Two Rutgers University freshmen alledgedly shot secret video of a fellow freshman having sex with another guy. The subject of the video, 18-year-old Tyler Clementi, later jumped off the George Washington Bridge to his death. The couple allegedly behind the video has been arrested and could face even more charges if the case is determined to be a bias crime. I hope it is. The mopes won't see jail time but, at the very least, I hope Rutgers boots them out and the victim's family pummels them in court.
Bullying is a hot-button topic with me.
I was bullied from about age 8 to age 12. Daily and unrelentingly. I'll say two things about it. No one except a victim knows how frightening it can be and fighting back, sometimes viciously, may be the only answer. I pushed one kid's head through a window and fractured the skull of another. The bullying stopped but my family also dealt with some legal repercussions. So let me also say that fighting back may carry its own price tag.
Bottom line: whatever the circumstances, no one should ever be made to feel the only way out is off a bridge. I'll take a courtroom over a body bag any day.
I doubt the couple at Rutgers had any idea their video "prank" would turn out the way it did. At the same time, they allegedly went out of their way to humiliate another person. Whether they feel any remorse is questionable. If the case reaches a courtroom, I imagine we'll see some crocodile tears but who knows whether it will be real emotion or poor-poor-me grief.
As this case illustrates, bullying is not just about punching and kicking and it doesn't always stop after grade or high school. Witness the cruelty of a certain preacher and his followers from a Topeka, Kansas "church" who trot out their bias against homosexuals at funerals of soldiers and others.
And what do you want to bet that those fools intrude when the Clementi family lays their child to rest?
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