Attack in Woolwich, London

I don’t think this post needs any introduction. My heart and sympathy goes out to the family of the soldier who was hacked to death in Woolwich, London, yesterday afternoon. It kinda knocked me back after watching the incident make breaking news. It’s shocking to see how others treat others. No one is safe these days. It just goes to show that you never know what is around the corner. There are a lot of sick, disgusting things that were unfolded yesterday which makes the incident EVEN WORSE than it is already is. I think it’s the reason WHY the attack happened which has angered everyone. Note: these are my opinions. You may not agree with them but you can’t tell me I’m wrong because this is what I THINK. However, I would appreciate any comments you may have.

Timing

The incident took place around 2.20pm in the middle of the afternoon. It’s broad daylight. There’s no getting away from the fact that the attackers may be seen. For it to happen in the middle of the street is pretty disgusting. They knew what they were doing, which makes it even more sick. They made no attempt to flee the scene which baffles me. I understand they had a reason for it. I’m not justifying it. But this was’t the time or the place and it definitely wasn’t the way to get the message across.

Another point of timing that I have to make is that it took 20 minutes for the police to arrive on the scene. I understand they are busy and there are other crimes they have to attended to but it is completely shocking that the media and camera crew got to the scene before the police did. The attackers used this time to preach a message, justify why they did it. I can’t say it enough, but that it sick, vile and disgusting.

Racism

Someone on Facebook had posted a screenshot of Twitter. The words hurt. They cut deep. There’s a lot of ignorance in the world when it comes to religion and race. Some people refuse to learn the difference especially when it comes to Asians. There’s a big difference between Indians and Pakistanis, if you choose to learn about it. For those who don’t, everyone gets painted with the same brush. On twitter I saw a lot of tweets consisting of “pakis this” and “pakis that”. Sorry to burst your unnecessary racist banter but the attackers were black. Come on people, you really can’t be THAT stupid can you? I can’t do anything but shake my head in disgust.

race war on twitter

A lot of white English people were defending the country effing and blinding at non-english people. Muslims were defending their religion, saying that not all Muslims are terrorists. Indians were fighting to say that this attack has nothing to do woth their race and religion. Black people were arguing that they are always portrayed in a bad light and this incident had made it worse for them. I understand that everyone wants to defend their own but there’s becoming a bigger divide between races. It was hard enough overcoming this in the riots of 2011 but to bring it within the community again is a shame. I honestly believe, and have said this many times before, that the INDIVIDUALS should be blamed for the crime. Their race and religion has nothing to do with it. Never has, never will.

Religion is not an excuse

I have previously published a post with the exact same title. It definitely applies here. Many terrorists who commit acts such as these have said that it is written in the Quran. I have never read the Quran so I can’t say for sure but the people who I have spoken to have said it’s NOT written in the holy book. So who do you believe? Where is this message being spread? Who started it? These are questions I cannot answer but either way, it does not, in any shape or form, excuse the acts of these people. Murder is murder, regardless of whether or not it’s written in the Quran or if Allah expects/wants you to do it. Using religion to justify violent and deathly acts like this is inexcusable.

Media

I am a strong believer of saying that you shouldn’t let the media overtake your thinking. Judge for yourself rather than acting on what you see and hear on the news. I’m going to say something which may cause arguments and heated debates but oh well. Whenever a crime is committed by a non-white person, I feel like there is an emphasis on their race and religion. However when a white guy commits a crime, the media will never say “a white, Christian man/woman”. When Asians are highlighted in the media, their religion is always mentioned. This is something I don’t agree with. As previously stated, individuals are accountable for the crimes. Their religion/race has nothing to do with it.

There’s many other little points to raise but I will keep this post short. If I have comments to this post, then I will certainly address them.

Music is more than just words and sounds

I was stuck in traffic the other day and was listening to a song called ‘same love’ by Macklemore featuring Ryan Lewis. It was the first time I’d heard it and the lyrics were quite meaningful when I’d listen to them properly. Listen to the song here. Before you start thinking, no, I won’t help people promote their mixtapes on my blog. I get enough of that on Twitter. I’ll actually tell you some of the lyrics which stood out to me and made me think about them more. Before I go on, I must say that this post may start a debate. I have no problem with people expressing their opinions against my posts but I have to remind you that these are my OPINIONS. You may agree with what I’m saying, you may not. But in no way, shape or form am I trying to state facts, neither am I trying to offend. So here goes.

“The right wing conservatives think it’s a decision and you can be cured with some treatment and religion“. This prompted my thought of whether people are born gay or if they “turn” gay. A lot of people may call me ignorant, others will have strong opinions about it, but I don’t think there is a clear cut answer for this. In the song, it comes across as though people are diseased if they are gay. I don’t think you can ever win a debate as to whether being gay is right or wrong. Personally, I couldn’t care less. I’m not very keen of the practise but it is what it as. As I’ve said in a lot of posts before “different strokes for different folks”. What happens in people’s bedrooms, love lives, sex lives is nothing to do with me but it is shocking how quick some people are to form an opinion. I will definitely write a separate post about this. But until then, we’ll stick to the lyrics.

“America the brave, still fears what we don’t know and ‘God loves all his children’ is somehow forgotten but we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago.“ Debates get serious when religion is involved. The first part about about fearing what we don’t know is an interesting line. It makes it seem like there is a lot of ignorance in the world especially when it comes to homosexuality. There’s always a stigma that comes with it as it was a taboo in history. It still is, to a certain extent. I think this is the reason why people need to learn about it and deal with it because homosexuality will always exist. The second part of the lyrics is about the Holy Bible. To be honest, I kind of agree with it, in the sense that people pick and choose part of Holy scriptures that they want to in order to raise a point. I can’t mention too much about this because I’m not sure what is written in the Bible about homosexuality but I do know it is frowned upon. In most discussions about religion and homosexuality, there will always be someone who mentions Adam and Eve and how it’s the norm for a male and female to be together. However, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

The second verse of the song was very thought-provoking.

“If I was gay, I would think hip-hop hates me
Have you read the YouTube comments lately?
“Man, that’s gay” gets dropped on the daily
We become so numb to what we’re saying
A culture founded from oppression
Yet we don’t have acceptance for ’em
Call each other faggots behind the keys of a message board
A word rooted in hate, yet our genre still ignores it.“.

Truthfully, the word “gay” is overused and not always in the correct context. It’s a term that is used so loosely that we actually forget what it really means. We tend to forget the deeper definition of the word as it’s become street talk now. I’m not saying that’s an excuse for people to say what they want, but it’s the world that we live in. It’s the way that the world is changing (in a bad way). The way in which gay has been used this context, linking it to hip hop, is more insightful. Music and video games receive a lot of flack about the way people view the world, in particular, women, sex, violence, drugs and so on. I know that’s slightly off topic but when you think about it, it all interlinks. Women always have amazing figures in music videos so it becomes the norm for women to have curves in the right places as well as look pretty. The men always have muscles so we expect to see that in reality too. So it’s no shock that the word ‘gay’ is being becoming a part of the norm.

“I might not be the same, but that’s not important. No freedom till we’re equal, damn right I support it.” Again, the fight for equality is hard to win but it’s worth the battle. I take my hat off for anyone who is trying to make a difference. Women have fought hard for their rights but I don’t think we’ve completely won. Now it’s time for homosexuals for fight as well. It’s not going to be easy but definitely needs to be fought for.

Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents

Yes, you’ve guessed it, time for another post about reality television. Some of you are either jumping for joy or shaking your heads thinking ‘here we go again’.  The principle of the show is quite simple. British teenagers take their first summer holiday  abroad not knowing that their parents are secretly watching them. It may sound like a silly programme but it is really interesting. The teenagers get up to all sorts, drinking, smoking, getting drunk, having sex. You name it, they are doing it. At the end of the programme, they are confronted by their parents who admit they have been secretly watching their every move. I LOVE IT!!!!!

I’m not very old myself but I am actually disgusted with the stuff they get up to. Call me a party pooper, I don’t care. I don’t understand why people go on holiday and end up doing crazy stuff. It’s as though they leave their common sense at home. Naughty people! In one of the episodes a Jewish guy, who has NEVER had a girlfriend, went on holiday with his friends. He was adamant he wanted to lose his virginity on holiday. Why did he want to do it on holiday? What’s wring with the girls in England? I don’t know what the motive behind it was or whether that was a poor excuse. Either way, this is the kind of stupidity that happens in this show. Anyways, his mum rang him at 11pm and he said he was going to the library. Dude, come on!!!! If you’re going to lie, then you should lie properly. Which sane person goes to the library that late at night? To make it worse, his mother actually believed him. To be fair, his mother seemed a little crazy. Well she must have been to believe his pathetic little story. Mothers, hey! I’m not really bothered about what people do on holiday, but this guy went against his own religion. Maybe he thought that God wasn’t watching him because he was on holiday. SILLY!

I love the way most of the teenagers act like virgins and saints when they are at home. They go on holiday and become a totally different person. Truth be told, they can act like the REAL person that they are when they are away from their parents. The youth of today are a bunch of party animals even though a lot of them don’t have much money. I think a lot of them are keeping up with the Jones’. Rather than spending within their means, they will spend ridiculous amounts of money just to show off to their friends. Pretty pathetic in my eyes, but that’s the way of the world. It’s becoming a popular trend.

In another episode, three guys went on holiday together. One of them wasn’t paying his fair share for the drinks and the excursions, so the other two kept paying for him because they wanted to do things together. On day 3 of the holiday, the guy said he had “spent half of his holiday money”. Why the heck would you go on holiday if you don’t have much spending money? How stupid do you have to be to spend half your money in the space of 2-3 days? When the youth of today do stupid things like this, it’s no wonder I get so angry.

Moral of the story: Don’t do stupid things for a television programme because your parents WILL find out. Sneaky business will definitely get you into a lot of trouble. Be warned!

Religion is NOT an Excuse

As you know I am constantly reading the newspapers and watching the news to see which stories emerge. My blog features a lot of posts about love/sex/relationships so when I read about this case, I HAD TO blog about it. I was shocked to read that an eighteen year old Muslim guy, Adil Rashid, had been spared from a person sentence, after raping a thirteen year old, on the basis that he attended an Islamic faith school where he was taught that “women are worthless“. Actually, to say I was shocked is an understatement and I was fuming, similarly to the way you may be feeling down. Something else that angered me more was the fact that he claimed he was not aware that it was illegal for him to have sex with the girl because his education left him ignorant of British law.

I can’t say whether his claim is true or false but it’s a pretty stupid excuse. I’m not an expert of the Islamic faith, neither do I know what is taught in faith schools. However, I’m sure that most religions do not agree with pre-marital sex, let alone rape. A lot of people would say that rape is unacceptable regardless of what the excuse is. To be fair, I don’t think that type of behaviour CAN be excused or justified. I definitely don’t think that it can be blamed on religion. People should be responsibility for their own actions.

The judge handed Rashid a suspended sentence, saying: “Although chronologically 18, it is quite clear from the reports that you are very naive and immature when it comes to sexual matters.” I disagree. If you are having sex, then there’s no way you can naive and immature. He knew what he was doing before he took the young girl to a hotel room. This is not a ‘typical’ date for a young couple such as themselves. I actually believe he knew he was going to have sex with the girl. But more to the point, why is an eighteen year old male hanging around with a thirteen year old female. I know it’s only a five year age gap but still, it’s not the usual type of friendship. He admitted he had sex with girl after he has been “tempted by her” after they met on Facebook. They had only known each other two months before the incident took place.

More to the point, Rashid received a suspended sentence, I think he should have been trialled as an adult which according to British laws, he should have received a four to seven year prison sentence. The judge said sending Rashid to jail might cause him “more damage than good“.WHAT????? I don’t understand how this judicial system works. I definitely don’t understand why and how we have laws put in place if they are not being adhered to. I know I can’t do anything to change the laws but it seems like a waste of time to have them if they can be bent. This is a prime example of how the justice system isn’t fair.

The girl told the police that she and Rashid they stayed at the hotel for two hours and had sex after Rashid went to the bathroom and emerged wearing a condom. This just backs up my opinion that he knew he was going to have sex with her. To make the story even more shocking Rashid returned home and went straight to a mosque to pray. I find that pretty sick and vile. He was arrested a week later the girl confessed what had happened to a school friend, who informed one of her teachers. He admitted to the police he knew the girl was thirteen years old but said he was initially reluctant to have sex before relenting after being seduced. WHAT?????? I don’t care what his claim is. How do you NOT know that what you are doing is WRONG, IMMORAL and ILLEGAL. I’m baffled by his justifications. Apparently and according to Rashid, the Islamic faith school that he attends teaches the students that “women are no more worthy than a lollipop that has been dropped on the ground“. It makes me wonder how he treats his mother and other female relatives. It’s disgusting! Does Islam really teach you that men are superior than women?

Even though I don’t agree with the outcome of this case, the Judge bought up some very valid points. He said that Rashid “must have known it was illegal, unless he was going round with his eyes shut”. He also stated that Rashid “had an unusual education, certainly in terms of the sexual education provided. Comparing women to lollipops is a very curious way of teaching young men about sex.” Women. Lollipops. I don’t understand the connection myself. It’s a good job that I do not attend that school because I would have been really confused. The judge sentenced Rashid to nine months youth custody, suspended for two years, along with a two-year probation supervision order.

Yes, there are two sides to every story which brings me on to the girl’s involvement in this case. Firstly, I don’t understand why youngsters are using social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook etc, as a form of dating. I think they are being misused and this is a prime example of that. Don’t even get me started on whether children know the dangers of meeting strangers online. If they don’t, they should read my post about CatFish. Yes, the girl is young as classed as a minor as the British laws state that the age of consent is 16 years old. I think she knew what was going to happen when she agreed to meet him in a hotel room. So maybe she isn’t as innocent as she comes across. I do believe she is partly to be blamed BUT I’m not saying she deserved to be raped. No one ever deserves that. However, as I’ve previously stated, going to a hotel room is not a typical date for teenagers. However, whether she consented to having sex or not, Rashid was the adult in the case which is the reason why he is the one to be punished.

Cultural differences

I was waiting in reception where they leave outdated magazines for clients to read. Have you ever noticed they are REALLY old, like a good 3 months or so old? I was reading this article entitled “I was arrested for wearing too much make up”. That was pretty extreme so of course I had to read it. PLEASE NOTE: I’m not quoting anything, neither am I trying to offend any countries/faiths/religion/views but am merely expressing my opinions. When I started reading it in more depth, there were four women telling their stories about how they were in trouble by the ‘morality police’ as they called it. The reasoning why they were in trouble is more than just wearing make up, it’s more about going against Islamic beliefs. I was really shocked reading it. It opened my eyes into different cultures, lifestyles and beliefs in different countries. I understand that different countries have different rules and beliefs but you’ll always get people who try to fight against it. That happens everywhere in the world.

I do believe the Islamic lifestyle receives a lot of bad publicity in different mediums, news, papers, radio, online. But maybe it’s nothing like that in reality. Maybe we’d know more if we weren’t so ignorant to topics like that. A lot of people believe what the media tells us. We’ll take it at face value without even trying to uncover the real truth. Topics such as the terrorist bombings and the war in the Middle East have shaped the way some people think. To be honest, you can’t really blame them. It’s up to each individual to research it more, if they want to. If not, they’ll continue to have the same views as the media wants them to have.

Reading the article made me think about the way religions and traditions are portrayed in the media. One of the first examples that popped into my head were arranged marriages. It is thought that people are forced into marrying someone that they do not know and are expected to stay in a marriage with a stranger forever. Being Indian, I can admit that used to happen a lot in the olden days and still happens now but very rarely. Nowadays, it’s more of an assisted marriage where parents will help their children find potential partners. They get to know one another. If they are happy together, they get married, if not, they get introduced to someone else. It’s like a dating game so at least everyone has a day, No one is forced to do anything against their will.

There’s quite a few examples I could give but the point that I’m trying to make is don’t believe everything you hear from the media. Do a little research about different people and I promise you’ll learn a lot. Remember ignorance isn’t always bliss!