Mythbuster

I just wanted to create a list of of myths about the incident. Hopefully people can share this and let more people learn what really happened. I would just like to note that I believe neither Dharun nor Molly is completely innocent (though Molly more than Dharun), but the media is playing them out to be worse than they really are.

1.There is a sex tape of Tyler and his partner.

Nope. First off, there was no footage of sex, (http://gawker.com/5651659/is-this-webcam-spying-victim-tyler-clementis-last-call-for-help) and there was no tape. Therefore, there was no sex tape. Only making out.

I repeat. According to Tyler’s own post on JustUsBoys, There was no footage of nudity, sexual contact, or sexual penetration. Just kissing. This seams to be one of the details that the majority of news sources are getting wrong.

2. Dharun broadcasted the video for EVERYONE to see/ posted it online at a website like youtube or ustream

Nah. Dharun shared the feed through iChat, which requires people to know his iChat ID, which was only known by his IRL friends. According to one report from another Rutgers student (idk how true it is, but it is from gawker), Dharun checked to see what was going on in his room because he saw a strange older man walk into his room. He opened the feed and saw the two guys kissing and immediately closed it. Again, I don’t know how true this is, and there is no way of checking. Also, there was no second streaming. Tyler found out before it happened.

I just read a Fox News article, where they write “Every move, every intimate moment was being secretly recorded and streamed live on the Internet.” Fox isn’t even just using bad word choice. They clearly state that it was streamed AND recorded. This is what journalism has become. One person misrepresents a word, and then more and more quote that person. After thousands of journalists repeat this mistakes, it becomes their reality. As they say…tell a lie enough times and you start to believe it.

3. There was a hidden camera

Well, not really. This one is kind of debatable. The camera used was a webcam on top of his desktop, in plain sight on Dharun’s own desk. Whether this is still considered hidden is up to you. However, would it have been so hard for journalists to write “webcam” instead of “hidden camera.” Its even more concise…but one has a worse connotation and thus will spark more interest.

4. Dharun and Molly are homophobic monsters.

This one you kind of have to take my word for. I have known both of these people for a very long time, but neither are homophobic monsters. Dharun can be abrasive sometimes but for the most part he is pretty nice. Molly is probably one of the nicest people I have known, but she is also pretty passive, not wanting to cause trouble or upset people. Molly was very caring, and was even an organizer/fundraiser for our local ACS Relay For Life.

5. Their friends think that what they did was fine because they weren’t homophobic or bad people to them.

This is one of those hasty generalization fallacies. You can’t base a person’s entire opinion about an issue from a one line quote taken from an interview that only pertained to one specific part of a larger issue. The general consensus among most of their friends and classmates is that they were wrong to out Tyler and attempt to make a second stream, but the accusations of hate crime and manslaughter are too severe and that the hateful comments are going too far.

There are definitely more, but I just can’t remember them. Ill add them as I find them.