This is a story about a guy who took his own life. About the bullies that caused him to do so. And about the real killer.
Tyler Clementi's post on his Facebook page, dated September 22 at 8:42 PM read:
Jumping off the gw bridge sorry.
Tyler was a 18-year-old student and a musician. As ABC News reports, his suicide was a result of two cases of cyber-bullying. On September 19th, Dharun Ravi posted on his Twitter:
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.
It would be bad enough if this tweet was the end of the joke. But the roommate streamed the video online. Then, two days later, it happened again. The next day, Tyler found out about the videos and posted his last status on Facebook.
I wish to believe that those two events were just student's pranks that ended up tragically. That there was no bad intention behind them. You know, university kids in the dorm, full of hormones and ideas for pranking each other, lacking the sense when the things can go really wrong. We've all been there. Still, the trigger was pulled.
Maybe it was the pranksters that pulled the trigger, but who loaded the gun? Would Tyler jump off the bridge if he was a quarterback caught in his room with a cheerleader? No, he wouldn't. He would probably just smile, proud of his new trophy. The cheerleader would probably had a bit tougher time in the next days.
photo by Dr. Les Sachs
But our society is fucked-up, and especially so when it comes to sex. What really killed Tyler and many others is impossibility for them to respond. They had no chance of standing up and saying
I'm 18-year-old student and I'm making-out on Sunday night.
It's perfectly normal behaviour. But in so many places one has to keep it as a darkest secret. Especially if they are gay or a girl. As it's not hard enough just being 18, with all the stress of that age, with body and mind going through all the changes. Now add all the problems of fitting in the new school and other daily freshmen stuff. Then add the pressure of the society that forces the youth against their nature.
Tyler could live with himself, with his age and with the stress of discovering own sexuality. He would probably fight his way with the bullies. But he couldn't live with the society. The pressure was too high. It pushed him off the bridge.
Who Killed Tyler Clementi? Well unless the police think some one threw him off the bridge, Tyler Clementi, killed Tyler Clementi. Lots of people have faced much worse circumstances and they didn't step in from of a moving truck. I don't wish anyone ill will. It was not his room mate, it was not society. People need to take responsibility for their own actions, Tyler Clementi KILLED……….himself.
Sure, people need to take responsibility for their own actions.
Why shouldn't society take responsibility for it's own as well? Let's not pretend that the society is good as we are the part of it.