Suicide of Tyler Clementi

Suicide of Tyler Clementi Tyler Clementi was a college student at Rudgers University in Piscataway Township, New Jersey, who allegedly committed suicide after his sexual encounter with another person was exposed to the public over the internet by his two friends, Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Suicide of Tyler Clementi specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The online broadcast took place without the knowledge of the eighteen-year-old freshman in college and it made him to jump to his death from the George Washington Bridge on September 22, 2010. Ravi, through his Twitter feed details, had hinted that he was to broadcast another live video of Clementi’s gay relationship with his boyfriend (Pilkington, para. 8). However, this did not happen as Clementi was outraged at the continued exposure of his privacy and he went and committed suicide. Because Ravi and Wei are responsible for invading the privacy of Clementi, t hey should be severely punished due to the fact that through their selfish acts, someone died. Every American deserves his or her right against unsanctioned invasion of privacy, and Clementi was no exception (Baniser and Davies, para. 2). More so, since he was eighteen years of age, he is a fully-fledged citizen of the United States of America. This fundamental human right has been the value of the American way of life and the so-called technological inventions of this century should not try to contravene this fact. The legacy of respecting other people’s privacy has been an essential ingredient in the maintenance of the American culture that started over four hundred years ago. Some young people who violated this essential virtue that has held the American people together for years caused the suicide of Clementi. Therefore, should they be allowed to go scot-free because of technological improvement? No, the tenets of a society are timeless and Ravi and Wei, who are all eight een years of age, were old enough to judge that their actions were likely to make someone feel irritated. Currently, many young people are violating the rights of their friends, just as Ravi and Wei did. This has caused many damages as many of the affected have ended up killing themselves in order to avoid the ensuing humiliation.Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Should we allow this trend to continue? If such habits are allowed to continue, especially among the American youth, how will our society be in the next ten or twenty years? As the old saying goes, prevention is better than cure, the severe punishment of Ravi and Wei will serve as an example that such kind of habits cannot be tolerated in the modern American society as they are likely to break the very fabric that has maintained it for many years now. More so, since this incident has received increased media at tention, the whole nation is watching the outcome of the case. Therefore, the severe punishment of the offenders will serve as a lesson to prevent the future occurrences of such violations of law that have far-reaching consequences. This can teach the significance of civility, with special emphasis that the misuse of modern means of communication is not allowed. In the first place, broadcasting a live video over the internet of the sexual encounters of Clementi is a societal evil that could have not occurred. Besides breaching the privacy of someone, the offenders did a horrible mistake of letting the public know of the habits of their friend. Friends are supposed to guard the interests of one another, and instead of doing this, Ravi and Wei went contrary to this very basic tenet of friendship and washed their friend’s dirty linen to the entire public, an action that regrettably caused his premature death. Due to this, the offenders are supposed to be in big trouble because o f their uncaring attitude of failing to think of the consequences of their actions. Clementi, a gifted violinist, was someone who had a good-looking future. And, for his friends to joke with his private life in public is horrible. Instead of minding their own business, Ravi and Wei put up cameras to catch the actions of Clementi for fun and they should bear the blame for his death. The circumstances surrounding Clementi’s eventual death began when Ravi posted a Twitter message that read, â€Å"Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay† (Foderaro, para. 1). On the same day Ravi posted the message, Rutgers University had started a campus wide initiative to teach its students on the ethics of the use of new technology. However, disregarding this initiative by his college, Ravi went ahead and posted the damaging information on the private life of his roommate.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Suicide of Tyler Clementi specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The actions of Ravi and Wei â€Å"gravely violated the university’s standards of decency and humanity† and the efforts of the institution to encourage â€Å"civility within the social life of the campus† (Foderaro, para. 13). Therefore, because of the catastrophe that followed the violation of the rules of the university, severe punishment should be given to the offenders so that others may not repeat the same mistake. Within the state of New Jersey, it is considered a criminal offense to invade the privacy of someone with the intention of gathering or seeing images portraying another person’s nakedness or sexual encounter while he or she is not aware of such actions. This fourth degree crime can make one serve a potential prison sentence of up to ten years, if other charges are also included in the crime. In additio n, the dissemination of such pictures to the public is a third degree criminal offense that can make one to serve a prison sentence of up to five years. More so, within the regulations of Rutgers University, collecting images of someone without his or her consent is an outright violation of the student code of conduct. As a result, Ravi and Wei are likely to be thrown out of the institution. Therefore, being students at the university, Ravi and Wei cannot prove to be ignorant of the repercussions that were awaiting their action of invading the privacy of someone. Before the advancement in technology, schoolchildren bullied one another, especially by the use of physical force. However, with the invention of modern technology, things have changed and the physical altercations are rarely used as schoolchildren bully one another by the use of the power of the technology. Notable is the use of the internet to send derogatory comments of someone. This is even worse as someone’s rep utation can be severely damaged when millions around the world discover something about him or her. This is the kind of situation that Clementi was put into when Ravi and Wei posted his pictures on the internet without his consent with the intention of harassing him. Therefore, for instigating the harassment, the two should face the penalties of the law. The death of the talented young man is very dreadful, especially since it took place in America and in the twenty-first century. Clementi’s young life could have been saved if his two ‘friends’ did not stream his video on the internet for the view of the public. What was intended for fun ended up ending the life of someone who was described as â€Å"very friendly with a very good potential for the future† (Foderaro, para. 6).Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In the United States, suicide is the second most common cause of death among teenagers, and, most of the time this is caused by disagreements among the teenagers themselves. Since college life is a time when most young people discover themselves, it is essential that one find productive social relations. However, this was not the case with Clementi as he failed to enjoy his life in college because of the continued harassments of his so-called friends. It is astonishing that Ravi and Wei were not considering the consequence of their actions by infringing on the rights of their fellow college mate. In conclusion, it is certain that Ravi and Wei should be severely punished for publishing the videos of Clementi and his boyfriend online as their cruel game ended the life of someone who had a great future. If they could have not done this, Clementi’s life could have been preserved. He committed suicide because he was unwilling to face the public humiliation of his action. Baniser, David, and Davies, Simon. â€Å"Privacy and Human Rights.† Global Internet Liberty Campaign. Privacy International, n.d. Web. http://gilc.org/privacy/survey/intro.html Foderaro, Lisa W. â€Å"Private moment made public, then a fatal jump.† N.Y. / Region. The New York Times, 29 Sep. 2010. Web. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/30/nyregion/30suicide.html?_r=1 Pilkington, Ed. â€Å"Tyler Clementi, student outed as gay on internet, jumps to his death.† Guardian.co.uk. Guardian News and Media Limited, 30 Sept. 2010. Web. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/30/tyler-clementi-gay-student-suicide

7 Ways to Beat Writers Block

7 Ways to Beat Writers Block 7 Ways to Beat Writers Block 7 Ways to Beat Writers Block By Michael Every writer, at times, has trouble thinking of what to say next. Or what to say at all. The cause may be fear, pressure, perfectionism, but often lack of inspiration. No doubt even Mesopotamian scribes of five thousand years ago hesitated before putting stylus to tablet. We’ve written about writer’s block several times over the years, and here are seven practical suggestions to ease the symptoms of writer’s block. 1. Give yourself something to edit Seeing all my mistakes motivates me to change them. So why not leave your rough drafts rough? Dont proofread as you write. Leave out words (I, you, he, she, they, a and the) that may help you write faster. Abbreviate freely. Later, fixing these little things gets me into an mood for work, and I end up fixing the big things too. Correct spelling, neat handwriting or accurate spellchecking is only necessary to make sure you can later recognize what you wrote. Getting close may be okay. I’ve typed usable prose in the dark. When Ive seen rough drafts of famous literature, I marvel at how rough they were. 2. Get a running start As you work on your book, to make it easier to get started again, reread or even retype what you wrote last time. With my first novel, I allowed myself some light editing of what I had already written, before charging into the new days writing. That may not work for everyone. Many writers prime the pump by doing free writing putting down anything that comes into their heads. You could start by copying out a paragraph from an author you admire. Or type a common proverb over and over, such as All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. On second thought, dont do that. 3. Choose your stopping points Stop when you know what you will say next, not when you dont. That is, dont finish your scene before stopping for the night; leave it ready to finish the next day. Yes, this seems counter-intuitive, stopping the flow of words to keep the words from stopping. But this way you can choose your own stopping point instead of letting circumstances (or bedtime) choose one for you. Youre stopping at a point from which its easy to start again. For example, if youre Jane Austen writing Pride and Prejudice, as soon as your heroine finds out who broke her sisters heart (because the man tells her it was him), that’s a good place to call it a night. In tomorrow’s writing session, Miss Bennet will tell Mr. Darcy exactly what she thinks of him, and writing the rest of that scene will be a breeze. 4. Write super-slow Writing slowly is the normal way to write, so if you get used to it, you wont stress about it. Everybody thinks faster than they can verbalize. A professional speaker might give a memorized speech at 9,000 words an hour, but a professional writer can’t memorize anything because they haven’t written it yet. They might write 1,000 words an hour, less than one word in three seconds. Even dictating one word a second sounds embarrassingly slow to someone who isnt used to it. Great writers get used to it. Imagine Charles Dickens as he begins writing A Tale of Two Cities sometime between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. one day: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.. (long pause) it was the age of (pause) something (pause) wisdom, it was the age of (pause) something something (long pause) foolishness It sounds a lot better without the pauses, but I don’t think Dickens could have written without any. Dickens was sharp, but not superhuman. He was a phenomenally successful public speaker, but he spoke smoothly only because he carefully prepared his speeches. With a pen. He couldn’t write his first draft as smoothly. Even a skilled public speaker doesnt speak without pauses, so why should a writer feel ashamed of pauses? 5. Write super-fast On the other hand, you might try to write at the speed of your thought. Writing fast lets unexpected thoughts slip in. You will lose fewer of those good thoughts that flee away before you can write them down. When the thoughts come more slowly, that is less of a problem. When the thoughts come more quickly, you may find your fingers cant keep up with them. Above all, if you find your train of thought derailed by your internal editor, dont let it win. Simply refuse to edit until you’ve finished writing. One helpful technique: never hit the backspace key more than once. Tell your internal editor that at this point, if you want editing or proofreading, one backspace is all you get. Another helpful technique: never hit the backspace key at all. 6. Mix it up Changing around the elements of your story, making them fresh, will often spark inspiration. We wrote about one way to do that the SCAMPER method, which stand for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Magnify, Put to Other Uses, Eliminate, and Reverse but there are many others. Changing up your approach to your writing will benefit more than yourself. Readability experts such as Rudolph Flesch have discovered that readability goes up any time a writer uses an unexpected word, such as chicken in an astronomy article, or cucumber in a web design article, or any time a writer uses quotation marks anywhere. 7. Recharge your batteries One way to break your writers block is to change your routine. Research shows that you can increase your creativity simply by using your less-dominant hand occasionally. So spend some time away from writing. Spend time reading. Read something outside your field. Work outside your field (or work in a field, if you never have). Pray or meditate. Visit another part of the world. Chop wood. Talk to a a child. You’re a writer, yes, but you’re not only a writer. Becoming a fuller human being will make you a fuller writer, and writers block may become less of a problem. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Definitely use "the" or "a"Hyper and HypoEspecially vs. Specially