Kate Leaver
TonyKMocking Maddie: Missing Child Back in the News
January 10th 2009 07:12
Remember Maddie McCann? The angelic toddler who diappeared without trace in Portugal while her parents were dining nearby?
This tiny tot mystery was ravaged by the media, and a global search fuelled by sympathy grew to epic proportions. The parents, Gerry and Kate - now emblems of parental patience and tragedy - have been through hell.
And now this: NewsStory
Some fledgling politicians planning to dress up as Maddie McCann as a sick prank.
I cannot believe this darling girl, who has been endeared to media-spectators everywhere as 'Our Maddie' despite her family never abbreviating the name Madeline, is in the media again. So much exposure, and she hasn't been seen in years.
This brought back a tide of queasy, convoluted opinions of mine.. on children in the news:
It is no wonder that abductions of children, cases of sexual abuse and gross negligence are given such priority on News/Current Affairs programs. They offend our most sacred moral standard; to protect children. We watch stories about helpless parents so we can indulge our own fears. This vicarious vulnerability is exacerbated by the knowledge that we can secure any of our other assets, but not our offspring. There are security systems to protect cars, pets, houses, buildings, phones and computers but the chilling absence of any mechanism to protect our children breeds paranoia among parents. Parental paranoia feeds into media panic – and there begins the cycle of public fear.
Very little thought seems to have gone into the effects that such attention might have on Maddie’s siblings, Maddie’s friends and any child who watches her on the news. Consider Madeleine McCann herself; if she were to be found, she would grow up a morbid kind of celebrity whose personal horror held the world captive during her formative toddler years.
Media coverage of the ‘Maddie’ case has misrepresented the significance of the story and implicitly suggested that foreign abduction is a perennial concern. This is a terrifying notion for parents, but because of their underdeveloped grasp of empathy children have far more difficulty in qualifying that kidnapping is not an ever-present threat. Similarly, how are children to know that babies are not left by dumpsters, killed by their axe-wielding grand-fathers or gassed to death in a car with their brothers and father every day? These stories appear prominently in the news because they are terrifying anomalies to everyday existence, not because they reflect normal social behaviour. How are children growing up in a world saturated by reports on disaster expected to recognise that the news is not a daily sample of what could happen to them?
Children are more likely to be kidnapped by someone they know than a stranger, yet the disproportionate media attention given to the case of missing Madeleine directs people’s anxiety towards the unidentified assailant. There’s a ‘Where’s Wally’ sort of mentality, and the public fantasise about the heroism and excitement of being the one to find Madeleine, which is all part of the frenzy. Global sympathy has rallied people together in a bid to combat the ‘evil’ that mysterious men who steal children represent. It creates a happy spectrum doesn't it; paedophilia and abduction at one end, middle-class suburban normality at the other.
This tiny tot mystery was ravaged by the media, and a global search fuelled by sympathy grew to epic proportions. The parents, Gerry and Kate - now emblems of parental patience and tragedy - have been through hell.
Some fledgling politicians planning to dress up as Maddie McCann as a sick prank.
I cannot believe this darling girl, who has been endeared to media-spectators everywhere as 'Our Maddie' despite her family never abbreviating the name Madeline, is in the media again. So much exposure, and she hasn't been seen in years.
This brought back a tide of queasy, convoluted opinions of mine.. on children in the news:
It is no wonder that abductions of children, cases of sexual abuse and gross negligence are given such priority on News/Current Affairs programs. They offend our most sacred moral standard; to protect children. We watch stories about helpless parents so we can indulge our own fears. This vicarious vulnerability is exacerbated by the knowledge that we can secure any of our other assets, but not our offspring. There are security systems to protect cars, pets, houses, buildings, phones and computers but the chilling absence of any mechanism to protect our children breeds paranoia among parents. Parental paranoia feeds into media panic – and there begins the cycle of public fear.
Very little thought seems to have gone into the effects that such attention might have on Maddie’s siblings, Maddie’s friends and any child who watches her on the news. Consider Madeleine McCann herself; if she were to be found, she would grow up a morbid kind of celebrity whose personal horror held the world captive during her formative toddler years.
Media coverage of the ‘Maddie’ case has misrepresented the significance of the story and implicitly suggested that foreign abduction is a perennial concern. This is a terrifying notion for parents, but because of their underdeveloped grasp of empathy children have far more difficulty in qualifying that kidnapping is not an ever-present threat. Similarly, how are children to know that babies are not left by dumpsters, killed by their axe-wielding grand-fathers or gassed to death in a car with their brothers and father every day? These stories appear prominently in the news because they are terrifying anomalies to everyday existence, not because they reflect normal social behaviour. How are children growing up in a world saturated by reports on disaster expected to recognise that the news is not a daily sample of what could happen to them?
Children are more likely to be kidnapped by someone they know than a stranger, yet the disproportionate media attention given to the case of missing Madeleine directs people’s anxiety towards the unidentified assailant. There’s a ‘Where’s Wally’ sort of mentality, and the public fantasise about the heroism and excitement of being the one to find Madeleine, which is all part of the frenzy. Global sympathy has rallied people together in a bid to combat the ‘evil’ that mysterious men who steal children represent. It creates a happy spectrum doesn't it; paedophilia and abduction at one end, middle-class suburban normality at the other.
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Comment by katyzzz
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This case is a mystery, someone must know.
Sadly, I can't help but feel that this child is dead.
At whose hands?, we can only ask ourselves.