Adam Carolla on The Biased Media & The Death of Tyler Clementi

Tyler Clementi was that Rutgers kid who killed himself. The media went wild, pretty much lynching the guy accused of "bullying" him.

This New Yorker article is pretty fair and extremely thorough. Maybe too thorough -- it's a long read, but if you read the first three pages you'll probably figure, as I did, "might as well finish it."

The facts demonstrate that Dharun Ravi, the supposed "bully," did in fact commit a crime. That crime? Invasion of privacy in the Third degree.

Wait, no, that's not right, he was never actually able to do that. Tyler Clementi realized that Ravi's computer's webcam was on, so he pulled the plug on the computer.

So Dharun Ravi is guilty of attempted third degree criminal invasion.

Pretty severe charge, eh?

Yeah. Well, because he was overcharged (they added witness tampering!) and of course the hate crimes, he faces a possibility of fifteen to thirty years in prison.

This really wasn't a "hate crime." It was an asshole crime, and it would never have even been a crime if a depressive loner hadn't killed himself.

Dharan Ravi was charged with criminal invasion of privacy (third degree! attempted!) and "bias intimidation," but really they're convicted him of having a roommate who killed himself.

Anyway, Adam Carolla goes off on it, especially media bias, and the media's need for "titillating" stories in which we're all racists and homophobes.

Great rant.

Found at Black and Right.

posted by Ace at 08:07 PM

| Access Comments