James Petty
As has already been said, and will be said again over the coming weeks, the Clementi/Ravi case is a two-fold tragedy. The death of Tyler Clementi was one of several highly publicised suicides that highlighted to America and the world the often silent destruction wrought as a result of homophobic abuse and bullying. The ‘It Gets Better’ project was a direct response to a ‘cluster’ of suicides, of which Clementi was one.
That, in the case of Clementi, there appears to be explicit, proximate and direct (read: chargeable) causal links between his suicide and the actions of his college roommate Dharun Ravi, is of cold comfort. Ravi has just been convicted of over 15 offences (including tampering with evidence, invasion of privacy, hindering prosecution and the hate-crime charge: ‘bias intimidation’), and faces up to 10 years imprisonment and possible deportation.
Ravi used the webcam on his computer to watch and film, with a friend, Clementi kissing (though some sources claim it was a sexual encounter) a man in his dorm room. Ravi tweeted about it, sent texts about it to friends and planned to do it again—reportedly planning a ‘viewing party’ for himself and others. Clementi found out, reported it and about two days later, jumped off the George Washington Bridge.
Clementi’s motivations and state of mind are unlikely to become clear to us, his suicide note and the three word documents he left open on his computer have not been released to the public. Nor are we likely to gain much insight into Ravi’s actions and the motivations or beliefs that may have prompted them, the high-profile status of the case ensures that.
Regardless, it is clear Ravi is being made an example of—America could not, despite its best efforts for most of the time, ignore the fact that kids who either were or perceived to be gay were killing themselves, in droves. Ellen Degeneres’ response to the suicides provides a good indication of just how dire the situation was (and likely still is).
That Ravi’s life, whether he goes to prison or not, will be irrevocably changed because of his careless, callous and likely only mildly malicious actions, is a tragic end to a wretched tale. If crimes were punished solely on the intent of the perpetrator, Ravi would likely be a free man. Unfortunately for him America must wash its hands of this and be able to claim that justice was done. And we, in our blood lust, demand a pound of flesh, which must come from somewhere.
If Ravi had not been tried or a not-guilty verdict was reached, I would be outraged and baying for his blood, stung with injustice and bitter with resentment. There is already a lot of talk about whether Ravi should be charged with a hate-crime (hate and callousness are different things), and whether a carceral sentence is appropriate or ‘fair’.
Talk of fairness seems cheap and pinpointing blame on one man in order to achieve ‘justice’ is narrow and shortsighted. If a young kid finds a gun and, without knowing what it can do, kills someone, we don’t charge the child with murder. We seek out the various factors that allowed that situation to occur, that made it possible and then make decisions about blame, about responsibility.
We should do the same here. Ravi, in my opinion, was a kid with a gun and didn’t know what it was capable of. I’m not talking about social media or the internet, I’m talking about his (heterosexual) privilege—his egocentric and hubristic view that his actions would have no consequences, a belief validated in many ways by society. The belief that (gay) people haven’t been bullied and marginalised and that they aren’t sensitive, vulnerable and in need of privacy and respect is dangerous and harmful. These assumptions indicate either a severe narcissism or an utter lack of empathy for the experiences and existences of others.
It might be appealing to instill a single figure with these worrying traits and pariah him, though its far more likely that Clementi’s death and Ravi himself are each products of broader social and systemic trends. Dan Savage, in addressing the verdict, reminds us that Ravi’s actions were likely just the catalyst for Clementi—the accumulated bullying and homophobia that he likely suffered through most of his short life was the real killer, not the silly actions of one unthinking young man.
m a few isolated and terribly admiral incidents, notably within rugby both here and in Wales—has been a long hard slog. And of course it still will be.
Southpaw Slug 
