Negative thoughts

Some very negative musings today.


Failure to Launch


I watched parts of this again as BH was watching it. Here are some more comments. The music was good. Zooey Deschanel had a great quirky role. McConaughey's character was pathetic. At the family dinner he tried to put the blame elsewhere, never once considering that it was his behaviour that might have driven his parents to the measures they took. Later he says: "you could have just told me". Yeah right, that's easy to say. Typical male behaviour (okay I'm generalising but it's my blog, I'm allowed to). How do you do that "shifting the blame" thing? I'm a woman and a mother and naturally I assume that I am responsible for everything, and if anything, anywhere, goes wrong, it is quite likely to be my fault. Blame-shifting must be carried on the Y chromosome.

Another really creepy thing, especially in light of recent sad events which I will cover in a moment: the friends set up a meeting between Paula and Tripp and the tech geek sets up multiple cameras in the room. They watch developments on his laptop in a cafe, then hook it up to the large screens in the cafe for everyone to watch. Wrong. Which brings me to:




Tyler Clementi, R.I.P


This is the young man who committed suicide after his room mate Dharun Ravi and a friend, Molly Wei, filmed and broadcast him having an encounter with another man. Ravi and Wei have been charged with invasion of privacy. They may be charged with committing a hate crime, and isn't being a peeping Tom a crime, even a sex crime? It could be cyber stalking. What they did is not exactly murder, maybe not exactly manslaughter, maybe it is being accessories to the crime of suicide. I wonder what will happen to them. Maybe something minor, perhaps that same slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket that Roman Polanski received.

Here are a few ideas: first something I hope has happened already - expel them from Rutger's University. If that does not happen it says a lot about Rutgers' attitude to bigotry, bullying and homosexuality. Apparently Tyler reported the first such incident to the college authorities, I wonder what their response was? Next, maybe a prison term but I have a far more creative idea. Supervision. Constant supervision - all the time. Maybe by webcam but I think supervision by a person, maybe a series of parole officers, would work. The only non-supervised time would be brief bathroom visits. Supervised computer use, a bedroom shared with the parole officer, that same company in class and at social events. Even with their own family. It's a punishment that fits the crime - they caused Tyler's death by invading his privacy, so let's take away theirs. At least it should prevent them doing it again. Cruel and unusual? So is what they did to Tyler Clementi.

There may be the argument that they didn't realise how serious their actions were. That won't fly - they were university students, not 12 year olds. Even if it was intended as a stupid prank, I think it should be dealt with harshly. There is a lot of talk about cyber bullying, here is a high profile chance to do something about it.

How strange is it that homophobia is condoned in a supposedly advanced civilisation. It's time to look at the Christian values so dear to America. I would have thought one would be tolerance. If you don't agree with homosexuality, pray for those "afflicted", don't cause their deaths. Doesn't the Pledge of Allegiance, which children recite every day, have something to say about this? Oh yes:"Liberty and justice for all".

Let us hope Tyler did not die in vain. He is a martyr to the cause of respect, tolerance and freedom - that last supposedly being America's most important value.