Saturday, May 25, 2013

Subscriber Services |

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Blinq

Ravi got off lightly?

Readers would rather he did time

26 comments

Ravi got off lightly?

POSTED: Thursday, May 24, 2012, 7:01 AM

UPDATED AT 3:43 PM

If readers had a say about Dharun Ravi's sentence, the convicted webcam spymaster would be headed for state prison, rather than probation.

So far I've gotten about 110 emails, voicemails and online responses to my column about the three years of probation, 30 days in county jail, 300 hours of community service and $11,000 fine Superior Court Judge Glenn Berman imposed Monday on Ravi.

The prosecution, which in March succeeded in convincing a jury to convict the former Rutgers freshman on bias intimidation, invasion of privacy and witness/evidence tampering charges, will appeal.

Setting aside those online commentators whose posts exist solely for their own or each other's entertainment, about two-thirds of the reaction has come from readers who believe the sentence was an injustice to Tyler Clementi, the gay roomate whose intimacies with another man Ravi spied upon, then Tweeted about, prior to Clementi's suicide.

Among the comments that were generally supportive of the sentence, a half dozen suggested that the prosecution had bowed to a purportedly all-powerful gay community. Close to 20 people asserted that Clementi's relationship with his mother had more to do with his suicide than the webcamming. Readers didn't fault Ravi's mother for her son's actions, however.

Kevin Riordan @ 7:01 AM Permalink | 26 comments

26 comments

Previous Story: The Chris Christie show

Next Story: Jersey's kiddie tan ban

Comments (26)

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:00 AM, 05/24/2012

yes, Tyler commented to a friend that after coming out, his mother had "totally rejected him"...this is a far more significant event than the web-camming, which a friend actually had to convince him was wrong. It was not right, but Ravi should not have the rest of his life ruined because he did something insensitive and rude at the age of 18 years...how many of us has ever done something we later regretted? Ravi is not responsible for Tyler Clementi's death. No one won. Enough!

— Jtstraus

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:19 AM, 05/24/2012

Notice to all on line commentators - Did you see this?
Paragraph 4--"Setting aside those online commentators whose posts exist solely for their own or each other's entertainment"

People, this is how the writers view us all. They discriminate against us because we have the freedom to tell it like we see it and they just can't handle the truth.

First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. - Mahatma Gandhi

— ADCacrow

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:22 AM, 05/24/2012

On the whole our comments are more well crafted and more interesting than the boring paper.
The editors should recruit some of the top commentators and give us some ink at the show.

— ADCacrow

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:01 AM, 05/24/2012

Kevin, if you feel so strongly about the comment section,eliminate it or would you rather complain?

— quigly46

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:09 AM, 05/24/2012

Ravi did not kill Tyler. as much as they want to push the connection. He got a fair sentence. Ravi's parents and his lawyers should be the ones to blame for not taking the deal offered.

— stevejones

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:23 AM, 05/24/2012

wait a second, i thought ravi knocked out clementi with chloroform, then tossed his somnabulant body off the GW bridge?

— barry m goldwater

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:39 AM, 05/24/2012

"And close to 20 people asserted that Clementi's relationship with his mother had more to do with his suicide than the webcamming -- an act for which, interestingly, no readers specifically cast blame on Ravi's mother."

Are you kidding me? You really believe those things are even close? It's perfectly reasonable to think that Mrs. Clementi's rejection of her son probably hurt him a lot more than anything a new college roommate could cook up. I know it'd hurt me more.

Also, I've never heard "webcam" used as a verb before. I think the term you want is "streaming."

— Ilmare

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:00 AM, 05/24/2012

It's interesting to see conservatives take sides with Ravi on this one considering he's not even a U.S. citizen. Deport him.

— theromneycult

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:34 AM, 05/24/2012

Who cares.... DEPORT this kid back to his homeland. He will never find a job here.

— gfatto

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:56 AM, 05/24/2012

18 year old did something stupid to make another 18 year old do something stupid to create a news story for people to make stupid comments.

— KillerPotato

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 11:30 AM, 05/24/2012

If he really jumped off the bridge because his sex act was streamed, then it had to be a breaking point. I can't see how being embarrassed around people you don't know would make someone commit suicide. There could be a number of personal issues that led up to his suicide. And we can all thank Kevin Riordan. He said basically that our opinions are only for ours or other entertainment. Regardless of what side of an issue someone takes, I respect everyone's opinions, even if we aren't working in a dying field.

— Flyerne3981

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:33 PM, 05/24/2012

Violating someone,s privacy, and encouraging others to join you warrants more than just a slap on the wrist. This sentence will do nothing to prevent this kind of situation from happening again. Neither this egocentric defendant nor his equally arrogant parents expressed genuine remorse.As a convicted felon, he should have his visa revoked and with his parents be deported back to India. They dserve him.

— richw38

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:40 PM, 05/24/2012

Mr Riordan, did Ravi's mother reject him prior to his webcam incident? Then why do you expect readers to compare her - using a complete fabrication - to what Clementi's mother did? It's obvious that you are disrespectful and disdainful of anyone who disagrees with you. Could you possbily be more "insensitive" to her?

— Bob1

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:42 PM, 05/24/2012

ADCacrow and Flyerne3981,

You may be taking Riordan's comment about commenters a little too personally. If you are the type of person who usually makes a well-thought out, interesting comment, congratulations. Riordan wasn't really speaking to you.

But if you regularly read the comment sections on Philly.com you can surely understand where Riordan is coming from. The comments mostly fall into 5 catergories:
1. The conservative who, regardless of the article they are commenting on, will blame Obama/liberals for all of the problems in the world. This category comprises about 45% of comments

2. The racists. Regardless of the article, these commentators make some sort of racist comment. This category comprises about 25% of comments

3. The non-Philadelphian who makes a disparaging comment about Philadelphia based on their own irrational bias. These commentors also often happen to be conservative. This makes up about 15% of comments.

4. The comedians. These people are just trying to be funny and entertain. They usually fail at being funny, although occasionally someone does hit one out of the park. This is about 10% of comments.

5. The smallest category of comments is the well-written, intelligent, insightful comment that actually speaks to and adds to the story in the article. I am probably being a little generous to say this category comprises 5% of comments.

So as you can see, it is not surprising that the journalists generally do not take the comment section very seriously. However, I have seen journalists engage with serious commenters in the comment section.

If you want the comments to be taken seriously, then people should make more serious comments.

— BJG

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 2:06 PM, 05/24/2012

macdad city,
First off, lighten up. Talk about taking things too seriously. It is not as if I spent weeks of my life tracking comments on philly.com and scientifically charting the comments into categories. My post was a satirical overview of the comments section, which generally is full of nasty, unintelligent rants. If you can't see that, well that's too bad.

You are right, I did not mention liberals, at least not directly. They sometimes fall into the 5th category of intelligent comments. I have even read intelligent conservative comments, although very rarely.

I should have included the idiotic liberal comments that foolishly respond to the idiotic conservative comments, in the first category.

I don't see myself as being biased. I just call it as I see it. But maybe I am biased. As that champion of the conservative movement, Stephen Colbert, so eloquently put it: "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."

— BJG