There are two ways to read or interpret the central message of "The Story of a Suicide." A reader may focus on the idea that Ravi's role in the suicide was almost purposely inflated by the media's inaccurate account when in fact, "there was no posting, no observed sex, and no closet". This could lead the reader to think that Ravi was just a regular guy that got caught in the wrong time/wrong place and bears no accountability for Tyler Clementi's death. The other way of reading this could lead the reader to think that Ravi's actions were not those of a "regular" guy but were in fact consciously and aggressively mean. Thus, per the law of cause and effect, he should be held accountable for Tyler Clementi's death.
While either read has some truth. A larger and more sophisticated understanding of the meaning of this story may lead to questions about the ways in which someone can be "innocent" in the sense of not entirely choosing or creating the situation in which one finds themselves but at the same time, is still responsible for the actions and behavior within these circumstances. Deeper understanding of issues, of ourselves and our responsibilities to others requires engaging with these larger, complex and more ambiguous truths––some things are not either/or. Does our access to information about others and the ways in which "gossip" can go viral present new ethical challenges? Where does free speech end and hate speech begin? Are there simple, black and white answers?
Write a paragraph defending both sides of the argument based on your read of the story and using textual evidence as always; this means 2 paragraphs, one for each side. Then write one more paragraph with your interpretation of how you view the story now that you have looked at it in this more nuanced way. Where did you start, where are you now?
Choosing Sides
ReplyDeleteDharun Ravi in my opinion is guilty as can be. I hold up this argument with the fact that he completely invaded Tyler's privacy and mocked him from the very beginning. Before he even met Tyler he I.Med his friend stating "FUCK MY LIFE/He's gay" referring to his new roommate. "He posted a link to the Justusboys page on his Twitter account: 'Found out my roommate is gay.'" From the very beginning, Ravi was against Tyler. He made fun of him and humiliated him in public for everyone to see. Anyone who read this tweet, whether they were going to attend school, visit Ravi, or know that they were roommates would associate Tyler as gay and that he had posted on this justusboys website. This is personal information that is not Ravi's to share with the world. Moving past the "initial shock" idea that Ravi was just surprised he had a gay roommate and did not know what do to, we move to the fact that the tweets did not stop here. Ravi continued to tweet about his roommate in a negative connotation. When Tyler was asking politely and giving forewarning that he wanted the room to himself, something we have all done in college as we shared a room with 2+ people, he was patronized for it. Ravi tweets: “Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay.” Ravi does something that is unforgivable, he completely invaded Tyler's privacy by actually flipping on a switch to video tape what Tyler is doing in his private time. And then after spying on him, he posts it for everyone to see! No matter how you read this article, Ravi's actions were completely purposeful, there was never an accidental tweet about his gay roommate and there was never an accidental video recording that took place. The "viewing" that he was going to share with everyone and even publicized on his twitter, was only cut short because Tyler knew it was going to happen and unplugged the computer himself. This is proven true when Ravi texted his friend and said "it got messed up and didn't work LOL" indicating that he attempted to video tape he sexual encounter but failed to dos o because Tyler unplugged the computer. Ravi is 100% guilty in every single way. No one deserves to be patronized for being who they are and there is no excuse for spying on someone and cyber bullying them for the world to see.
I find it hard to defend Ravi...I really do not think there is an easy way to mis-read this article and see that Ravi was "regular guy caught in the wrong place." His actions were all done with conscious thought as well as voluntary action. I suppose one can take the quote "I feel bad for him" or "I don't really care, except what my parents are going to say" and see these quotes as not really caring that Tyler was homosexual. Perhaps all those other quotes that Ravi said were trying to form to what his friends though and knowing what phrases his friends would approve of. He might have been conforming to society and telling his friends what they wanted to hear. Ravi also says "he had changed his mind about the broadcast, and had disabled his webcam." Although there are texts and tweets that do not support this, again maybe Ravi was simply conforming to the society he lived in, one of hatred and ignorance.
Tyler was going through a very rough, transitional part of his life. He was at a new college, was not in real contact with his friends, and he was gay. Among other things, he was already a shy person and very quiet and to himself. He did, however, seem to be very open and even adventurous when he was online. His online personality seemed very different than the personality he portrayed to the outside world. I do think that Dharun Ravi is guilty, but should not face anywhere near ten years in prison. Even before meeting Tyler, he was talking bad about him, giving him a bad name. You can not just hate on a person because of their sexuality. It is hard for some people to overcome this reality, but it is a part of our society that will need to be accepted. It’s a part of life. Ravi openly called Tyler out on his sexuality on Twitter, which may have offended Tyler. He not only ousted his sexuality, but he said it in a negative manner. On Twitter, anyone can be a follower of a given person, so basically anyone could have seen this information about Tyler. Not only did Ravi just complain about his roommate being gay on Twitter, he also set Tyler up. He placed his laptop in a position so that he would be able to spy on Tyler and see why Tyler had wanted the room to himself with another guy. At a later date, Ravi actually tries to get people to call his laptop so that they can also see what Tyler was doing in his room. However, Tyler was reading Ravi’s tweets and turned off the powerstrip and turned the laptop around so that Ravi’s plan wouldn’t work. Ravi also tries to cover up for his mistake once he figures out how much trouble he might be in. He initially texted his friend saying that “it got messed up and didn’t work LOL”. This shows that Ravi had purposefully planned to set up his webcam for himself and others to view Tyler and the mysterious other man. After Tyler committed suicide, Ravi tried to reword and rephrase some of his tweets, but it was too late. He made a huge mistake and may be charged with the cause of Tyler’s death.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Ravi, who was a heterosexual 18-year-old guy, was probably caught off guard by having a gay roommate. After he made his presumptions about his roommate and vented to his friends, he became to be more open to the idea of having a gay roommate. I think the thing that caused Ravi to invade Tyler’s privacy and harass him was when Tyler asked to have another guy over the room, for alone time. I could see how that could upset Ravi. He was young and immature. I could see many of my guy friends being grossed out if a gay roommate of theirs asked to have another guy over and basically tried to kick them out of their dorm. Personally, I have never asked anyone to not be in the room at a certain time because I need “personal/private time”. I think that shows a lack of respect for roommates and their personal space because it is also their room. Just the thought of asking one of my roommates to not be in the room for a certain amount of time would make me mad and make me feel that they don’t respect me as a roommate and I would automatically know that they just wanted to hook up. I guess I kind of find that immature, too. Ravi, although he is guilty of trying to view their intimate time and let others see it, as well, should not get anywhere near the amount of ten years in prison. I think that what he is going through now is enough guilt for him. He most likely has learned a huge lesson from this whole situation. As teenagers and young adults, people face a lot of adversities and difficulties. There are so many stories of people being tortured and abused, but they are able to come their struggles. Many people have been through really rough times, including myself, which is maybe why I feel that a person needs to be able to pull themselves through situations and come to grips with reality. Tyler may have been thinking of jumping off of the bridge for a while and Ravi may have been the person that pushed him off, like the cherry on the top.
ReplyDeleteI personally think that Ravi is definitely guilty for invading privacy and trying to broadcast Tyler’s personal time. Also, his publicly degrading tweets about Tyler are out of line. However, I think that 5-10 years is far too many years to charge Ravi with. I could see community service and definitely therapy, and maybe 1 year in prison at the most. He is completely wrong for doing what he did, but I’m sure from this entire process he has learned a great lesson and would never do it again…or at least I hope that.
Drawing the Line
ReplyDeleteI found this article very interesting. I think it is very relevant to this class and our society today because so much is being put out onto the internet now. Ravi definetly should be punished for what he did. The fact that he was so publicly "outing" Tyler was ridiculous. Posting it on twitter and facebook saying "“FUCK MY LIFE / He’s gay.” or "Its the fags like this guy that just cause all sorts of trouble." With the internet now there is no way that Tyler wasn't seeing this comments or at least hearing about them. That must have been extremely difficult for him, and knowing that these comments are coming from your own roommate is scary because they are constantlty around you and your belongings. Even though Ravi's equipment for taping Tyler "got messed up" the intent was still there. He had planned on taping Tyler without his consent to humiliate him.
Ravi should not be guilty of this crime. First of all he never posted a video so therefore there was no disturbance of privacy. He also has his own right to write whatever he wants on the internet and can tell his friends whatever he wants. Many people see things on the internet that they don't like or that really offends them but they don't let it get to them. Also I am sure there are websites out there for celebrities where people just bash on them, celebrities could see these websites. If they read these and then committed suicide should you blame the people who wrote their opinion?
I personally think that Ravi should be punished in some way. I do not think however that he needs to spend 10 years in jail. I think that Ravi took it to the way extreme. He had to have known that what he was putting on the internet was going to get out.
Bullying or a prank gone to far?
ReplyDeleteWhy Ravi's is not guilty
This case was a national phenomenon because it signifies that in this digital generation where there are very little ways to keep secrets when they could be easily be seen by others. This was one of these cases. Ravi should not be convicted because he did not put the video on the internet, and did not truly violate any of Tyler Clementi's privacy rights. Many people in this country believe that being gay is wrong and they are very vocal about this issue some even post their disdain on the internet yet they have never been charged with a crime. The same should go for Ravi, who to some may have said hurtful things about being gay, he is not the only one and he should not be the only one who is punished. Also Tylers choice to commit suicide was his own, and not anyone else's including Ravi's. Tyler may have been suffering from depression, or having suicidal thoughts, or he may not have accepted himself as being gay and this incident pushed him over the edge to where suicide was his only option.
Why Ravi should by found guilty
Ravi should be found guilty because he facilitated a hate crime against his room mate Tyler Clementi. Seeing the constant derogatory comments online, and learning that his room mate and his room mates friends had seen a video of him with another man. This was a classic case of bullying that went to far and ended someones life. If online bullying becomes a regular thing in society, we can expect to see many more cases like these where young people begin to believe that they shouldn't show people who they really are. Intolerance to this degree should not be allowed and Ravi should be punished for what he caused to happen, because of him the Clementi family will never see Tyler again, and Tyler's life was cut short all because of mean things said on the internet.
I believe that Ravi should be punished but not to such a harsh degree, since he physically did not kill Tyler. I think that this case sends a message that there is intolerance and hate all around us but as a community we much work to stop it so that there are no more cases like Tyer Clemnti.
Lauren Rocha