Bjcorbin's Blog

As is often the case when I tune into the news, I was sickened by the report of the senseless death of Tyler Clementi; a freshman at New Jersey’s Rutgers University.  According to sources, Tyler jumped to his death, after a video of his intimate encounter with another man, which had been secretly recorded by his room-mate, was posted on the internet.

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While the despicable act of the room-mate has been universally condemned, much of the reaction to this tragedy seems to be focused on the homosexual aspect of the story.  And while I do understand why homosexual activists would want to use this as an example, I believe that the implications of this act extend beyond the issue of sexuality.  From my perspective, it points to a fundamental lack of respect for the privacy and dignity of all human beings.

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Though nothing excuses this heinous invasion, it seems to be in keeping with the increasingly voyeuristic nature our society.  Advances in technology and the popularity of outlets like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and You-Tube, have given us unprecedented access into even the most private aspects of each others lives; and by all indications, we as a society can’t get enough of it.  The entertainment industry continues to feed this frenzy with increasingly raw reality shows and artful explorations of the most twisted components of the human psyche.  At some level, the general public seems to feel as though it is entitled to this unfettered access.  For example, it’s not good enough that Tiger Woods would admit to cheating on his wife, we want to know the details and if someone has video, we want that too.  But if we as a society demand that kind of access, aren’t we implicitly commissioning acts like that of the room-mate in this case.  At 18 years of age, this young man has grown up in a time when little, if anything, has been off limits; and so what should we as a society have expected to stop him in this case?  Someone of my generation may answer, “Common decency”, but is there a commonly held standard for decency anymore.  Not surprisingly, lawyers for this young man simply describe him as “confused”.

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While many will point to this story as an example of why we need to be more “tolerant” of homosexuals; I think we’d be better to use it as an example of why we need to “respect” the dignity and privacy of all of our fellow human beings, regardless of their sexuality.  As near as I can tell, Tyler was a fine young man and my heart breaks at the thought that he is gone.