Anyone for Roullette?

Even Andrey Ternovskiy, the teenager behind the phenomenon that is www.chatroullette.com, must visit his site at times and wonder WTF? Or whatever the Russian equivalent is. But more than likely he’s too busy rubbing elbows with the high and mighty of Silicon Valley to ever bother video linking with a random stranger. It would seem Andrey is now the phenomenon, being toured around the U.S speaking to potential investors with the view to expanding his site and no doubt building his empire. If it’s cool with kids on the net, then it’s money in the cyber bank folks. Having turned down the offer of 1 million dollars for the site it’s clear Andrey is looking to get Facebook rich. Three days it took him to put the site together in his Moscow bedroom, and since late autumn 2009 Andrey has watched his website become a global addiction. Reported to be inspired by movie classic The Deer Hunter, chatroulette.com is the cyber version of Ronseal Quick Drying Wood Stain; it does exactly what it says on the tin. No sign up, no login and no details need be exchanged; just click start and hold on tight.

Try as I may, I can’t recall any one scene in The Deer Hunter involving Robert De Niro or Christopher Walken exposing themselves to the camera and saying, ‘Do you like it?’. There was that Russian Roulette scene; I guess that’s the inspiration? For those CR .com virgins out there, fear not. There is no mortal danger lurking within CR.com. There are however Nazis, masked weirdoes, Dutch fundamentalists (I don’t know what that is either, but they’re there), bored OAP’s that are making good use of that computer skills course their children sent them on, and last but not least, and by far the most popular, the fully naked, and most times faceless, masturbator. Like I said, hold on tight; they certainly are.

Not one to exclude my spouse from the finer things in life, and also to minimize the chances of being caught and grilled about the live penis on my computer screen, I decided we should both pour ourselves a drink and journey into the lives of strangers.

First up, a penis. Okay bad start, click next.....click next, woman! Searching...connecting...to....a penis?! Good god Andrey, what have you done? With my wife giggling like a school girl, and myself pouring a double, we ventured on to the next random stranger hoping they would at least be clothed. Take your seat Jens, the fully clothed German. Jens seems like a decent sort, but, for all we know Jens has 4 skinned corpses hanging on the wall just out of shot. ‘What should we do?’ my wife asks. ‘I suppose we should ask him’ I reply. So we strike up our first ever exchange on CR.com.

‘Jens, do you have 4 skinned corpses hanging on your wall that we can’t see?’

‘Ha, no, funny’

‘Cool; so what you up to?’

‘Just hanging out in my home’

‘You enjoying the site?’

‘Can I see her tits?’

Next!

Jens is followed by some guy wearing a hockey mask; think Jason from Friday the 13th, jackpot. Straight away my loving wife is unnerved and reaching for the mouse to skip us on. ‘No!’ I yelp, ‘These are the people you want to talk to.' She of course disagrees and counters with ‘Maybe these are the people you want to talk to; something you want to tell me?’. I’m of the opinion that weird people without their genitalia on show are genuinely good folk. Wearing a mask does not make you dangerous, just ask Batman. I manage to wrestle the keyboard from her and begin my chat with the masked weirdo.

‘Hey man, what’s up?’

‘I kill prostitutes!’

‘Really? How’d you get that gig?’

‘6 tonight, more tomorrow!’

Instantly my wife is disgusted and demanding I cut this guy loose, but I’m hooked. ‘He said he kills prostitutes; what if he’s a real killer?’. Looking at the video feed from his bedroom I notice he’s got a poster of The Script on the wall behind him. ‘This is a kid for gods sake, he’s no more killing prostitutes than the man on the moon.' I’ve always wondered why my father used the man on the moon to prove people aren’t doing something; the man on the moon must be a seriously boring guy. I move deeper into our chat with Jason.

‘What’s your quota for the month then?’

‘No quota, I kill at will!’

‘Ah, so your freelance?’

‘How are you?’

‘We’re good, just chilling out; gonna watch Phantom of the Opera, I take it you’ve seen it?’

‘No, I hate opera, it’s stupid!’

‘Yeah, a guy like you has to maintain a reputation; can’t have people laughing at you’

‘Do you want to check out my youtube channel?’

Next!

A naked woman is now flashing her breasts at us; I’m assuming it’s for my benefit. Naturally my darling wife is outraged and demands we skip her, but I don’t hear what she’s saying. ‘Click next now!’. I enquire as to why we should suddenly brush this woman aside when we have given several naked men a decent run of time. ‘That’s different; click next!’. The argument is bullet proof as usual, so with my best understanding husband impression, I storm off and leave the woman I love to trawl the site on the look out for decent people. Surely that’s her plan; a plan she’s taken to implementing everyday it would appear.

Andrey Ternovskiy has stated he is trying to keep the site clean, and there is a report button you can choose if you feel any of the random strangers you meet are a bit too much, and after 3 strikes you’re out. But to be honest, I can’t see how you would, or why you would, eradicate the freaks and geeks from this site. I mean, it’s half the fun; it could be the sole reason the site is so popular with almost 4 million visitors each month, and typically 20,000 visitors in a night. Could Andrey be the first person to make his fortune from letting people watch other naked people outside of the porn industry? It would seem he’s on target to and my hat goes off to him, but that’s all I’m taking off.

For those of you too disgusted by the thought of what might greet you each time you search on CR.com or if for personal reasons you don’t want nutters looking at you from the comfort of another continent, give it a miss. But, if like me, you’ve squeezed every ounce of enjoyment out of Facebook that you possibly can and now want to torch your best friends Farmville barn and execute their live stock? It’s time to move onto the hard stuff! If anything you’ll be contributing to the future of a very smart teenager who has had internet entrepreneurs slapping their heads in frustration, shouting ‘I could have done that!’. You’ll be amused, you’ll be repulsed and you may even be a bit freaked out. But just imagine what they’re thinking.

Has the Catholic Church changed the faith and religion of our children?

In approximately 2 years my eldest daughter will make her first holy communion. A huge day in the life of any young Irish Catholic. It’s become something that she and many of her friends are beginning to understand. They haven’t discovered a respect for God or a true understanding of Christianity; how could they be expected to; they are 5 years old. To them the sacrament of holy communion is simply a day out in a very pretty dress, with all the attention being lavished upon them for the entire day; a party in their honor, and a coming of age. It’s a day every catholic parent looks forward to, and can probably remember their own experience of holy communion well enough, that they can fully relate to the excitement of their child. From communion the child will move on to confirmation and hopefully on to marriage. Like every proud father I look forward to the day I walk either of my daughters down the aisle and deliver them into the arms of a man I know I can trust, in the church where they were baptized. But, do I want them to be catholics any more?

Father Oliver O’Grady molested, raped and abused over 25 children, across five different parishes in Northern California, between 1973 and 1993. In 1976 he wrote a letter of confession to the parents of the children he had molested in the previous three years; a copy of this letter was given to the Bishop of Stockton, California, under whom Father O’Grady served. Despite the existence of this letter, Father O’Grady was allowed to sexually abuse children for the next 17 years, after the Catholic hierarchy continually moved him; at one point promoting him. Oliver O’Grady himself approached the church and asked for help, admitting he had a serious problem that he could not control. The church arranged for the priest to be given counseling. They also relocated him to avoid any trouble. The night before Father O’Grady was due to give testimony regarding Cardinal Roger Michael Mahony’s awareness of his history as a child molester, Cardinal Mahony’s attorneys visited his cell and arranged to provide Oliver O’Grady with a regular financial payment once he reached 65; for this, he would agree to remain silent. Oliver O’Grady has one year left before he can start to collect this money. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison, having been convicted on only four counts of ‘lewd and lascivious acts’; he served 7 years. Today Oliver O’Grady is a free man in Ireland.

So why be a Catholic? Why dress up your children and instill in them a respect for God and the church, when someone like Oliver O’Grady has had their unimaginable crimes covered up, by the very men preaching purity from the pulpit? Is it custom? Is it habit? Is it the fear they won’t have their day in the sun wearing a pretty dress?

If you read the first few chapters of ‘The God Delusion’ by Richard Dawkins, you will find he has outlined several different types of religious beliefs. The one that stood out for me, was the idea of Pantheism. A brief description from wikipedia.org reads-’Pantheism is the view that the Universe (Nature) and God are identical, or that the Universe (including Nature on Earth) is the only thing deserving the deepest kind of reverence. As such Pantheism promotes the idea that God is better understood as a way of relating to nature and the Universe as a whole - all that was, is and shall be - rather than as a transcendent, mental, personal or creator entity. Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal, anthropomorphic or creator god.’ Not too bad eh? I like it already. It’s a bit new age, but when has that ever been bad?

From what I can gather Pantheism has no history of sexual abuse cover ups. In fact, Pantheists don’t even go to church from what I can see. Should we direct our children towards this type of religious belief, or should we stay the old road and hope no more monsters are lurking in the closet? As a Catholic nation and as a Christian people we are told we should not bare false gods before our own. As parents we are compelled and obligated to protect our children from harm at all costs. So, give me Pantheism, or give me death. Would you whole heartedly trust the church with your children, knowing full well that further up the ladder sits somewhere, someone willing to put theirs ,and the church’s, interests ahead of the sexual innocence of a child.

I am still a Catholic. It’s been my identity since I was a boy and I doubt I will ever change it. I have been lucky enough, like thousands of others, to have never suffered sexual abuse either inside or outside of the Catholic church. But having seen the video footage of Bob Jyono, who’s daughter Ann was repeatedly raped by Oliver O’Grady in their home while they slept, I can’t help but defy my own faith, just like Bob, who raged, “There is no God!”. Bob Jyono’s life has been ruined by what happened. He was the protector, and he allowed a monster in to his home and put his daughter at risk. He has the look of a man that can never forgive himself.

There is a saying, ‘if you don’t buy a ticket you won’t win the lottery.’ Enough to make you want to go out and play the numbers, wouldn’t you say? But the only thing that will race around my mind if I decide that my children are safe in the care and guidance of the Catholic church, will be the global lottery slogan; It could be you!

Who do you have to kill to get some justice?

On March 21, 2007 the National Action Plan Against Racism (NAPAR) held a seminar entitled ‘Combatting Racially Motivated Violence: Is our legislation adequate?’. Connected with that, researchers issued ‘Combating Racism through the Criminal Law’ which looked at the introduction of racially aggravated offenses to the Criminal Code. They decided against it, and here is why.

‘Due to the social stigma attached to being convicted of a "hate crime" or a "race crime," defendants are unlikely to plead guilty to such an offense, thus leading to lengthy and expensive court proceedings. Proving that an offense was committed with a racist motivation or on the grounds of hostility to a standard satisfactory to the criminal law can also prove problematic. While it is important for the legislature to make it clear through the law that racism will not be tolerated, that message will lose much of its impact if there are very few convictions under the Act.’

Toyosi Shittabey is dead at the age of 15 and his families lives have been ripped apart. The two men arrested, and charged, with stabbing him to death using a kitchen knife have been granted bail and are being brought up on charges of manslaughter. You read correctly; manslaughter!

By all reports Paul Barry, 38 and Michael Barry, 23, pulled along side Toyosi Shittabey, while he was walking home from a visit to the National Aquatic Centre in Blanchardstown, West Dublin, with some of his friends on Friday April 2nd, 2010. They slowed their car and began to racially abuse them. Being wise enough, and most likely through experience, the friends decided to ignore the men. This lead to one of the men leaping out of the car and taking one of Toyosi’s friends by the throat. This caused the friends to run, but seeing his friend in a lot of danger, Toyosi ran back to help. That is when he suffered the stab wound to the chest that ultimately killed him. He’s dead because he was black; dead because of a despicable rage festering inside these men that made them see a skin color instead of a child. These men will soon be back on the streets; they have been granted bail; they are child killers and they will, for all intents and purposes, be free.

Ireland does not collect hate crime data. In a country with such a high population of immigrants, many being of African origin, I would expect the government to protect the rights of the people they are welcoming in to the country. This can not be covered with the brand new excuse of ‘cutbacks.’ This is a failure to act in the interests of justice.

When a hate crime as hideous as this is carried out it smashes at the core of society, and destroys the lives of the victims family. There is no doubt that this will cause grave concern for the Gardai in the coming weeks. Community relations will be strained and racial tensions will rise. The two men responsible for killing Toyosi Shittabey are racists, and they have done what racists the world over want to do. Strike fear, stoke hate and eliminate the life of one person because of a color they don’t like.

When Paul and Michael Barry go before the court there will be no chance for the judge to make an example of them. Their decision to murder a school boy because he was black, will be treated the same as any other murder in this country and they will likely do less jail time than we think. If they are convicted of manslaughter, they will be free in a few short years.

This is because Ireland has not introduced racially aggravated offenses to the Criminal Code. This is something the country needs now more than ever. The morale of the country is at an all time low and people are in despair. If we let grown men walk the streets killing with racist intent, then we should all think about leaving. Now is the time to show your intention Ireland.

The murder of any child is disgusting and if I were in charge, I’d hang child killers. But this killing strikes deeper. It’s seen as a threat to the African community. Psychologically, and socially this killing will leave a deep scar, not only on the area of West Dublin where it took place, but also on the face of the country as a whole. Action must be taken now to make sure we as a nation are united in our disgust at this awful killing. Ireland now needs to introduce legislation to deal with hate crimes. We risk too much by standing by and shaking our heads.

The son of my wife’s best friend played in the same under 15 soccer team with Toyosi at Shelbourne FC. One day they could have both possibly played for Ireland, side by side singing Amhrán na bhFiann, before trying to do their best for the country. Toyosi will now never get to do his best for Ireland. But will Ireland do it’s best for him and the members of his community? It has to, they are also at risk.

May he rest in peace.