Madeleine's Fund : Leaving No Stone Unturned

RACHIE77

Blimey - well said Jo!

I completely agree with you about the angle that has been portrayed by the media is completely ridiculous - as you say most of the forums on the web contain a large majority of people who are horrified at what the parents did to their kids and have picked up on the fact that this has not been brought to light at all, never mind the fact they are "upset" (they dont seem that distraught to me - I would be hysterical) and they are still justifying what they have done.

As soon as the two other children set foot on UK soil I think they should be taken by Social Services - but then again that looks like some way off with their publically funded "world tour" that they supposed to be doing - to think they actually now have their own "business" out of making money from their daughters disapeerance makes me wonder what the **** is going on really!!

national_ledger wrote:

But they have let it be known they will take their campaign anywhere. There have been 'sightings' of their little girl as far afield as Morocco and North America. Almost $200,000 has been donated to the family's website www.findmadeleine.com, which has now been registered as a business after it failed to gain charity status.

p.s. The little 11 year old girl was found safe btw (here)

RACHIE77

EagerLearner wrote: »

I think having this post is healthy discussion because otherwise the media would have complete control on what we think and at least I hope we are all trying to think for ourselves on here.

I think we cross posted - yes I completely agree with this, but I also wonder whether they are actually sat there waiting, that this whole thing was a set up, as the McCanns are very vulnerable, they have built them up so much, the only way they will keep selling papers is to have more of a story, and if there is no more news on Madeleine, will they just watch them fall and tear them apart in the same way that they built them up???

I think the parents are very very much in the wrong for leaving the kids at all, but thinking about what the media could be up to is so much worse

EagerLearner

How many times have we seen megastars built up then torn down by the media - same thing for this family - part a) is the sorrowful and supportive media, part b) when the juice starts to flow thin, is the deconstruction and the villifying (sp?). I am sure it's coming, just a question of when. You are right, that's more scary still.

I totally disagree with setting up of businesses and world tour type things. However, I guess they feel that if they stop being on tv, the momentum will stop and they may never find her. No-one is in their shoes - what else can they do as parents apart from keep her name on people's lips and picture on tv. If I were a parent I have no idea what I wouldn't do to keep things going until she was found. Makes me glad my main concerns are working and paying bills, fairly mundane things I am happy for at the mo!

Errata

It's a perfect media story. Attractive and articulate parents who do heroic jobs. Beautiful, dainty, blonde 3 year old. Child lost in a foreign country, every parents worst nightmare. I can't help wondering if the publicity is going to finish up as overkill, with people so used to seeing it they ignore it.
If she isn't found, what happens to the 'shrine' set up in her village, does it stay there until it becomes weathered rubbish? How long will the parents stay in Portugal - weeks, months, years?
My sympathy and thoughts are for the child. I have none to spare for the parents.

leftieM

I think that this whole 'Team McCann' thing is their way of postponing the grief - to feel that they are doing something when all of their efforts are probably futile (and I don't mean that their daughter is already dead but that she will eventually be found through the normal investigative processes or chance, not because of their efforts.)
I suppose that anyone who has lost a child has to find a way to get through it. I personally find the whole mediafest rather unsavoury and I think it is removing the humanity of the McCanns in that their plight now seems soap operaish, but thank God I haven't lost a child and if I did I might act in the way they are. Bereavement has no rules.

full-time-mum

tesuhoha wrote: »

Im sorry but I think its very likely that the child is dead by now. In the meantime how much publicity has this had?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/6676509.stm

And is anyone about to set up a reward/fund/minutes silence for her.

1st I've heard about this one and I live in the extended news coverage area for cambridgeshire!

full-time-mum

EagerLearner wrote: »

You are missing the point - the Portuguese community don't **need** a 'wake-up call'. Their life is carefree and has less crime - this recent event involves tourists as victims, possibly the kidnappers being foreign also. The Portuguese are just as shocked as anyone, but I hope this doesn't change the way they live their lives - 4 million people suddenly becoming more mistrusting and not letting their kids have a normal life is disproportionate when you consider that one child has gone missing.

I think the point is that they are welcoming the tourists and hence the rest of the world into their community and everything that goes with it. They do need a wake up call. They can't have the tourists and still maintain their carefree communities as if the stangers weren't there.

HugoSP

Questions:

Do we want this girl to be found safe and well? - Yes
Do we want to raise the profile of child abduction? - Yes
Would anyone here not want to offer moral support to the parents? - No
Does anyone think it's useful to blame the parents for any oversight on the night she was abducted - will blaming the parents find her? - No
Can anyone stand in the way of the family raising funds to help find her? - No, it their right to do so.
Does everyone have to contribute to the fund? - No, we choose how much to give, if anything at all. They started the fund in response to offers of donations, so they could bank them until they decided their next move.
Can we comment on a situation that we personally have never experienced? - Not with a huge amount of authority.

My point is that the parents and the family in general are fighting tooth and nail to find their child or to find out what happened to her. They love their children just as much as anyone here loves theirs. Mistakes may have been made, I too was surprised that they hadn't taken up the creche service that night, assuming reports are true. Maybe they felt that the compound was suitably secure and that regular checks would suffice.

I cannot stand the condesending opinions of a number of people who's sole purpose in life seems to be to stand and criticise. These poeple have obvioulsy never made a single mistake in their lives, they live by a perfect code that is the golden chalice of reason.

I think the "perfect media story" arguement for forgetting about it is especially crass. OK, so just because it makes a good story, this family don't deserve our sympathy or the plublicity offered by Sky News etc.

What business is it of ours where the family stay and what happens to the various messages posted on the war memorial? I wasn't aware that I deserved a say in this. Nor was I aware that we had the god given right to stand and point fingers like lazy fishwives at a family whos only wish at the moment is to be together.

Some of you really should try putting your views to families who have lost loved ones to murder, abduction and other serious crime, or even where one member has suffered a serious assault, sexual or otherwise. I personally hope that such a challenge would make you feel good about yourselves - especially as you can pick apart someone elses grief and say "I told you so" into the bargain.

Some of you really disgust me.

ben500

Maybe some of us think this horror story is turning into a cash cow.

tesuhoha

I didnt mean to criticise the family. Just the media.