<p>I agree Nrdsb4, they absolutely knew. I don’t know about the parents of Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei, but if one of my kids had done something like this to another human being, I honestly don’t know if I could ever really forgive them.</p>
<p>The RU president said in his open letter,… “these actions gravely violate the university’s standards of decency and humanity.” I’d say that’s an understatement. Hope the perps are expelled and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Just can’t imagine a roommate crossing that line. For me, the fact that one of them is a young woman somehow makes this even more reprehensible. After all, one’s supposed to be safe in their dorm room–their home. </p>
<p>My heart goes out to the family/friends of this young man.</p>
<p>Dreadful.</p>
<p>It appears to be a form of bullying, IMO. When will people wake up?</p>
<p>Nrdsb4…Yes they did know that they would hurt these boys. I suppose they did not realize that something like this could be the final straw that would result in death. This is so tragic.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I agree. I don’t believe they considered that this would be the outcome. They probably just wanted to hurt and humiliate him and subject him to public ridicule. Harmless “fun” in their view perhaps. Sick but not homicidal in intent.</p>
<p>[Video</a> - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com](<a href=“Video News - CNN”>Video News - CNN)</p>
<p>[FOXNews.com</a> - Calif. Teen Who Endured Gay Taunts Dies After Hanging Himself From Tree](<a href=“http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/09/29/calif-teen-endured-gay-taunts-dies-hanging-tree/]FOXNews.com”>Calif. Teen Who Endured Gay Taunts Dies After Hanging Himself From Tree | Fox News)</p>
<p>^two more cases in the news today.</p>
<p>Rarely are there serious consequences for the bullies who torment their victims. Unfortunately, it’s the victims who pay the price. Imagine waking up each day knowing that you will have to face another day of being tormented. </p>
<p>What will be the consequence or punishment for these 2 college students who illegally video taped the young man? Community service? A semester of suspension? What they did was not a simple prank. It was done with great planning and malicious intent. They planned the taping. They went through with the taping. It didn’t stop there. There wanted more. They wanted to hurt this guy down to his core. They took the next step and posted the video for all to see. </p>
<p>I don’t even know how to express in words my disgust for people who take pleasure in tormenting others.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>My experience with Bullies and thier parents is that the parents usually know their kid is a bully, frankly. Some rare parents actually step in and do something about it and others are just relieved it isn’t thier kid being bullied. </p>
<p>Then, the bully grows up to be someone like this and it’s the bully’s responsibility. </p>
<p>I hope they are prosecuted and sentenced to the full extent of the law, and I hope it is additionally prosectuted as a hate crime. This poor young man and his family. Such an avoidable tragedy. I just know there were people on that campus who would have helped him and come to his defense if he’d at least known some of them. So sad.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p>I literally did not sleep a wink last night…so depressing…</p>
<p>from what is being reported on this morning’s network news, prosecutors have every right to charge this as a hate crime; even if there was not a death involved; now, that’s a sure thing…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well said.</p>
<p>
I’m sorry, but why should it be easy for the bullies and their families? Isn’t that one of the consequences for doing evil things, that your family will suffer on your behalf? Their “not easy” is a whole lot better than what the victim’s family will suffer.</p>
<p>Doesn’t it make sense? How horrific and cruel.</p>
<p>These are the children brought up on a diet of Facebook, Twitter, and Reality TV. They lose their sense of morality and decency in a world where peoples’ lives are exhibited for the amusement of others on the Internet or television. You wonder if these kids really have any souls at all to do something like this.</p>
<p>Growing up in the internet age is no excuse for this behavior. If anything they probably know better than us how powerful it can be in taking people down. Besides, the internet social media have been around quite some time now. There were already a few well publicized cases involving internet. </p>
<p>So true how horrific and cruel. I don’t know how his parents deal with this. Loss of a child is always hard. In this case, it was so unnecessary.</p>
<p>I assume the other man involved (videotaped with the student who died) is also feeling horrible. He, too, has had his privacy violated AND lost someone close to him. I hope he has a good support system…</p>
<p>Sopranomom92, not to distract from this discussion, but there is another group that it is also still okay to harass in our society, and that is atheists. I have a child who is both gay and an atheist, so it is a double whammy to show her true self in our society.</p>
<p>intparent, interesting comment about atheists. Just last night S2 and I were talking about this issue. He is an atheist, and we discussed the fact that no one who is not a Christian could be elected president.</p>
<p>I am sick about what happened at Rutgers. I am not patting myself on the back, but I do take great comfort in knowing that neither of my sons are capable of cruelty. I can’t imagine having a child who could do something like this. No one gets through HS these days without hearing about the consequences of this kind of action from the school personnel, even if the parents haven’t discussed it. How could they possibly have done such a thing? Why didn’t anyone else watching the video stop them, or report it?</p>
<p>I came across a Forbes blog that has postings that the victim made to a gay men’s group. You can find it by googling “Kashmir Hill” and “Forbes.”</p>
<p>blankmind- I didn’t mean specifically the bullies- I meant their families, yes. While their children did do this, it can’t be easy on them either, especially if something like this is coming out of the blue. They must feel awful that their children were able to do something like this. So my heart goes out to their families too. It’s just a touch time all around.</p>
<p>I did not mean to imply that the victim’s families were not significant- they are. I just feel horrible for all the families involved. Such a tragedy.</p>
<p>He probably would not have felt compelled to kill himself if he did not feel like society - even his own family - would support and love him for who he is. This is not solely the fault of Ravi and Wei.</p>
<p>Furthermore, this seems like a prank gone horribly wrong to me. I’ve heard what Ravi wrote on his Twitter account, and I believe he and Wei would have pulled the same stunt if the victim was having heterosex. Just looks at the threads on the College Life forum about sexile - people gripe about it all the time. Perhaps they went too far in their prank but I don’t believe their intent was malicious. </p>
<p>I don’t think it’s fair to classify this as a hate crime and certainly not as murder! If these two are fundamentally decent people, then they will have the weight of the consequences of their actions. They don’t need to be demonized from people who wouldn’t know them from Harold and Kumar.</p>
<p>feenotype; If someone secretely filmed you having sex and posted it for all the world to see how would you feel.
Using the term “prank” assures me that you do not understand the gravity of the act of the two students who filmed this man…</p>
<p>Wow, no “fundamentally decent people” would ever even imagine doing such a cruel, horrible, insensitive and frankly unconscionable thing to another human being.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Of course it was malicious. How could you assign any other adjective to it? It was done to embarrass and humiliate the victim. It was cruel by design, not to mention completely illegal. That’s malicious in my book. </p>
<p>Did they believe it would lead to suicide? Probably not. </p>
<p>I don’t believe doing this would have even occurred to “fundamentally decent people,” much less would they do it, advertise it, and repeat the offense.</p>