Harrassment, suicide and the right wing

The recent suicide of Tyler Clementi, and the previous one of Phoebe Prince were both associated with "cyberbullying". However, using computers and the Internet are just means for the harrassment of defenseless individuals by groups that consider themselves in the majority or in the "mainstream."

I blame a lot of this harrassment on the "social conservatives" and their party of choice, the Republicans. The P.T.R. and the conservatives have time and time again taken anti-gay and anti-privacy positions, legislatively, judicially, and verbally. They have fought against and derided equal employment laws -- equal pay for equal work -- and against anti-discrimination statutes. They have mocked the women's movement and gays consistently, and have supported fundamentalist positions denying personhood to gay people and limiting women to subservient social and economic positions. (I'm not even going to talk about slimeballs like Rush and Newt and the talk radio jerks, who personally bully people every day from their positions of power.)

Even while they have denied this, right-wingers have refused to repudiate bullying attacks on individuals and certain minorities since the groups advocating these positions have been major partners in their electoral and financial coalition. When a single major party effectively denies equal protection to a group of Americans, they must be held responsible for those who follow their hint and attack these people, whether physically, verbally, or economically. Of the political parties, the Republicans and only the Republicans must take a large portion of the blame for the cruel and un-American acts daily perpetrated on our fellow citizens who happen to be powerless and/or belong to minority groups.

Just listen to their sneering references to "do-gooders" and "bleeding hearts" and "PC police." That's where they're coming from, and their disdain provides the cue for the vile actions we read about with increasing frequency.