Analysis of a Media Contested Family, Neighbourhood or Community - Essay Example

Analysis of a Media Contested Family, Neighbourhood or Community Family, neighbourhood or community that has become the centre of media interest andreveals contests over values: Tyler Clementi Case The case being analysed here is that of Tyler Clementi. We will be analysing the discussion, texts and events after the death of Tyler Clementi the 18 year old student who committed suicide on being bullied over the web based in his sexual orientation by his ‘straight’ roommate and a group of friends in his circle. We will be studying various texts, interviews, discussions and revelations made by Tyler’s parents after his death and conducting rhetorical analysis of the texts. Tyler Clementi was a victim of cyber bullying and an alienation from his circle of friends and acquaintances due to his gender orientation. Tyler was a student of the Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey. He had jumped to his death in from the George Washington Bridge on September 2012 due to continuous social ostracising and humiliation over a period of weeks by his room-mate Ravi. He was a victim of gender-discrimination. (Zernike 2012) The cause of his death was ascertained by police, family, relatives and other connected with the suicide to be the ruthless sexual discrimination and cyber-bullying by Clementi’s friends. The United States of America has been plagued by hate crime since ling back. The first signs of a growing hate crime were noticed in the year October 7 1998, when the gruesome murder of Mathew Shepherd was committed by Aaron Mc Kinney and Russell Henderson. In fact, it can be worse that hat crime existed since long back, earlier than the Shepherd Murder case, which would make it worse and tougher to weed out from the modern day society of America. From what has been analysed form the Matthew Shepherd and the Tyler Clementi Case it emerges that most of these hate crimes happen due to a latent homophobia [resent deep within the subconscious of certain individuals in the society. As studied from the Matthew Shepherd case, his killers McKinney and Henderson were haters of homosexuals and afflicted with homophobia. Such people are referred to in the modern society as closet-gays. Men who are unconfident of the strength or degree of gender-appeal, unsure of their sexuality but on the other hand afraid to come to terms with it have been reported to indulge in hate crimes and behave unethically with gays and lesbians. In the Shepherd Murder Case, the prime accused McKinney was found to be a man with petite features. In the jargon of Laramie MacKinney was a wuss himself. “Wussitude haunts a boy’s every move.” That’s how gay-haters and hate-criminals are born, through a daily struggle of trying to be a gender they are not and ending up in a confused state of mind. “It must have haunted Mc Kinney most of his life”. Mc Kinney in the words of his roommate, George Markle, was a little thing, having a height of five foot six inches, weighing 145 pounds, and not cutting a formidable figure to be called manly or beefy. Mc Kinney had subconscious fears which lead him to commit the ghastly act. His inner fear that he was not a man in physique and built ate into his rationale making him hate gays. Ravi who was Tyler’s roommate was a constant companion to Tyler sharing his room all the time. He subjected Tyler to intense mental trauma by setting up web cameras in his room, filming his intimate moments with another male guest and streaming it online via social network platforms. The connection and inference that can be draw here is that Ravi along with other friends from the ‘straight’ or ‘heterosexual’ community were at problem here. The dissatisfaction with one’s gender leads to a dissatisfaction with someone else’s gender orientation. The fact that many males and females are confused about the gender orientation and neither have the courage to face nor work out of it, remains a big contributor to annual hate crimes in the US. It is a social war at large looming in the urban and rural American population between the homosexual minority and the heterosexual majority. Mathew Shepherd didn’t die because he was ‘gay, he died because Henderson and McKinney were ‘straight’. Just like McKinney and Henderson couldn’t stand homosexuals. Ravi, the roommate of Tyler could not stand the latter’s sexual orientation. Dharun Ravi and a fellow hall-mate Molly Wei used a Webcam on Ravi’s personal computer and another webcam on Wei’s dorm-room computer to record Clementi’s intimate moments with another man. Their sinister acts were not limited to filming the act but crossed all boundaries when they posted it online and urged friends via twitter to watch a second intimate encounter online. “Two days later, Ravi tried to set up another viewing. The day after that, Clementi committed suicide by jumping from the George Washington Bridge.” (Parker 2012) “Clementi’s death became an international news story, fusing parental anxieties about the hidden worlds of teen-age computing, teen-age sex, and teen-age unkindness. ABC News and others reported that a sex tape had been posted on the Internet. CNN claimed that Clementi’s room had “become a prison” to him in the days before his death. “ (Parker 2012) Shocking revelations were made by Tyler’s mother to the New York Times and other news reporting agencies when she said that she has minimum knowledge about Tyler’s gender disorientation. Even more hair-raising revelation were made when she confessed of chiding and ignoring her son’s urgent need for direction and counselling saying that it is sinful to be a ‘homosexual’. Following were confessions of mother Jane Clementi, “I told him I needed time," Jane Clementi told the magazine Out and About. She further added, “You have dreams for your children, and when someone tells you this, your dreams are kind of shattered for that moment.” (Portwood 2011) She later confessed that it was the Evangelical church that was the basis for her rejection of her son. Tyler was left alone with his gender dilemma and preference of gender for satisfying sexual needs. Tyler’s elder brother too was gay but found it hard to confide in him and in return help Tyler as a mentor and a friend. This is what Tyler thought would work best in confront his sexual orientation, “I was in my early twenties, so I always thought Tyler would follow the same timeline and we wouldn’t need to address the rainbow-colored elephant for a few more years”  Tyler did have a side that he never showed to his parent fearing rejection, which indeed was the outcome when he revealed his gender preferences. The Response of the Society While Clementi’s blamed the “bad luck of a roommate lottery and the cowardice of students who failed to step up and say that the spying was wrong.” it was evident that nothing was done when the case was incubating and Tyler needed counselling and parental supervision. (Zernike 2012) Larry Maggid Further, writer at Cnet News, further adds, “What these two students did was wrong for a number of reasons--and it would have been just as wrong, if modern technology hadnt been employed, or if the victim were heterosexual.” (Maggid, 2010) Dharun Ravi was tried in juvenile court and was served a short term imprisonment, but that was all. The case was closed and no legal steps were taken to set an example for the society to not commit such hate-crime and acts of bullying that would lead victims down the road of self-inflicted hurt and even suicide. Clementi’s mother thought that sexuality can be changed or prayed over. What she later confessed that sexuality cannot be changed or negotiated. It is a biological matter and is god gifted. What needed change was, people’s treatment to it, people’s reaction and their attitude towards the LSBTI community. Conclusion: Tyler Clementi’s case was handled in an inconclusive manner. The consensus was still not reached as to who what was to be done to the perpetrators in this case, how should the society and the family react and the overall judicial process for bringing people to justice. Here is an online commentary on the actions and course taken by the Clementi family which according to them is more consequential keeping the greater good in mind: “Tyler Clementi’s family won’t file suit against Rutgers University and Dharun Ravi — instead, they’ll use the publicity from their son Tyler’s suicide for “positive purposes,” like supporting gay and lesbian youth. (Zartesky 2012) According to the comments gathered from leading online sources as well as the media covering Tyler Clementi’s case, it can be gathered that it was a case of intolerance from all quarters. The perpetrators identified as Ravi and his friend circle were definitely the major culprits in their sinister acts which lead to the suicide, but equally to blame were Tyler’s parents who failed to treat Clementi’s gender disorder case with care and adequate sensitivity. From all the online commentaries and expert reviews as well as public sentiment the rhetoric can be analysed to be a sentiment that blames the entire system including the judiciary, the academic system, society and family also. Works Cited: 1. Kate Zernike. ‘After Gay Son’s Suicide, Mother Finds Blame in Herself and in Her Church’. 24 Aug 2012. Web. 15 Nov. 2012 Retrieved From: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/25/nyregion/after-tyler-clementis-suicide-his-parents-make-painful-changes-in-the-search-for-why.html?smid=tw-nytimes&seid=auto 2. Ny-Times ‘After Tyler Clementi’s Suicide, His Parents Make Painful Changes in the Search for Why - NYTimes.com’. 26 Aug. 2012. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. Retrieved From: http://www.voicingequality.org/2012/08/after-tyler-clementis-suicide-his.html 3. Voicing Equality. ‘After Tyler Clementi’s Suicide, His Parents Make Painful Changes in the Search for Why’. 2012. Web. 15 Nov 2012. Retrieved From: http://us.topnewstoday.org/new%20york/article/3157877/ 4. Ian Parker. “The Story of a Suicide: Two College Room-mates, a Webcam and a Tragedy”. 6 Feb. 2012. 25 Nov. 2012. Retrieved From: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/02/06/120206fa_fact_parker 5. Larry Magid. “Tyler Clementi’s Death is a Call To Action”. 4 Oct. 2010. Web. 25 Nov. 2012. Retrieved From: http://news.cnet.com/8301-19518_3-20018492-238.html 6. Jerry Portwood. “Tyler Clementi Felt Rejected By Mom”. 12 Aug. 2001. Web. 25 Nov. 2012. Retrieved From: http://www.out.com/news-commentary/2011/12/08/tyler-clementi-parents-interview-people 7. James Clementi. “Letters to My Brother”. 2 Jan. 2012. Web 25 Nov. 2012. Retrieved From: http://www.out.com/news-commentary/2012/02/01/tyler-clementi-james-letters-my-brother 8. Stacy Zaretsky. “Tyler Clementi”. 87 Oct. 2012. Web. 25. Nov. 2012. Retrieved From: http://abovethelaw.com/tag/tyler-clementi/ 9. Andrew Mach. “Tyler Clementi and Cyber Bullying: How Courts Rules in Five Other Cases”. 1 Jan. 2012. Web 25 Nov. 2012. Retrieved From: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2012/0222/Tyler-Clementi-and-cyberbullying-how-courts-ruled-in-five-other-cases/United-States-v.-Lori-Drew-2008 10. LGBT Weekly. “Tyler Clementi’s Parents Leave the Church over Anti Gay Teachings”. 27 Aug, 2012. Web. 25 Nov. 2012. Retrieved From: http://lgbtweekly.com/2012/08/27/tyler-clementis-parents-leave-their-church-over-anti-gay-teachings/ Read More