Don’t Blame Facebook

Let’s face it. We can’t live without Facebook. We love being nosy and finding out what our friends are up to. With so many social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, the people that we can meet are endless. As a fan of Twitter (when I can be bothered to use it, out of sheer boredom), I am fascinated with the different types of people who follow me. For regular readers of my blog, you know I love watching documentaries, so this post is no different. The show entitled “Don’t Blame Facebook” explored different uses of social networking sites and how they don’t always work in our favour. It seems like they are more of an hinderance than help. I think everyone should be aware that you can never been too sure of who is monitoring, reading or sharing your social media timeline.

Davey Taylor was using MySpace a lot in order to update his friends about his whereabouts and what he’s getting up to. It’s amazing the type of information we give away to strangers when we are updating. Harmless, right? WRONG!!!!! After a night out from a party, he came home to find one of his MySpace followers in his BED. It seems a bit far fetched, I agree, but when he thought about some of the comments he’d been sharing, it was no surprise that the guy knew exactly where he lived. One of the comments he had shared on MySpace was “Moving into my own place tonight…. Finally some freeeeeeedom. Call me the King of George Street!” To me, this was really stupid. You wouldn’t give your address to a stranger on the street so why would you do it online? I’ve said in many posts before common sense isn’t as common as it should be. In fact, that was stupidity. The guy had convinced the flat mates that he was a friend of Davey’s in order to gain entry into the flat. It just goes to prove that you  should think about what you write on the Internet. It’s so easy to want to inform everyone of your doings but you never know who is reading it. Once you publish something on the Internet, it is hard to retrieve it.

Camron Reilly was a Scots Guard employed by the Ministry of Defence to protect the Royal family days before the marriage of Kate Middleton and Prince William last year. A few days before the wedding he updated his Facebook status which read “hue and William drove past me on Friday and all I got was a sh***y wave while she looked the opposite way from me. Stupid stuck up cow am a not good enough for them! Posh bi**h … who really gives a f**k about hur”. Firstly, his spelling, punctuation and grammar makes me wonder how he got a job in the first place *rolls eyes and shakes head in disbelief*. Secondly, he has quite an important job so you’d think he’d be a bit more discreet with what he shares on Facebook. It would be really funny if the Queen herself was scrolling through her Facebook newsfeed and came across his comment. MoD were not impressed by it and questioned whether Reilly was capable of protecting the royal family and Kate Middleton, a future queen. He was given a “less glamourous” role within MoD.

There were two friends, Leigh Van Bryan and Emily Banting, who were planning a trip to L.A Hollywood. He was so excited about his trip, he constantly tweeted about it. One of the tweets were “We are totally in LA in 3 weeks on Hollywood Blvd and digging up Marilyn Monroe.” The next tweet “free this week for a quick gossip / prep before I go and destroy America?” was the one that was unknowingly going to get him in trouble when he landed at LAX airport. They searched his belongings as well as going through the content of his phone. In an interview he said “Airport security told me that how I answered his questions would determine whether or not we were allowed in. Then he asked me if I had a Twitter account, and I thought ‘Oh no he’s going to want me to follow him.’” I’m sure security have better things to do than increase the amount of Twitter followers they have. That was a really stupid thing to say, especially on national television. Silly man! Anyways, he explained to the officials that he wasn’t a terrorist and that destroy meant “drink”. They were questioned and booted out of America and sent back to England. He did admit that now, before he sends a tweet, he constantly thinks about what he is writing, how it could be misunderstood and so on. Too late, mate. You should have thought about this sooner.

Moral of the story: If you wouldn’t share certain information with strangers on the street, then don’t share it online. I’ve always thought that social media sites are more hassle than they are worth and these examples prove me right. Think twice before you click the share/send/tweet button.

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.