OK the reaction to the Maddie Mcann story has just got totally out of hand, whats your thoughts on this ?

Question

Theres now Pages on bebo (profile site) made by random members of the public, with people almost grieving it would appear in some statements for a little girl they almost certainly didnt know. Some of it is really heavy stuff. I knew it dominated the media but this phenomenon is seeming to engulf peoples lives at the minute. Some people are calling her parents by the first names as if they have known them for years, "bless david beckham for his appeal". This is bordering on dangerous fixation with some people. Something i found interesting is, i have only been on the official website once or twice and the same goes for the bebo one, but i noticed the donation part of the official one before anything else, but on the bebo one i noticed the "if you have any information please contact......" first. Remarkable . Now before i get the people saying i'm heartless and things, im not at all. I fully understand the situation and i do hope that they will get her back safe and sound. ur thoughts ?

By time it takes to read the next question on this story probably hundreds of children will have died of starvation and lack of water. Not to obscure the issue but i think they should get some sort of regular appeals, mabye if the reaction to it was like this the world would be better.

This is exactly what im talking about. fanta, ive to go out and try to find her ?. Well considering its not even in the POLICE i pay my taxes to's duristiction, i dont think they will be happy with me going to find her. Incase you didnt no, shes not lost in Asda. She was kidnapped. Unbelievable.

Forgive me if iv misunderstood your statement fanta.

Answer 1

I really don't understand what is happening to the people of this country - ever since the first bottom lip trembled when Diana died we have been subjected to these occasional bouts of public hysteria and madness fromhalf the country while the other half stand and watch aghast.

News items like this child's disappearance are aired on our news with depressing regularity, alongside mass slaughter in the form of war and genocide and people starving to death in their millions and the majority of people say 'how sad' and turn over to Eastenders.

So what is it that makes a certain section of the public latch onto stories like Diana's death and the loss of Madeleine McCann and completely overreact in the most hypocritical of fashions? It is almost like a form of emotional vampire-ism... how can you genuinely grieve for someone you don't personally know? The answer of course is that you can't - the whole 'emotional' reaction is just a charade, an act, pure attention seeking on the part of the 'griever'. It is a way that people can give themselves the warm fuzzy feeling of being a really good and compassionate person without them having to actually DO anything.

It worries and offends me - what hope is there for a society which vicariously fills itself with grief off the back of someone else's private tragedy (to no practical effect at all) whilst ignoring the enormous amount of suffering in the world that they really COULD do something to alleviate.

Answer 2

People will always have a tendency to fixate on others lives if theirs seems uninteresting. The people who sympathise are those that spend hours thinking of how they would feel if they were put in that situation. Eventually they become lost in their thoughts and start empathising so much that they see the child as being like their own. It comes from an amazing amount of free time. If you spend your life doing things you will have too many of your own activities to worry about other peoples. I guess that's why the McCanns are such a hot topic on here. We are all people with too much time on our hands or we would be doing something more productive than answering questions on here.

Answer 3

This is typical of the media and some people in this country it has been going on for years a big media frenzy. It gone on with plenty of other situation and deaths in the past where the media coverage is totally out of any proportion so why are people suddenly objecting. The worse case was Stephen Lawrence. That was so ridiculous it was on the news every night for 10 years it drove me up the wall. They are very tragic cases but how many people died of racist attacks in that time scale white and black. It's gone on with other cases of disappearing children as well I don't know what it is all about!

Answer 4

What angers me is these parents are already wealthy, they are not poor. Yet I've heard a story about a mother making her children sell their toys to send the money to the McCann fund. I find this very unnerving. As for David Beckham jumping on the bandwagon, it's just for publicity to fuel his forthcoming knighthood. Everything seems to come down to money and the more you have the more profile you seem to get.

Answer 5

Ok I shalll reiterate the answer which I provided in one of my previous posts which covers my thoughts on this whole thing.

At the end of the day I have never understood the preoccupation with publicising the abduction of the McCanns' daughter in the UK. It is highly unlikely that she will be here, and what does hanging a photo of their daughter in my front window achieve.. ? Nothing.. All it does is enable passers by to look at it, nod their head in pity and say "Shame about that missing child isn't it". Will they then get on the next flight to Morocco or Spain or wherever the next lead might be to search for her... ? NO .. nor should they as this would be an exercise in futility!

This country needs to get things into persective. Thousands of people are dying in Darfur and the general consensus is .. well " ... that is Africa.. they are always dying of starvation or Aids or something..... " Why can't Britain be as concerned by the women and children being slaughtered in this country each and every day? Why can't Britain be more concerned about the child soldiers in Northern Uganda [many of whom are as young as 4 and 5 years old] and who are being made to kill members of their own family??

Madeleine McCann's re-appearance is not going to be facilitated by yellow ribbons or the like. Most of the time, I have to confess, I simply cannot be bothered to provide reasoned responses to people who support the McCanns because they are far too blinkered to be reasoned with. They have this rose-tinted, inflexible perspective which is not based upon facts but emotions. People need to start looking at this case logically and since many supporters are unable to do so, there will be plenty more of them coming online to rant and rave about the inequities they perceive have been committed against the McCanns..... and sites such as the Bebo one will continue to be a common and unfortunate occurrence.

Answer 6

No. Lets start with this one child, what has happened to her and what is the truth, and then go on to put the world to rights as far as other children go. I am well awake to the reality of children all over the world being abused, which absolutely is heartbreaking, but I dont dismiss any child, but where do we start. This child is a U.K. child so that obviously brings it home more to people in the U.K. Are u saying one doesnt matter because there are thousands more, so what? You sound quite dismissive. Even one is terrible.

Answer 7

There is a large part of the British public from which I feel completely alienated. I watch with bemusement as they struggle with their spurious and shallow grief over tragedies affecting total strangers. The British press is despicable in tapping into this mawkishness. Thank goodness they were't around when we were being bombed to bits during WWll. They never would have coped.

Answer 8

I understand your concerns. This has turned into a major "road show". Have never looked on any of the Internet sites but I feel the media is taking over.
The Mcanns obviously want to keep their daughters image in the public consciousness but jetting to the pope and then allegedly on to Spain is questionable.
What exactly is the website for? Is it to raise awareness of their daughter (could be harmful). Is it to raise money so they can travel abroad with no cost to themselves?
Like you I am confused and slightly fed up now. They have 2 other children don't they... who is looking after them now. They must want mum and dad.
My son went missing many years ago. (Returned to me after 3 weeks, been abused but safe back with mum.) All I can say is I would not want the media circus,I would want to stick with my family and hold my other children close.

Answer 9

I still think that if it had been my child I would have wanted to keep the incident rather low key because I firmly believe that with publicity like this it most likely drove the kidnappers to become child killers.

Say she was intended to be sold internationally. She certainly isn't a hot commodity anymore. Not a single person will want to be near that child for fear of being associated with her disappearance.

Sadly, I suspect that she is long gone and most likely in bits, scattered here and there, never to be found.

Answer 10

OMG - I am right there with you . . what's going on ?

I understand that this little girl has been abducted and it's just awful, but there is a difference between trying to help and crossing the line and going too far.

I know I'm prob gonna be unpopular for saying this, but it's rather like when Princess Diana died - the country went into chaos; people grieving like they knew her, when they only knew "of" her.

I am all for helping, assisting and looking out for Madeline, but I'm sure her parent's wouldn't approve of the tacky adverts tagged onto all the web sites about Maddie posted by people who say "share the love" and can't even get her details correct.

It's very sad all round and I hope she comes back safe and sound, but it's a dangerous world out there and sometimes bad things happen. It sucks.