Student films roommate having sex, puts it online; roommate commits suicide

The story gets weirder once you get past the "Kids these days!" outrage (as if people haven't been doing shitty things to each other for all of time, and some of the victims committed suicide).

http://gawker.com/5651659/is-this-webcam-spying-victim-tyler-clementis-last-call-for-help

Kid seemed more "kinda annoyed" than "suicidally despondent" about the incident on a message board he frequented.

There's got to be a ton more to this story than we know.

 

Awesome!

 

My guess is that the perpetrator was not even tolerant enough to allow his roommate to have a boyfriend in the room even if they were just holding hands. I posted a request for some info on gender-neutral spaces on the Anything Goes board. What exactly is this? Is it a response to intolerance? It seems like what they really need are idiot-proof spaces.

 

Your guess is incorrect. The story clearly states that the victim asked for, and received, sole use of the room for the night, and it's pretty clear the perpetrator was aware of the victim's orientation and intentions.

This was a case of a jackass kid thinking it's okay to screw with other people to be funny. Making it into a case of anti-homosexual intolerance just isn't supported by the known facts.

 

No. You are wrong. This is a case of exploiting someone because you do not respect his way of life. It's the equivalent of making fun of the retarded kid in the high school lunch room. This is not the same thing as playing a joke on your buddy by showing him with a girl. The humor was not in the fact that they were being watched. It was in the fact that they were being watched doing something that the viewers felt was at least out of the ordinary. Saying, "Ha Ha! Look at my gay roommate!" does not equal tolerance. As for my speculation, I actually meant that the roommate likely would not have allowed the boyfriend to visit while both roommates were in the dorm room.

 

You have absolutely, positively, 100% no information that justifies that opinion.

 

First, I referred to it as "my guess." At no time did I say that I have proof of anything. Secondly, I think you're being extremely narrow-minded and will be proven wrong very shortly. Several stories now include reaction from individuals who believe that the individual's sexual orientation is extremely significant to the story. In closing, why must everything on this site turn into a war of words? It's discouraging.

 

Something else is up in this case.

 

Because I think the rush to fit any story, even with the barest facts, into a preconceived archetype is telling about society, and it's unfair to the perpetrator and the victim. And while of course it's not our business because we aren't involved in the case, whether or not the crime was hate-motivated will have a major bearing on what sort of punishment the perpetrator receives.

All we know is that one 18-year-old kid used a webcam broadcast to harass his homosexual roommate, who subsequently committed suicide.

Painting the perpetrator as a vicious homophobe and victim as a closeted, tortured teen who couldn't handle the outing is adding a lot to the story that we simply just don't know. There are a number of possible motivations for the crime, not all of which are hate. There are a number of reasons why the victim might have committed suicide, not all of which are related to this incident. There's nothing wrong with saying "We just don't know all the information yet."

The secondary link I posted before, http://gawker.com/5651659/is-this-webcam-spying-victim-tyler-clementis-last-call-for-help, paints a weird picture. It contains some posts made on a website for young gay men.

He is clearly annoyed how the first webcam incident was received by his roommates' friends, who were more concerned with his orientation than the fact that the roommate had been spying.

He also states "aside from being an asshole from time to time, he's an okay roommate," which doesn't seem to imply there were major intolerance issues between the two.

He seems kind of resigned to the idea that the school won't do anything about the first incident, but "resigned" and "annoyed" describe how he comes across than "suicidal" or "depressed."

He's aware that the roommate is planning a second webcast, but says he moved the webcam, searched for any hidden ones, and went about his business.

Then a few hours later, he committed suicide. It just doesn't add up.

 

30 days.

 

There was a story in the NYT A1 this morning that gay activists were, counterintuitively, taking up the cause of the defendant.

 

I have quite often being accused of being soft on crime, but this is ridiculous. You can get 30 days for jaywalking. Someone died as a result of this.

10 years? No. Maybe 1-3 is appropriate.