Tyler Clementi’s Death- Who is to Blame?

According to New York Daily News, Tyler Clementi, an 18 year old student at Rutgers, killed himself after his roommate, Dharum Ravi and his friend Molly Wei streamed his sexual encounters on the internet.

The question now is weather or not Ravi and Wei can be blamed for Clementi’s death. It is probably safe to assume that they did not intend to drive the young man to suicide or expect the possibility that he would kill himself. However, being that they are described as intelligent people, they did know they were invading the privacy of this man during an intimate encounter. It is easy to then deduce that they were aware that their actions were causing him emotional damage. Ravi and Wei, probably did not know just how much damage they were causing but this not mean that they should just walk away scot free from this incident. Because one often cannot judge the emotional state of another person, one should not take part in any activity that could lead to a breaking point. Ravi and Wei severely invaded the privacy of Clementi without a single thought or care about the consequences of their actions. That was their fault. They should have thought about the consequences and the impact on this man’s life. Even if he hadn’t killed himself, his intimate life was broadcast for all to see. People, who had no business knowing who Clementi prefers to sleep with, now knew.  All because Dharum Ravi and Molly Wei wanted to be entertained, and did not care about the fact that their actions were affecting this man’s life in a major way. It is not that they did not know that they were hurting him, they did not care! They could not have known exactly how he would’ve reacted so even if just for that reason, they shouldn’t have done what they did.  Therefore,  Dharum  Ravi and Molly Wei are partially to blame for Tyler Clementi’s death.