If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Had Clementi not committed suicide or had the case not been given so much attention, Ravi probably never would have faced a jury. The prosecutors had no choice but to push the harshest possible charges.
The other key to proving this crime is how the victim felt and whether he indeed was intimidated. Yet because Clementi is not here today to answer questions or be cross-examined, nearly every example of how he felt has been barred by the judge as hearsay.
Rallying to punish Dharun Ravi does not do justice to Tyler Clementi's life, nor does it move us one step closer to preventing another young person from turning to suicide. The politics of blame are a dead end. Instead, we need to build out an ethos of shared responsibility.
To combat bullying, we need to stop the cycle of violence. We need to take the high road; we must refrain from acting like a mob, in Clementi's name or otherwise.
Suicide and rape are issues that should no longer be kept at a safe distance. As a culture, we have no choice but to face our demons, and victims of prejudice and abuse can no longer carry the burden alone.
It wasn't inspiration that got me off that bridge but a person who saw a boy in a perilous place. Fewer kids will die when it's not just their parents or their gay and lesbian peers but our entire society that is keeping an eye out on their well-being.
In order to truly address the bullying problem, we must accept that the central reason why bullying continues to be so prevalent among our youth is because of the ineffective attempts to combat the problem by adults.
Bullying, in many forms, may always exist. But much of the bullying that takes place today is trickling down from a culture and a media that gives credence to the hateful rhetoric that clogs our streets and airwaves.
As the tragedy of Tyler Clementi has shown, as adolescents go through a process of coming to terms with their sexuality, not knowing the distinction between public and private can have serious effects.
With guidance and support -- and with parents to set examples of what they think is appropriate -- kids can learn their place and their responsibility as part of a worldwide online community.
The authorities in education seem to feel bullying is an epidemic and "indicative of the violent times in which we live." They make it sound as if bullying is some new byproduct of the 21st century. It isn't.
It comes as a surprise that an anti-bullying platform has not been embraced by a single professional sports team. It's a good cause that could use a nice pop from the business of sports.
2010 was not a good year for privacy rights. While a growing number of people and companies seem to be concerned about the issue of protecting the most intimate details of our lives, technology is making it harder and harder to do so.
Throughout 2010, a number of colleges have tackled scandals dealing with everything from a highly publicized sex list to a suicide that set off a nationwide advocacy campaign to support gays and lesbians.
This is the 12th in a series of 12 posts expounding on the 2011 forecasts in the annual trends report from Salzman, president of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR and an internationally respected trendspotter.
However, the President notwithstanding, one voice has been largely absent from this chorus of progress: I am a heterosexual male with no personal experience being targeted by bullies for being "queer," a "fag," etc.
