I just read Ian Parker's "The Story of a Suicide" in the Feb. 6, 2012, edition of The New Yorker. It gives the story of Tyler Clementi, the gay young man who committed suicide at Rutgers after his roommate filmed a romantic encounter between him and another man, and Dharun Ravi, the roommate who Tweeted and IMed about Clementi and watched Clementi's actions via webcam. The story Parker portrays seems very much like immature teenage abilities to respond with any sort of control leading to an unfortunate outcome. It also is very unclear about at what point Clementi became upset enough to kill himself and why. Ravi is now headed for trial on the charges he faces. He refused to take any plea deal (including one that didn't require him serving time). It will be interesting what sort of precedent this sets: how far are we going to make this case a landmark case setting the stage for bullying? Was it even bullying? Was it just teenagers in a new environment trying to adjust to one another? As a result of Clementi's death and other gay teenagers' suicides, the "It Gets Better" campaign was launched to help gay teenagers make it through the teenage years. However, Parker's story also points at a class-based issue between Ravi and Clementi. That aspect has all but been ignored in the press I read previously about this case. It will be interesting to see whether that issue arises at trial and whether any of the lessons will be geared towards more igniting issues than just sexuality.
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