Off Topic - Madeline McCann

[tom182]

Well this is definately off topic, very relevant and non political.
Horrific story that could happen to any parent/child,

http://www.findmadeleine.com/

Interested in seeing who here (outside the UK, Ireland, Portugal) have been exposed to this story via their news networks, if you dont know, then get the message out there.

Tom

[jacksc02]

tom its all over the news here, stupid thing is there is a similar case going on here where a girl was kidnapped and the Madeline story had top priority on the news because David Beckham had offered a reward! insane!

[DaForce]

Interesting how some get all the press, some go unnoticed.

Saw this on some guys signature over at a HL2 mapping forum. No I know what it was.

Havnt seen squat of it here, but dont really watch TV.

[Da_elf]

nope. never heard of her. kidnappings are not too rare so it would be very strange if it showed up on tv in a different country

[Blitterswitch]

I feel that the only reason they have recieved so much publicity is because they are a middle class family who work in the medical profession. If the family were working class they would have been questioned and charged with child neglect.

It has upset me that this little girl has recieved so much press attention, it is very sad yes, but imagine how awful the other families in the world must feel who have lost their children and are being 'ignored'.

If the family had been responsible in the first place and not left their 2x 3 year olds and 1x 4 year alone in their apartment some way away from where they were out socially having a meal and a drink then this would have been avoided.

Its a terribly sad event when any child goes missing.

[DaForce]

yep agree 100%

The reward money should be used to teach stupid parents how to look after and be responsible for their kids.

[Neilg]

The reward money should be used to teach stupid parents how to look after and be responsible for their kids.

Or to look after the kids after theyre taken from their horribly irrisponsible parents.

I cant walk 5 paces without being utterly abused by something to do with this. its a joke, not least of all beacuse theyre getting all this attention and its the parents fault for fucking up. Every other bulletin on myspace, every forum (this was one of the last I expected to see it on), constantly on the news, in every single news paper and it seems like half the people you walk past in the street are talking about it. Yeah its a tragedy, but this is publicity on the scale of a full on global war.

As dry as that post is - i'm commenting on the state of the publicity, rather than on how I feel about the missing girl.

[tom182]

hmm, I dont think it is fair bashing the parents, can you imagine what is going on in their heads, surely apart from the obvious need to get their daughter back they feel compelled to do everything possible to find their child and ineffect counteract their neglect/niavity/call it what you like.
Who wouldnt do everything in their power to find their missing child?

The sad reflection on society is that whilst every child should have equal opportunities in life -they dont. A hypocritical aspect of our society is that when it affects a class of person that many of us can draw similiarities with in our own life that it hits a nerve in us.

Regarding the publicity I think it is great, keep it alive and I think it is healthy that the media focus so much attention on one single child- (be they rich, poor, black white green yellow, whatever) She is innocence personified. We owe it to all children to keep this in the public eye. We will have plenty of coverage on wars in the future- fu&k knows we had enough in the past few years.

Tom

[ene.xis]

hmm, I dont think it is fair bashing the parents, can you imagine what is going on in their heads, surely apart from the obvious need to get their daughter back they feel compelled to do everything possible to find their child and ineffect counteract their neglect/niavity/call it what you like.
Who wouldnt do everything in their power to find their missing child?

Its a sad event no doubt, but there have been other cases in the past that haven t had 1% of the coverage this one had, and that bitters me on the inside...
Its ruining my sanity to be flooded with madeleine news every news bulletin though....really there is no new developments...
yesterday i heard they were raising 3000€ per hour and they ll be travelling across the world to spread her photo...

In the end its a very intriguing and sad story so far where its still not very clear what really hapenned...i feel sory for the family and for how they might be feeling right now, and i definetely hope they can solve this.
though i d say if it was i raising that amoun t of money i d be willing to help other parents in the same condition rather then travelling...imHo

[studioDIM]

Talking about A child, are they?

How comfortable a media story this is.

Journalism, on the other hand, could and should be full of children stories from places like Iraq, Sierra Leone, and so on and so forth.

I agree, the mystery is maybe enthralling to some, whereas showing how children get maimed, hacked to pieces and starved to death, or dying of diarrhea, because of how we like to live above the standards, preying on the poorer countries for their riches would really upset a conscience or two.

And that's a no-no, in this faux-journalism we're sunk in.

Lele

[Neilg]

hmm, I dont think it is fair bashing the parents, can you imagine what is going on in their heads,

Just because it came back to bite you in the ass doesnt make your stupid decisions any less stupid.
It just means everyone else knows about them too.

By no means am I saying stone them and leave them to it, but I dont like the way theyre suddenly in so much focus. If she wasnt missing and came back badly hurt, they'd be in a world of shit with social services. As it happens, something far worse has happened and theyre treated like heroes.

[tom182]

Just because it came back to bite you in the ass doesnt make your stupid decisions any less stupid.

No it doesnt but surely there is a time and a place for passing judgement and I dont think it is now. Fundamentally this child could have been abducted whilst the family were sleeping- it is the sick fuck that took the child that has caused this- and not exclusively the parents.

Fact is the child is missing- they are her parents, they have to do whatever they can, it is as simple as that for them. As a father of a 3yr old daughter I just shiver when I think about this.

Tom

[studioDIM]

It's indeed called EMOTIONAL piece.
All it does is blind reason with a shitstorm of emotions.
Empathy, versus reason.
Those, like Tom, which have a way to directly relate to it, are the ones hit harder.

It's just another way to steer people away from the REAL crap happening all around the world.
Try and bind to this, Tom: you go to work, and when you come back, your town has been raided.
You're approaching your own house with a sense of dread, hacked body parts lying around.
You think you can recognise your friends, in some of those bits: a ring, a necklace, a shoe, a shirt.
By the time you're at your doorstep, you're mad with grief: your door is open, you walk in only to find your beloved wife and child both raped and hacked to bits, like the rest of the town inhabitants.
Their only sin is, like your own, to have settled by a very profitable field (oil, gas, diamonds, uranium. you name it.).
You can't have justice: the warlords and gangs that did this are well covered by international powers far too big to be touched by that which we westerners like to call "justice".

What is it that doesn't let you relate emotionally to it?
The huge number of deaths? The color of the skin of the dead? The distance from your own home? The fact it is a "necessary" evil so that we may abuse those goods at will?

Maybe i understated it before, i won't understate it now, whatever it'll cost me.
It's ENTIRELY HYPOCRITICAL to spend ANY amount of resources, be those emotional or material, to cover such a story, when the real shit goes down entirely unnoticed, or even worst, with a wink to necessity.

Want emotions? Go dig deeper: ask yourself questions, fight to find real answers, and your emotions will have plenty to chew on.

Me, i am DISGUSTED by both the media coverage, and the whining of people that "relate" to it.
It's just another one for the new year, it doesn't fool me, it should not fool you.

cynicaLele

p.s.: mods, feel free to edit or remove the "disgusting" piece on Sierra Leone, i'd understand.
And Tom, it is not personal. It's got to do with the system, you just the excuse to pull this out of the shadows.

[DaForce]

That post there needs some media coverage!!

Well said mate.

[joconnell]

Pretty simple, don't leave a four year old on their own in a villa with open doors or windows. Horrific to happen to any parents but the muppets let the situation happen? Admittedly I'm not a parent and I'd say it'll be a long time before I'll find a girl stupid enough to have kids with me so I've no emotional reference for this but aside from all of the feelings that it evokes the parents were damn careless and it couldn't have happened if they didn't leave their infant alone?