"Your time is limited so don't waste it living someone else's life.
Don't be trapped by Dogma which is living with the results of other people's thinking.
Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your inner voice.
And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become."
- Steve Jobs

Monday, May 21, 2007

Saint Madeleine and the McCann saga

I read today a very well written and true article on The Times website (read it here). The comments left by members of the public are equally interesting to read, and it shows the tide is turning against St Madeleine and all the press furore surrounding her disappearance.

I too think that it is hyped beyond belief and the press need to stop whipping up such hysteria. I learned today that there is going to be a 1 minute silence in Portugal for Maddy, and the UK is being "encouraged to join in". MPs are wearing yellow ribbons, corporations are chipping in with financial help to find her, there is a website, a text service, a "download a poster" campaign, email spamming, tie a yellow ribbon on anything that doesn't move.....

Robert Murat has been all but convicted in the eyes of the press. His name, his photo, his family and private life, all in the public domain, along with insidious writings pertaining to his "sinister" character....the poor guy's life is ruined....if he's proven to NOT be the abductor I hope he sues the press for everything he can get, in return for them ruining his life....for he will always be known now as a Paedo and a freak, and viewed with suspicion. I can't help wondering that the Police - being hounded by the media and told how incompetent their investigation is - are just desperate to "get their guy" and prove that yes, they have in fact been doing *SOMETHING* on this case....so they give us Murat.

Lest we forget, Maddie's parents left their children UNATTENDED in a hotel room with the door UNLOCKED, while they had a bite to eat 100 METRES AWAY - that's quite a distance. Yet nobody seems to be blaming them for the abduction. "Leave them alone" they cry, "dont you think they regret that every minute of the day, why berate them for it??" they cry.

I wonder would we be this sympathetic if the parents had been lower class "Chavs" or dole-claiming council house tenants, who had left the kids alone while they popped to the bar? I'm betting no.....headlines would have screamed "Dole couple abandoned kids to booze" or the like. Or a lower-class black couple? Would they have warranted such an outpouring of help and corporate sponsorship? Again, I'm betting NO. (I always remember the headlines surrounding Damilola's killing: "Murdered Black Teenager...." he was called, constantly. It was as if "Murdered Black Teenager" became his new name, not DAMILOLA". Why did they have to mention his colour all the time? There have since been tons of WHITE teenagers stabbed in the UK, yet none of them are referred to as "Murdered white teenager...." Anyways, that's a seperate rant......)

The McCanns are nice average well-paid middle class white people, with nice average middle class blue eyed white kids.....so they receive prime time TV and media blanket coverage, and no scolding for leaving their young children unattended. It shouldn't matter that "they were only 100 metres away" - that's not the point - you just DON'T LEAVE YOUNG KIDS UNATTENDED!!! Specially in a foreign country.

Is Maddie the only child missing in the UK? How many other kids have disappeared since Maddie did on 3rd May? Some people say approx 40 CHILDREN - where is the media coverage for them? The "Madeleine Fund" is now so huge that there is plenty of it left to assist other parents in finding their children. The McCanns are "going to travel Europe and maybe the world" to find their child - using this money raised by wellwishers. How nice for them! What about the other worried parents? Can they do the same? They have the same right to try as best they can, and the McCann money should be set aside in a fund for all families of missing kids.

The tiny village in Portugal where Maddie disappeared is now cracking under the strain of the vast amount of press mooching around desperataely trying to find something to report. "Grief tourists" are even flying in, with pledges of "we're here to help".....the deluge of flower-festooned shrines are springing up in the UK and Portugal, with people who don't know Maddie saying prayers and weeping and making a spectacle. It's strange how everyone finds God when there is some sort of major event, catastrophe or death.....yet previously none of these people had set foot in a church or given a toss about God.

I guess my main whinge about this whole circus is that MADDIE IS NOT THE ONLY CHILD IN THE WORLD that has been abducted. She should not be given special treatment above any other missing child. Why the hysteria? Why?????

The pages of the Big Issue have a "Missing" section every week - who is helping these people? Who is scouring London and other towns, searching Cardboard Cities and homeless shelters looking for them? They are all someone's son, someone's daughter, someone's sister or brother. They all have desperately worried families just like the McCanns....but they are all not receiving any help or media attention.

This quote from a reader of the Times article sums it up:
The hype is disgusting, like the fuss over Diana's death when the media was telling us we were all mourning her, and in my circle the comments were along the lines on silly cow should have had her seat belt on.