HORRIBLE THINGS
"That's a horrible thing to say!" my mother snapped while we sipped our tea with milk. The horror had gotten worse, a cricket team showed solidarity by wearing yellow ribbons on their sleeves as the dedicated tail-end of the news detailed the Find Maddy Campaign. Suggestions that the police were frustrated were quashed and progress was shown in the seizing of computer equipment owned by some fresh faced lad in Portugal. Correspondents were there, on location, with speculations, without information, with concern and without anything to learn. "Do you see what they've done there?" I sarcastically pointed out as it was back over to the UK where we were reminded of the solidarity – the ad-hoc campaign press office had headlined posters with 'Look', but the first 'o' shared the blemish of Maddy's right eye. "You're sick you are" gasped my mother.
"What about the 20 woman and children that have probably arrived in Dover this morning?", I retorted, "destined for sexual slavery". It wasn't a cultural lag, where only that morning my tea was sipped without milk in a wholly different nation – one I dare not draw comparisons with. How Iran affords me with a rotten perspective. "This isn't news mum", I pointed out while extracting the thickly layered emotive content from the thinly sprinkled journalism.
Madeleine's fund as of 01/06/07 totals £581,813.01
Visits to www.findmadeleine.com total 142 million impressions
"What about the 20 woman and children that have probably arrived in Dover this morning?", I retorted, "destined for sexual slavery". It wasn't a cultural lag, where only that morning my tea was sipped without milk in a wholly different nation – one I dare not draw comparisons with. How Iran affords me with a rotten perspective. "This isn't news mum", I pointed out while extracting the thickly layered emotive content from the thinly sprinkled journalism.
The growing album of amateur snaps that hang on the nation's conscience was opening a new page
The media parade increasingly ready to fill the minds of the masses with displays likes these – these yanks on our heart strings – troubles me for the precedence it sets. The growing album of amateur snaps that hang on the nation's conscience was opening a new page, I hope the sticky cellophane won't seal her fate – I genuinely do. Yet my mind found a new level of cynicism as I pondered what the nation's response would be if this young blond beautiful girl wasn't – is that a horrible things to say?Madeleine's fund as of 01/06/07 totals £581,813.01
Visits to www.findmadeleine.com total 142 million impressions
Labels: England, find maddy, Madeleine, news
Posted by ddmmyyyy at
6:15 PM
2 Comments:
MDF - This entry reminds me of the beginning of the first chapter of New Grub Street, by George Gissing, published 1891:
_______________________________
A MAN OF HIS DAY
As the Milvains sat down to breakfast the clock of Wattleborough parish church struck eight; it was two miles away, but the strokes were borne very distinctly on the west wind this autumn morning. Jasper, listening before he cracked an egg, remarked with cheerfulness:
'There's a man being hanged in London at this moment.'
'Surely it isn't necessary to let us know that,' said his sister Maud, coldly.
'And in such a tone, too!' protested his sister Dora.
'Who is it?' inquired Mrs Milvain, looking at her son with pained forehead.
'I don't know. It happened to catch my eye in the paper yesterday that someone was to be hanged at Newgate this morning. There's a certain satisfaction in reflecting that it is not oneself.'
'That's your selfish way of looking at things,' said Maud.
'Well,' returned Jasper, 'seeing that the fact came into my head, what better use could I make of it? I could curse the brutality of an age that sanctioned such things; or I could grow doleful over the misery of the poor -- fellow. But those emotions would be as little profitable to others as to myself. It just happened that I saw the thing in a light of consolation. Things are bad with me, but not so bad as that. I might be going out between Jack Ketch and the Chaplain to be hanged; instead of that, I am eating a really fresh egg, and very excellent buttered toast, with coffee as good as can be reasonably expected in this part of the world. -- (Do try boiling the milk, mother.) -- The tone in which I spoke was spontaneous; being so, it needs no justification.'
By
Anonymous, at 6:37 PM
Of course it's not a horrible thing to say. The first thing I thought when I heard the news was that she must be white and cute for anyone to care that a child's been kidnapped, especially an English child making news all the way in the U.S. The number of children that are kidnapped, killed, molested, raped, trafficked or a number of other terrible fates in the world is horrifying. It doesn't only happen to cute blonde kids, though by watching the news you'd be led to think otherwise. I don't blame her parents for using their daughter's "appeal" in an effort to spread the word; I'm sure if I had children I'd do whatever I could think of to get my child back if something like this happened. Surely her parents see the media wants to eat the story up, and they'd like information about their daughter, why not use the opportunity to get the word out?
What I find interesting about all this is, well, doesn't the story go that she was abducted after being left with her two year old twin siblings in a room, unwatched, while her parents were at a restaurant having dinner? I could never wish something this terrible on a child or a set of parents, but really, where was the logic in this ? Or perhaps I'm missing something, my details are fuzzy, I'm sure the coverage is far more substantial in the UK than here.
By
Tahereh, at 7:27 AM
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