maddy and the publics reaction...

[joko]

i have never known such a huge reaction to something like this - it seems to be almost global, with everyone pulling together and making an effort - no matter how small.

does this signal a change in attitudes towards criminal behaviour?
everyone has always abhorred these sorts of crimes, but mostly it is left to the police, family, and perhaps immediate locals to deal with
is it a new sense of power that people are getting so involved and being pro-active, rather than thinking of it as somebody elses problem?
are people sick of sitting back and doing nothing, and have decided enoughs enough and pulling out all the stops?
or is it a feeling of helplessness and the desire to at least have done ''your bit'' in helping find her?

is it down to technology?
that we know feel able to contact thosands at the click of a button?
i have had picture, stars, messages to forward on my phone, email, myspace etc, people are making posters, they are changing their online avatars to missing posters etc
why is this case different?
is the ''spririt of the blitz'' back in our society?

what are your thoughts?

[Pippa68]

Put it this way, I am still receiving emails calling for the relase of Jamie Bulgers killers to be halted.

I am also receiving emails about various missing children in the UK & USA who have either been found or weren't missing at all...years after the intial abduction or hoax was reported.

Technology is indeed wonderful in some cases, but not in others.

[4getmenot]

yer I dont think it should be analysed either, and that is out opinion. Yes you are entitled to yours. :-)

[4getmenot]

yer I got that e-mail pippa and yet they were released years ago :-)

[joko]

my question is NOT about maddie herself - it is about the publics reactions
the same question could be asked about anyone who had received this amount of public support - and the point is i have never seen it to this level before.

i mean people all over the country are wearing tshirts, putting up posters, sending texts emails etc etc - this does not usually happen except for perhaps in the immediate vicinity, neighbours etc - i am asking why now?
why this time?
what is it about this time that has made people do this?

is it a sign of a new found sense of ''claiming back the rights of good people from the criminals'' ?



4get, perhaps it was more aimed at miss inquiry...

[4getmenot]

I do think technology and just changing times really.

[4getmenot]

and possible learning from past crimes

[ruby27]

Very thought provoking question
My own perspective is cynical. I think that the response to the abduction of the child Madeline has been more like the response to the death of HRH Diana quote The response to the death of Princess Diana of Wales, was a phenomenon unprecedented in terms of media coverage and mass public grief around the world. At the time unprecedented but now more common in the public arena. If you do not flaunt your emotions at such a tragedy how can you be sure that you are really touched and changed by the events. At the time because I worked in Northamptonshire and I was asked if I could assist in providing counselling for the many distressed who would be arriving in the area and possibly overcome by their feelings. Despite the fact I am trained as a Psychotherapist and ought to have been able to emphasize with the feelings some people would be having � my response was oh for goodness sake get a life you never met the woman and yes its sad but so its sad when any mother dies with young children. Obviously I declined to offer my services. Don�t� book me for therapy for this kind of problem.
I also suspect that we, in this country enjoy this sort of public grief as suggested or though withdrawn by Boris Johnson that Liverpool the city was wallowing in "disproportionate" grief
I think it�s the same motivation that causes rubbernecking a sort of prurient (without the sex) interest in the plight of others. I have found the media coverage excessive and probably this has been for the reasons other posters have suggested race, class etc. Like others I am saddened by the thought of a child going missing and probably dead and abused before her death, but I have no greater sense of distress about Madeline than the thousands of children who die all the time � who possibly are not white and come from middle England.

[ruby27]

people all over the country are wearing t-shirts, putting up posters, sending texts emails etc - this does not usually happen except for perhaps in the immediate vicinity, neighbors etc -
It�s strange I live 20 odd miles from Rothley and there are no signs or t-shirts texts yellow ribbons etc. We are more interested in local news about our children, especially one who has a very rare cancer. Not that we are uncaring in my opinion but much as I am reluctant to do so I agree totally with Reverandfunk, what do our wailing and gnashing of teeth do to help find a child or a perpetrator. No this public display of greif/ or playground rather than my daddy is bigger than yours its more I am praying harder, feeling more, its has more to do with our own self satisfaction than any realistic approach to helping find a child.

[joko]

ruby, i am inclined to agree with some elements of your post - i find with things like this, that if you don't pepper every post with anguished sentiments and flowery caring language people jump down your throat and respond in an almost accusatory tone, that you are heartless because you are not wailing and crying.
its as though, unless you pour it out to everyone constantly, you somehow don't care enough, or as much.

i am human - of course i care!
it is a terrible thing and i hope she's found, but i don't feel the need to say this every single time she is mentioned in every thread - and i take it as read, that if you are human, you will want her to be safe.

but it happens on here with any terrible news event.

i have asked a question here that has been INSPIRED by maddies disapperance, but it is not about her, yet few actually addressed or answered my questions, and just took the opportunity to say how terrible it all is again.
I don't mind that, as long they answer my post and not just turn it into another huge thread about poor maddie.

i am just curious as to why it has all got to such an extreme level - there were people on here claiming to have done nothing but cry since, are devastated, etc etc - someone even berated ab for not putting a question about it at the top so we could all join in!

is it as ruby implies, all self serving and one upmanship and the need to show people how caring you are, or is it a turn of the tide in how we deal with things these days?

i got sent an email to forward - accompanied by a nasty, snidey diatribe of how evil and monstrous i was - IF i didn't bother to forward it!!
is this someone making themselves feel better? - as though are the only one that 'truly' cares?


I have to say I really don't know...

[Pippa68]

'i got sent an email to forward - accompanied by a nasty, snidey diatribe of how evil and monstrous i was - IF i didn't bother to forward it!!'

That is the sentence that always makes me hit the 'delete' button, joko..oh if only they knew I didn't give a toss how uncaring they think I am!

[redcrx]

Joko,
Ive only just seen your replies to me as I was elsewhere Friday afternoon.
I was not at all against your question, you asked for thoughts and they were mine. I was just trying to say that people forwarding emails is such a small thing to do but theres always hope that one email received somewhere in the world could help.
I havnt got ribbons up for her, that wont help at all but what harm can an email do, it takes seconds to forward and doesnt harm anyone who receives it.
Todays news about a possible lead in Morocco brought up the fact that people in morocco havnt even heard of madeleine. Im sure if emails continue to be forwarded someone somewhere will pass it someone in morroco.

of course youre entitled to your views and I cant see anything wrong with them at all, I was only putting mine just as eveyone else put theirs, its a shame you felt you needed to single mine out assuming i was having a go, I wasnt.

[joko]

fair enough redcrx - it sounded to me like you were complaining about me asking the question.

i am not analysing maddy and her situation, i am looking at human behaviour.

I have not said anywhere that people should not forward emails!
I have not said anywhere that people should not do whatever it is they want to in order to feel like they are helping, no matter how small!

why is that such a hard concept for people to grasp??
I have not made a judgement on anyone - i just asked WHY?


this question is about HUMAN NATURE, and what makes us behave the way we do... if it was about just maddy i would have put it in news.


again, as i have said, the question is about what has changed us as a nation for us to have this massive outpouring of grief and community spirit - i really don't understand why that is not clear - i have said it enough times!

I really wish people would read questions thouroughly and make sure they understand what the questioner is saying, before jumping in with a response

[redcrx]

its a problem with the written word, no-one can tell the true feelings behind what is written. I was only trying to say why i think many are forwarding emails, am not saying if its right or wrong, none of us will know that :)

[joko]

very true redcrx, very hard to explain what you mean sometimes, with out waffling on and filling the thread up, lol.

i see no harm in sending emails and ribbons etc, if it makes people feel better, useful etc.
it just has never happened to this extent before.

I actually think its quite nice - that community are pulling together and doing ''something'' to help.

i suppose, like with anything, some will abuse that sense of wellbeing and usefullness to try to make others feel bad - like the email i mentioned above - thats what i was wondering about - motives for this behaviour ... some innocent, some not, some self serving, some arrogant, etc etc

i read of a letter sent to various papers etc from two psychics, informing them that they would go out and help search for her if the paper advertised and perhaps even funded the trip!!

there is also the issue of the journalist who reported this man... based on very little... she may turn out to be right, but her ''hunch'' and subsequent accusation, was all to give her ego a boost and to make herself feel like a hero.... sad really.

could his overzealous assitance, been exactly that - an attempt to make himself feel better and to show everyone that he cared more than them...?

[redcrx]

there will always be those that ride on the back of such a story for their own recognition, theres nothing that can really be done to stop such behaviour.
I suppose that the more coverage it gets the likeliness of her being found will increase but it does mean that more false leads will be given sadly.

[fine,thanks]

joko. this child being abducted is awful, but im with you on the reaction from the public and the publicity it has received, i did say earlier on your post its very similar to the death of diana, it gives people the outlet to grieve and to focus on an issue , the whole thing is very interesting although sad, but children are being murdered on a daily basis in the name of war. how many e mails have people received re those children ? this is with no disrespect to the mc. cann family, but i will repeat myself had thois been a lone parent , would we be seeing this reaction ?

[joko]

walking down my local high street the other day there was buzz going round, strangers chatting, gossiping, shop assistants telling customers, that she had been found alive under the floorboards in some house - everyone was so happy and horrified.
people rushed home to see the news

all nonsense of course, some cruel gossip monger wanting the excuse to be centre of attention... and when truth came out, they will no doubt explain it away with a ''well thats what i heard''.


fine thanks, i don't know about the single parent thing - i think people would still be as upset about the missing child - but i expect there may be more blame on the parent, and more demand for them to be punished.

single parents are much more common these day and there is less stigma than in the past, so its hard to say - i know for myself, it wouldn't even occur to me to even think about it, but i guess for everyone like me, there is one who is against it.

i think rather than single parents one thing could be that they are a professional couple, rather than a couple of scally chav braindead 20 year olds...