledge about the roomates filming him, such evidence is quite damning towards those who perpetrated the crime.
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