Cyberbullying and the Rutgers' Student's Suicide

[Going411x7 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Going411x7]

I watched with horror the account of the Rutgers' gay student's sad end. His roommate and a friend videotaped the seventeen year old in a sexual encounter with another man. When they posted the video on the web, the boy obviously saw his entire life somehow compromised (not so unusual for your average seventeen year old). So he leaped to his death into the Hudson River off the George Washington Bridge.

Now bullying has entered cyberspace. I remember my daughter being incessantly bullied back in Middle School because she was perceived somehow as "different." It left deep scars. Two of her high school classmates committed suicide (this was in the early '90s) after constant tormenting by their classmates--one because he was obese and "different," the other because he was gay.

Dear Lord! Teach us to love our fellow brothers and sisters, however you have chosen to create them.

[Batwoman Moderator ReservePEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close Batwoman]

Amen.

[vulcan Retired ModeratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close vulcan]

The worst side of human nature.

I cannot help but think, more could be done.

If I were a celebrity or sport-star, this would be the cause that I would try to bring attention to.

[cameraobscura Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close cameraobscura]

what sadness!

[crayrobs1 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close crayrobs1]

The horrible, ugly side of human existance. Young gay men are high risk for suicide in this society where intolerance is taught as the norm. The statistics are staggering. Why can't we all just appreciate our differences and celebrate diversity??

[CUSP82 Administrator Admin of the Month Dec 2014PEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close CUSP82]

Rest in peace young man!

[Gain4Pain Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gain4Pain]

This is terrible. However, he took it a little far jumping off the GW and commiting suicide. Everyone has problems and low points in their life. Now, his parents have to deal with everyone in the world knowing he's gay and that he commited suicide. If theirs one person I feel bad for, its his parents. When people like this commit suicide, it just shows how weak they are. People are diagnosed with cancer and terrible things and they continue to live and fight. It was also embarassing to gays, who think being gay is "normal". If it's normal, why did he have to jump off the bridge because he was caught having sex with a guy? Is being gay that embaressing? If a straight guy was caught having sex with a girl and put it on the internet I doubt the end would be him jumping off a bridge.

Also, this is not cyber bullying because we don't know if he was bullied before this incident. This is a case of a joke gone bad.
RIP regardless

[CUSP82 Administrator Admin of the Month Dec 2014PEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close CUSP82]

God gives you life and to take it yourself is wrong.It is also a cowardly act leaving problems behind that others have to deal with.When you take your own life you burden others with sadness and all the issues you ran away from and that is not right to do to those who love you.

[ErictheGed Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ErictheGed]

At 17 years old though, i can imagine this poor kid saw no way out. Not only his, but his folks' lives ended that day. I'm so sorry for them. God won't judge the boy harshly, no way.

[crayrobs1 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close crayrobs1]

This is terrible. However, he took it a little far jumping off the GW and commiting suicide. Everyone has problems and low points in their life. Now, his parents have to deal with everyone in the world knowing he's gay and that he commited suicide. If theirs one person I feel bad for, its his parents. When people like this commit suicide, it just shows how weak they are. People are diagnosed with cancer and terrible things and they continue to live and fight. It was also embarassing to gays, who think being gay is "normal". If it's normal, why did he have to jump off the bridge because he was caught having sex with a guy? Is being gay that embaressing? If a straight guy was caught having sex with a girl and put it on the internet I doubt the end would be him jumping off a bridge.

Also, this is not cyber bullying because we don't know if he was bullied before this incident. This is a case of a joke gone bad.
RIP regardless

Gain, everyone has a right to their opinion, and I do respect yours as well. But the issue is this, our society as a whole supports heterosexual relationships as normal and expected, and homosexual relationships as "abnormal" or "less than". Gay young people are faced with bullying and harassment early on not only from peers but from churches, parents and family members. They are in a period of their life where being "the same as everybody else" is very important - it is a developmental stage and well understood. As a child moves into adulthood, they begin to realize that being different in any way (not just sexual orientation) is ok, and they begin to accept their difference - this often becomes true through the college years and young adulthood. Still at 17, this kid wanted to fit in, be like everybody else, and he wasn't, and it hurt... it was an ongoing struggle. Being "outed" so dramtically put him over the line.

You cannot compare this to a situation of a straight kid being video-taped with his girlfriend and put on the internet. You know as well as I do that most of his straight guy friends would be slapping him on the back and saying "way to go!!" I can bet you this guy did NOT get that kind of similar "support" from his peers.

Suicide is a coward's way out, I agree. But why does anyone commit suicide? The guys who lost their fortunes in the stock market that jumped out of the window? The dad who shoots himself in the head when he got the eviction notice for his family?? Feeling alone, depressed, a failure... and maybe no one near by to help them through it...

just my feelings

[vulcan Retired ModeratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close vulcan]

Well said crayrobs1!

[TTBB Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close TTBB]

This story will stick with me for weeks .. so sad, so disheartening

[CUSP82 Administrator Admin of the Month Dec 2014PEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close CUSP82]

Maybe we should all keep an open mind, heart, and ear for these people. They do cry out for help and maybe if we don't hear them then they ARE alone and then one has nothing left to live for. They are alone! We can make a difference but WE have to be receptive to their needs and not at times so much our own!

[INTP Banned Find all posts View Profile Close INTP]

The horrible, ugly side of human existance. Young gay men are high risk for suicide in this society where intolerance is taught as the norm. The statistics are staggering. Why can't we all just appreciate our differences and celebrate diversity??

Suicide doesn't just afflict gay people. Rural areas here in Australia are blighted by extremely high male suicide rates, but word of this situation barely ever even gets into the paper.

[Pirate Retired AdministratorPEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close Pirate]

What a horrible, sad, and tragic story.
I so wish it was fiction.
Rest in peace, and may God forgive us all for those times wherein we have failed our fellows.