Saturday, August 28, 2010

NADJA BENAISSA: .... "Bodily Injury" ... Trial and Sentence ... The CONDITION, The REALITY ...


This posting is to take a look at the trial and sentencing outcome of the recent case concerning the German pop music vocalist/ musician Ms.Nadja Benaissa of the vocal quartet/ group "No Angels", who was charged with a few count's of Grievous Bodily Injury and Attempted Bodily Injury, that was brought against her for knowingly and willingly having unprotected sex with 3 known men, while she knew she was HIV positive. I have been following this for at least a couple week's now, because it was such a controversial issue with our Euro friend's, and really a delicate issue to try to debate actually. I have read so much on this case, and so many opinion's on this ... and somewhat of a surprise ... no one even talked about the "reality" in all this, and it was as biased as any reporting can get ... which is of no surprise in this politically correct society of "Follow the Leader".

Why I call this "biased" ... is because you have two side's here, that are reporting everything, and one side that support's this woman .... all out to say she should have a light sentence because she expressed remorse, cried, and admitted she was careless, etc. Other's complaining who oppose her sentence as being too light, look at her as a criminal with no regard, ruthless, etc ... and are afraid that this sentence being so light will set a precedent for other countries as far as legal proceeding's, and influence the criminal court's, as well as sending a message to folk's, that they can infect other's, cry in court, say their sorry and walk. But neither of these side's in any of what I read actually look at the reality of the condition ... in real life ... on the street's, in the nightlife, social life, or drug life, or even take a clear look at sex 2010, for that matter.

First of all ... I support the light sentence with no prison time for Ms.Benaissa, and even feel that 300 hour's of community service is a task/ sentence in itself, but in this case being to help other's with HIV/ AIDS ... a beneficial sentence, which will do more good than putting this gal in prison to serve 10 year's, which would have been the maximum sentence here. There is one man here, an art dealer from what I gather, who is diagnosed HIV positive, he is outraged, it even will interfere with his travel, business, etc. ... and I dont blame the guy at all for being outraged. But I am not basing my support of this sentence on Ms. Benaissa's, on her feeling bad, apologizing, crying, etc. Which is nice of course, and the "right" thing to do ... but I am basing my opinion strictly on the reality of the condition only.

It take's two to Tango (or more) ... and this HIV/ AIDS thing has been going on for over a couple decade's ... everyone know's what the score is here. You have to be more protective of what you do ... plain and simple. This infected man claim's around only 5 or 6 time's of sex encounter's with her over a few month's which isnt much ... she had these 3 partner's over a few year's or more ... which isnt too much either. Yet this man also had a longer lasting platonic relationship with her for long after the sex stopped, he was informed by her aunt of her infection, not her. But during all the month's with this lady ... did he not know nothing else about her? Did he not know nothing about her crack addiction as a teen? ... yes, she claim's being a rock(crack) addict at 14 (and there is proof of it)... before she reached any of this star status, and at a time, that was a street life she lived briefly. Look ... all over America as well as Europe in major cities ... you have many teen's and young adult's that are addicted to crack(coke) or meth(speed), tar(heroin), etc. These folk's have an addiction to feed as well as their bellies for some type of nutrition, which in many cases the nutrition/ eating get's last place. They also have to have somewhere's to crash/ sleep ... which can be a squat (abandoned building/ structure) or getting to stay with someone time to time ... who usually will feed your habit to an "extent", providing you "give" in return, which usually is sex. It's not formal prostitution, but is a form of prostitution ... and a mean's of survival on the street. And sometime's you go from partner to partner, squat to squat quickly ... once one get's sick of you also ... they dump you ... then you have to find another, to help you ... all the while ... the only service you can pay with is your body, because you have nothing else that anyone of these want.

Ms. Benaissa actually had a talent before her teen year's ... went to a decent school, was talented in playing music and instrument's, and won some competition ... but somewhere's between that time and adulthood ... she took her first bump(hit of dope) ... which brought her rock bottom, it even happen's to million's that we dont see or hear about. She 's young, dont have much money if any, has now a habit, and is having to even have sex when she dont even feel for any with just about anyone who can offer to help ... at 16 ... BOOM! ... she end's up pregnant. Now she has an addiction to overcome, and a responsibility of a child to take care of ... and still has to have some mean's to survive and keep a roof over her head and food and such. She later enter's a talent contest ... get's lucky ... and move's up. Then ... if she beat the dope .. she has new friend's and enviroment's to get used to ... many of course snob's as well, and those who never spent a day in their lives on the street or having to have sex with someone just to get "well"(from being dope sick), or get a decent meal ... or a place to sleep, or having a child to care for on their own. So she keep's her mouth shut about her past ... because frankly ... even though many will act to embrace her and feel her pain ... will look down on her and with less confidence, or even as a business/ investment risk ... she has all this sudden luck ... after she came out of a psychological gutter ... she know's if she "talk's" ... she may lose everything she has ... and bring a bitter future even to her child .. so she is "forced" indirectly to play the game, put on the smile and go with the pop culture programme ... or possibly end up in misery, for the rest of her life.

Also ... it is far too common knowledge of the talk in society, that HIV/ AIDS is transmitted through blood, anal sex, popular amongst sharing needles, and same sex male act's. I hear so many straight young folk's say .... "Oh ... you cant get it like this or that" ... not even considering that sometime's there is even blood, no matter how small amount sometime's ... either in the vagina ... or even the mouth in some cases. People have let down their guard ... and even doctor's have told this lady that chance's of transmission were low or rare or whatever else, simply to reduce fear in the masses ... which also let's down the guard, and it's so true ... I hear so much of this ... percentage's etc ... it is still a risk! There are even some so misinformed and uneducated ... as to think that straight people cant get it without a blood transfusion gone wrong/ tainted,etc. ... or brutal bloody anal activity with a IV drug user. It just take's that right amount at that right time, for the transmission to be successful ... it doesnt matter if neither of you are IV user's, share needle's, practice anal, or are straight or gay. I have used condom's so far back when they werent popular ... way before AIDS, and alot of time's to prevent pregnancy ... even if a partner told me she was on the "pill", I would think to myself ..."What if it dont work?", even had a couple partner's angry at me for using condom's with them, thinking I was insulting them or their integrity! Many guy's I knew said they hate condom's ... they WONT use them, etc. Some gal's that are enslaved by drug's, and out trying to survive on the street ... get so desperate ... that if a guy buy's them dope, or give's them some money, cloth's, food, a place to stay, or whatever ... and the guy say's "no condom, during sex", she goes along with it, strictly because she has to survive! Even young male's on the street are enslaved as well, who are addict's and/ or homeless.

Everyone need's to assume some responsibility ... it isnt a one way street in the real world .... I cant find Nadja any more guilty than the guy who was having unprotected sex with her ... and how did she feel when she found out she was not only pregnant and left with a kid now ... but also received a possible death sentence by getting infected from obviously someone else who gave it to her? I cant base this one case as precedent for every other case that come's up ... each case is different ... I am basing this one on the reality that surround's it. And this hasnt a thing to do with me being "liberal" ... I am liberal on certain issue's maybe ... but more of a realist, this assessment of mine is not based on any of this pop culture neo liberalism of today, but based on the current condition and reality.

POST NOTE: I am a big music fan as anyone can see in this journal or that know's me, and looked at over a dozen of video's to try to select from of this group "No Angels", and to be honest ... I couldnt find one worthy of posting in this journal ... and no disrespect to Ms.Nadja here or her colleagues ... but this was some of the most bland, over produced, emotionless, down to the choreography, music I have ever heard. But I credit this lack of uniqueness to the producer's ... and when you have giant's like MCA or Universal or what have you making million's off of it ... I doubt they will try to influence change to these ladies. But if I was producing this group of ladies ... I would give them an EXTREME MAKEOVER! ... they wouldnt even sound the same!



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4 comments:

rita said...

Interesting case.
You make a good point about the presence of ignorance of reality.
It seems that some people think a prison sentence is the answer to everything & these same people can be so judgmental about things they know nothing about.
The current fundamentalist right wing trend of thinking in terms of sin & morality only perpetrates this ignorance. It's an interesting turn of events when the group who supposedly have a monopoly on love & compassion make being poor & sick a crime.

Tim said...

As far as I'm concerned what she did is attempted murder.
She's a bad girl... I'm sorry she had a rough life, Boohoo.
This is no different than the ghetto kids popping someone for their sneakers. He grew up bad. That's no free pass.
This girl knew she was sick, it was playing Russian Roulette with others lives. Just my take on it..

Ranch Chimp said...

Tim: Buenos Dias Amigo, Que tal?

We agree on many thing's as well guy ... this one we dont.

No ... I absolutely do not look at this the same at all, not even a sliver. As a matter of fact ... that is what the court's and media done I wrote ... because they based their whole punishment simply on "word's" ... because she expressed emotion, said she was sorry, broke down in tear's, etc, etc. Instead of the emotion's and word's of remorse, I look at the reality, and in NO WAY ... look at this as the same as some kid's jacking another kid for tennies/ sneaker's, or even anything close to attempted murder. I have read up though I may add, alot about this young lady too. And she never went into the court blaming it on any of this in her childhood either, was a factor in my decision/ opinion. I only look at the reality that I see in life in so many cases ... of folk's that I personally know who died of AIDS and one good buddy who is living right now with HIV ... and he was diagnosed over 15 year's ago. Her situation is directly conected to the pop culture mindset that permeate's our society, if I blame anyone here, it's the PC media, and education institution's, medical staff, etc. They all helped create this reality out of political correctness, it got so bad at a time almost a decade ago, that even gay folk's in the San Francisco night life, have let their guard down to this epidemic, much of the awareness, has been swept under the rug today, and I dont believe that she intentionally done this at all ... I believe that she wasnt even aware of how dangerous this is, and was drastically misinformes on what percentage this can be transmitted. So many young women who are straight .. believe EXACTLY what I stated ... that it has to be brutal anal, IV drug sharing, etc, etc ... and dont worry ... we have drug's now that can control it better than ever, etc, etc .. the list is endless. Our society as a whole IGNORE'S the drug issue in this nation, and as Rita say's ... jail is the "fix all" to everything. They dont get serious about a goddamn thing in this pop culture cesspool until the shit hit's the fan ... and when they do ... they sweep it under the rug, so replace with a new topic. Combined with the million's of homeless kid's with drug issue's that are NOT addressed in a workable fashion ... THIS IS THE RESULT! And this man should have been wearing a condom, it was partly his choice too, if he listened to her background and thought first, instead of letting his dick do his thinking, maybe he wouldnt have got this.

Ranch Chimp said...

Rita: Ranch Greeting's

It is so sickening to me how we criminalize everyone in this nation as well as other westren societies like our's, except for actual criminal's ... being those who dictate what is right/ wrong and shape our society today, create moral's,etc,etc. Everything programmed at us to be happy little sheep, put on our smiley face's and everything will be fine. I think you get my point Rita, your no dummy, you know the condition. And Yes ... you pretty much summed it up.