Thursday, July 06, 2006

Australian Verdicts: Superb!

What a pity this is going to be for all my Asian readers who assure themselves that I only point fingers at underdeveloped, third-world countries and no where else, other than the good old US of A.

And yes, I’m feeling much better today about the state of the UAE then I was yesterday.

While browsing 7Days this morning, I came across two very interesting articles out of Australia. The first one of which on the recent events aired live on the internet, filmed from the popular trash television show Big Brother. For those that don’t know Big Brother is reality show where a group of strangers live locked in a house under twenty-four hour surveillance.

The event itself was described by 7Days, “(…)a male housemate apparently held a female contestant on a bed while a second man performed what local media have described as a "Turkey slap" with his penis.”

Never having viewed the show and not wanting to subject myself to witnessing such crude, violent, utterly disgraceful behavior, I can only picture the scene in my mind for a moment before feeling the urge to vomit. This act was not done in public, but aired live, internationally via internet. The apologies these sorry excuses for men offered will do little to relieve the humiliation this woman, who or whatever she was, will suffer; not only at being the victim of such a disgusting act, but also the shame of knowing the whole damn world knows what happened to her and who exactly she is.

As if that’s not disgraceful enough, “Police have said they will not press charges over the matter (...)”

I’m only left to wonder if a man of any nationality were to grab a woman in public (or broadcasted on some local site though a webcam) here and hold her down while his friend slapped his penis across her face, what the consequences would be. My gut feelings tell me they’d be a little more justified in the eyes of women everywhere. Whether the charges pressed were by the government or the victim herself, in the UAE a man would NEVER get away with this.

The second Australian winner published in 7Days tells the story of a 22 year old woman named Natasha Ryan, who ran away from home in 1998. She had been reported missing and full fledged police investigation was put into play which ended with a convicted Australian serial killer being pegged for her murder. She was recently found hiding in her boyfriend, Scott Black’s house.

What is her punishment for failing to halt the massive investigation at the governments cost; for allowing a man (who pleads innocent to all charges) take the additional wrap for her murder; and allowing her family to mourn her death? Now this is certainly justice!

“Black _ already serving a 12-month sentence for lying to police about Ryan’s whereabouts _ was fined 3,000 Australian dollars (US$2,232) and ordered to pay police A$16,740 (US$12,444) for the cost of their investigation into Ryan’s disappearance. Ryan was fined A$1,000 (US$743), but did not have a conviction recorded against her because Magistrate Annette Hennessy said she had been a child for most of the duration of the crime.”

The runaway herself was fined a total of seven-hundred forty-three American dollars and will have no criminal record, while her boyfriend spends a total twelve months in prison and pays the state fourteen-thousand six-hundred seventy-six American dollars.

If you Google the girls name, the first thing that will pop up is this article published in 2003, showing that Ryan was discovered alive even as the now convicted serial killer was being tried for her murder, pleading innocent, three years ago; and he was STILL found guilty. While Ryan herself, becomes something of celebrity, with a nice little hunk of media-frenzy pocket-cash.

This is a competent criminal justice system if I ever heard of one. She was a minor for the duration of her crimes; thus the leniency of her punishment. That’s right! People under the age of 18 or 19 (or whatever the hell ‘minor’ is defined as in Australia) can’t tell the difference between right and wrong. You’re all morons, is pretty much what your law is teaching you.

Let us not mention the fact that at the time of her disappearance, had her boyfriend been fucking her (and please don’t even attempt to tell me he wasn’t), it would have been considered Statutory Rape, since she was under the age of consent (which seems to be defined as anywhere from 16-years-old to 18-years-old, across Australia). But that’s ok now, because she’s not a minor anymore so why bother mentioning a few other laws that may or may not have been broken or even investigated because they happened in the past?

Forget the crimes where someone should have been punished because it was in the past, and highlight that very same past when it suits the criminal’s interests.

It’s absolutely brilliant!

I don’t know about you, but thinking about these two stories alone is enough for me to thank God, I’m in the UAE for multiple reasons. The justice system here, though still has a few kinks that need to be worked out, comes second to the UAE society in general. There’s still more sanity here than there is in so many ‘civilized’ countries.

I wonder how many men would slap a woman across the face with his penis here as if it were common enough to have a local slang word for it: TURKEY SLAP. I wonder how many 14-year-old girls would run away to their boyfriend’s house, convincing an entire country that foul play was involved, forcing her friends and family to mourn her death, only to turn up years later and become a fucking celebrity.

And finally, I wonder, the accuracy of Ryan’s murderer’s guilty verdict concerning simultaneously tried accusations.

3 Comments:

Blogger Taunted said...

And the bastards will beat us to The Ashes over the winter cricket series.

Aussies, I hate 'em!

7:41 PM, July 06, 2006  
Blogger black feline said...

Your highness...I spent 3 yrs in Australia...varsity to be exact..YES..don't laugh my queen...Im an educated feline ok?

Generally...Aussies are nice and friendly people...however they are LOUD! let's face it..skunks are everywhere.

Oz speaking is very colloquial...

It's a nice place to retire...:)

5:21 AM, July 07, 2006  
Blogger Tainted Female said...

Actually bf, I’ve been told it’s a lot like Canada and I believe you when you say it’s a nice place. The point it, shit happens in every country and not only the UAE… ya see?

10:42 AM, July 07, 2006  

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