Madeleine McCann - Controversial questions i need answered!

[nat_84]

I know someone else asked a similar question a while back but i'm still wondering the same thing.... after seeing an advert on TV appealing for people to help i keep asking myself why is his case so special or unique?!

I dont mean to offend anyone and i understand that it's such a tragic thing that this lovely girl has gone missing but kids go missing every day amd have been gone for years (!!) so i just can't get my head around why so much is being done for the Mccann family...? Inc. MIllions of pounds worth of support from celebrities, celebrity appeals and TV appeals.

Not only that but it if her parents hadn't left those young kids in the room on their own she probably wouldn't have been taken in the first place?! And we surely can't deny that fact?!

I wonder how other parents who have had their children missing for x amount of years feel about the special treatment of the Mccann family...?

Also...i have some controversial questions....:

Would her parents have been treated this fairly if they were (for example) cleaners rather than Doctors?

Would they have recieved all this support if they were (for example) asian or black British, poor or young?

Would the appeal to find Maddy be so strong if she wasn't so beautiful and cute?

So basically if this were a young, not so well-off family that had left their daughter alone whilst they went to a restaurant or a club would they not be portrayed in the media as unfit parents and would they even be given this much attention and support?!

It's just my curiosity and i'd like to hear your opinions.

I pray Maddy is found safe and well in the near future -

xxx

[stylinsam]

hey babes i totally agree with what you have said above and i wondered from the day that madeleine went missing why she had so much attention (not in a nasty way) but a young boy went missing from his home about 5 miles away from my home and hasnt still been found, now he didnt even reach the local paper never mind nation wide news.

i do hope that madeleine is found safe and sound afterall she is the victim xx

[warpig3]

Nat to asnwer your question as to whether the parents would have been treated the same if they had been cleaners, personally I think not, they would have been vilified by the press and been made social outcasts. No doubt social services would be waiting at their doorstep too.

I just don't understand their thinking by leaving those children alone, not even considering an abduction, anything could have happened, even something as simple as a child waking up in distress and no adults around.

[geordie_minx]

Nat, these are some controversial questions, but I had to reply because they are some that I've been asking myself.

Being a parent, I really do hope that Maddy is found alive and well, and soon. But, like you, I wonder about all the other children that are out there, still missing, without the same media coverage that this case has had. Apart from the parents, who is looking for them? Have any millionaires offered the use of their private jet so the search can be expanded?

I'm not entirely sure that the status of the family would have any real effect on this campaign. I think the parents and family are to be credited for keeping this in the public eye. And who's to say that a younger, poorer, ethnic family wouldn't have had the drive to do the same thing. But at the conclusion of this whole effort (and hopefully it's a happy one) what will happen to the money that has been raised? Will that go into a fund to try and find other missing children?

My kids are now teenagers, and while I wouldn't have left them alone at home for any length of time, I am not going to condemn Maddy's parents for being neglectful of their kids. They shouldn't have left the kids alone - they are on holiday and their routine couldl have been disrupted for the duration, but anyone could have been lulled into a false sense of security in such a lovely place. However, iff Maddy is not found, or worse, they will have to live with this for the rest of their lives. Surely that is punishment enough?

[horselady]

I was chatting to some people who stayed on that complex in Portugal and they said everyone leaves the children in the chalets in the evenings. Apparently the childrens' menu and entertainment finishes at 6pm, you then put them to bed and return for the adult meal etc.

Even so I get the shivers just thinking about leaving my grandsons of 3 yrs and 8 months alone to go and eat a meal.

[Pippa68]

Crikey, horselady...and all those families are happy with doing that..or did they use the babysitting service?

My experiences with european holidays is where you have your children with you all the time. Everywhere I have visited have accomodated children, in fact they have welcomed children into the evening entertainment and find it most odd that we are not geared towards this in the UK.

My opinions on this case are the same as yours Nat. And as yet we still don't know for sure that Maddie WAS abducted.

[warpig3]

Nat, would like to add if they had been of what some may consider 'lower class' (sorry don't like that term but cant think of anything appropriate) what are the chances that the press would have delved into their background and dredged up every bit of dirt they could.

Geordie I have do disagree on one point namely 'lulled into a false sense of security', to leave 2 two year olds and an almost 4 year old unsupervised for any length of time is extremely foolish to say the least, no matter how peaceful and nice the surroudings imo. I know friends of mine who have kids that age and even when they are in bed asleep and we are downstairs they still check on them periodically. What if one of the children had woken up and was distressed, even if the McCanns checked on them every half hour (which has been disputed) that child would have been alone and upset for up to 30 minutes, and quite possibly waking up the other two in the process. Who is to say Madeline didn't wake up and went to look for her parents?

[redcrx]

The media attention is possibly because their family contacted the news within hours of her disappearance asking for help. Its snowballed because once people hear they want to pass on emails etc to feel that they are helping in some way. The McCann family are constantly in the media, even those inthe UK because they are desperate as any other family would be and just hope that someone somewhere holds the answer.

I dont think that the amount of help they are receiving has any relation to how rich they are or the colour of their skin. Does anyone know how much money Holly and Jessicas parents earn? Were they on benefits? Did we even stop to wonder when those little girls went missing?

I think that the story of any child thats missing needs to be publicised so that we can reunite them all with their families. Its a shame that not all missing children are reported in the way that this is.

Yes Madeleines parents were wrong to leave their children alone and they are certainly paying the price but to charge them with neglect at this time will not help get their child home. Perhaps this will be looked into afterwards. Everyone has made up their own minds as to wether the McCanns were evil parents or parents that made a stupid mistake, the media shall not sway peoples opinions on this.

The most important thing here is to find Madeleine.

[Reverandfunk]

Personally I can't understand the level of attention and some of the public's response. Obviously like everyone I want to see her returned safe and well (if she has been abducted) but people creating little shrines, sending chain letter emails, wearing yellow ribbons does what exactly??

I would have 1000% more sympathy for the parents if the hadn't wilfully neglected their children. The worst part about this is it's going to get worse, expect a book/film or both. I mean audiences with the pope, speaking to Gordon Brown etc etc when previous responses state that kids go missing in the UK and you hear jack s**t.

I'm not Sherlock Holmes but there is a lot more to this than meets the eye.

[horselady]

I too have the feeling that she may have woken up and gone looking for her mum and dad. If one of the younger children was crying she would have gone to fetch one of her parents. I hate the thought that there was excavation work going on nearby and those deep trenches were filled in the next morning after she vanished. What if she fell into one of those trenches and no-one noticed her and they filled them in. Oh God, my imagination is running away with me now, surely in this country all work like that would have been stopped immediately, why did the police allow that work to just carry on with a little child missing?

[Pippa68]

That is exactly what I was thinking at the time, horselady.

In fact I think if I had been the parent my immediate thought wouldn't have been 'abduction' but oh no, they have wandered off!!!

Maybe that's just me...

[Reverandfunk]

Horselady - Is that true about the excavation work? I hadn't heard that.

How far away was it to the sea??

[geordie_minx]

Warpig

Don't think for a minute that I agree with what the McCann's did. I've been on any number of holidays to lovely places when my kids were young, and not once did I think of leaving them on their own so I could enjoy an 'adults only' meal. The kids came with us, and if they got tired, we held them. 9 times out of 10 they were so excited to be on holiday anyway, that they would fight their tiredness! All I meant was that it could happen to some people and now look at the result of that.

Also, I have to admit to thinking the almost the same as Reverend - there might be more to this than meets the eye.

[nat_84]

Thanks for all the current responses and i'm glad i'm not the only one that questions the extreme of this case especially in comparison to other missing children cases.

I agree with warpig and still remain certain that had this been a "lower class" family i think this case would be viewed from a completely different perspective.

That doesnt mean i want the McCann parents to be humiliated or made out to be selfish and unworthy parents but i cant help but think WHY the flip would you leave such young children unattended!?! i dont care whether they were on holiday or in a relaxed environment.

[warpig3]

Didn't Kerry Needham, Bens mum, who was very young and unmarried at the time, have to sell his toys to get her air fare back home? Am sure I read that somewhere (possibly on here!)

I do appreciate that with todays modern technology things are different but still what about all the other dids that go missing, for instance the one stylinsam mentioned.

[Champagne]

There are hundreds of cases every year of missing people, kidnapping, killings etc. etc. which never hit the headlines. I think in this case the circumstances surrounding the missing child (she was taken from her room on a supposedly secure holiday complex, then Portugese police not giving the parents much immediate reassurance and the requirement for immediate action prompting the parents to contact the media) were the reason behind it making all the headlines; regardless of whether the parents were, say, cleaners or not.

This story would definitely have made local news, but somewhere along the line a major tabloid or news broadcast got hold of this story and since then it became a major headline.

But your point about race is an interesting one. Had it been an Asian family I'm not sure if it would have pulled at people's heartstrings in quite the same way. I'm curious to see what other people think on this matter?

[Reverandfunk]

One point being is it purely an "english thing" to leave kids alone. I wonder whether people from a different would have done so.

[melons]

Hi,
I said that when i first heard about her disapearing that personally i wouldnt have left my child alone for a second. Especially not in these days when things like this happen frequently.
I dont think that "common or lower class" people would get this attention. I dont think they would have got to meet the pope and it be such a publised thing. I to hope that she is found and is found safe and well. But i agree with the comments you have made!
Surely people should all be treated the same especially with something as serious as a missing child!