Madeleine McCann: Blown Out Of All Proportion
MADELEINE McCann is on the beach at Praia da Luz. Or at least her likeness is.
As the Mail reports, Chris Lennox and Les Harley, have driven 2,200 miles from Scotland. They have brought along a 800 sq ft giant inflatable billboard appealing for Madeleine’s safe return.
The Mail doesn’t say anything about Chris Lennox and Les Harle nor why they should choose to display Madeleine’s image in such a fashion. Is this not a little unusual, creepy even?
At least the BBC bothers to speak with campaigners. It hears Mr Lennox tell us: “My heartstrings have been pulled on this and I want to help. I have a family with small kids and my wife has been following this from day one. She told me to come out here and do what I could. I am clearly here to help raise awareness.”
Such is the way of public spectacles, like the Madeleine McCann mystery, that many feel involved. They want to do their bit. But what can they do? Put themselves in the public eye? Make a huge inflatable and show the world how much they care?
Lennox and Hale plan to tour the area with their massive inflatable sign. And surely it will keep Madeleine’s name in the public eye. People will be reminded that Madeleine McCann has gone missing. Parents on holiday will be made aware that children can be taken. They will anxiously hug their children closer. And, if they’ve read some of the over the top media coverage, they will worry over holidaying in Portugal.
Meanwhile, back in the UK, Sun readers can go online and watch a video of Madeleine. It’s called “Maddie on Mobile”. The Mail has stills of Madeleine McCann at the airport, excitedly climbing the airplane’s steps.
The two films, one of 13 seconds and another of nine, were taken on camera phones. “Somewhere in the background there’s even the sound of her voice,” says the Mail. Ghouls will love it.
And they can see it on the Sun’s website. Right after an advert for a film called Paradise Lost, featuring lot of babes in bikinis, and before “Sex in the City, a video showing a couple shagging on a London rooftop, there’s Madeleine on the airport shuttle bus.
So we look. But what does it teach us? Only that the media owns the story of Madeleine McCann. And that she is just another form of entertainment to pass the time before the next show…
May 29th, 2007 at 10:52 am
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
May 29th, 2007 at 11:05 am
Is that the sound of air leaking out the story?
May 29th, 2007 at 11:06 am
How much longer is this going to be ‘news’? I wonder how many other children went missing the same day Madeleine did, whose faces and parents are NOT all over the newspapers and the internet? Whose parents haven’t been offered an audience with the Pope (puhlease!)
I honestly hope Madeleine is found safe and well. I really do. Being left alone by her parents like that doesn’t mean SHE should suffer.
However, whether she is found alive or not, I think her parents should face at least some kind of enquiry about why they were so irresponsible as to leave 3 children under 4 alone whilst they went out to dine. It was grossly irresponsible and I can’t help but feel if they were not educated middle-class people, that there would be a lot more censure about it in the press and the news coverage.
For the McCanns to say that ‘thousands’ of people would have done what they did is simply delusional. NO ONE I have spoken to about this from my 94 year old mother down to my teenage daughter and her friends has been anything other than censorious of Madeleine’s parents. “What were they thinking to be so irresponsible?” has been the universal response.
If an unemployed single mother living on a council estate in this country did the same thing, then social services and the police would be down on her like a tonne of bricks. It is rightly illegal here to leave a child under 12 alone. I wonder what the law in Portugal is?
I have to question the media’s attitude and that of a certain section of the general public to all this. Why do parents who behave so irresponsibly and, frankly, stupidly, get so much sympathy? Whilst Madeleine does not deserve whatever happened to her, her parents most certainly deserve everything they are going through.
May 29th, 2007 at 11:13 am
Don’ t you thinkyour negative and resentful attitude is a bit ‘blown out of proportion’ where is your heart?
May 29th, 2007 at 11:13 am
Can’t we use a giant laser to etch Maddies face into the moon? That’ll make those non-Sun reading commies give her back.
European Union? More like EuroPEDO Union!
COME BACK MADDY! IF YOU’RE NOT DEAD!
May 29th, 2007 at 11:16 am
you people are disgusting
May 29th, 2007 at 11:19 am
YOU’RE disgusting. You havent even sent me any money for my McCann Mars Expedition fund. How can we expect to build a giant golden Palace on Mars for the McCanns to live in if you dont donate?
May 29th, 2007 at 11:20 am
Liz, expect this story to be ‘news’ for at least the next couple of days - we’ll have Team McCann all over the front pages, tomorrow humble in the presence of the Pope. Wonder if he’ll ask them about the IVF treatment they had - against Catholic doctrine I understand. Then we’ll have wall-to-wall coverage of Team McCann on Tour McCann; boarding private jets, posing for camera at the top of the aircraft steps, kissing babies in every European country they visit, shaking hands with Presidents and Prime Ministers.
May 29th, 2007 at 11:22 am
They’re going on a world tour. They’re giving lectures on how to be good parents. It’s being filmed and coming out on DVD. It’ll be out in time for Christmas.
KER-CHING!
May 29th, 2007 at 11:23 am
who cares why this particular case has recived so much attention, yes it might be because Madeleine is a pritty little blonde girl but the fact is that she is missing and people care about her, can relate to her. I cant believe that people wouldbe so selfish and thoughtless and in a case like this find something to winge about
Liz you should be ashamed of what you said about her parents deseving what they are going through. No one deserves the loss of a child- i only hope it is only temporary and that she will be found safe.
May 29th, 2007 at 11:27 am
Upgrade to a new hotel: £1700
Priavte Jet: £3500
The Brittish tabloids: £3
Never having to work again: Priceless
For everything else, there’s the Madeleine McCann fund.
May 29th, 2007 at 11:35 am
Do you think you are funny making fun of the situation? I have a child and i would give my life for him, no amount of money is worth a child and you shouldn’t make fun of someone elses misery
May 29th, 2007 at 11:38 am
Yes.
If they want to be celebrities, then they have to learn to deal with it. They’re all fair targets now.
May 29th, 2007 at 11:41 am
I don’t think they want to be celebrities, i think they will do anything to get their little girl back. Even make themselves ‘targets’ for insensitive assholes like you.
May 29th, 2007 at 11:42 am
How easy it is to judge when you’re sat on the sidelines reading the very media that you’re condemning for continuing to cover the story of two parents who made a mistake. A mistake that they will have to live with for the rest of their lives, whether Madeleine returns alive or not. A mistake that has unarguably resulted in such unmeasurable pain you and I cannot even begin to imagine.
Whether or not other parents would do the same is irrelevant, as I’m sure there have been others, who have undoubtedly strayed further than the boundaries of their resort. The point here is that these parents continue to put themselves at the mercy of public scrutiny - the kind that you deliver so well - because they will do anything to keep this ’story’ alive, in the hope that their daughter is returned alive.
I have to agree that what you said Liz was dispicable and I hope your words do not come to haunt you when this case is resolved - if it is ever. I also hope that you never find yourself in a similar position, fearing the worst for your child, as I can only imagine your ‘opinion’ would change dramatically.
May 29th, 2007 at 11:44 am
Bla, you miss the point. No one is making fun of someone else’s misery. What people are clearly becoming tired and jaded by is the way in which this story is being reported. We are now being subjected to a 13 second grainy camera video of this child sitting on an airport shuttle bus. What for? It could be any child, on any bus, in any airport, in any country in the world. Meanwhile, Tour McCann embarks on their mission and Sky’s Ian Woods gets ready to pack suitable attire and hone his pseudo-sympathetic reporting voice to once again talk of the anguish etched on the faces of best mates, Gerry and Kate
May 29th, 2007 at 11:52 am
As far as I can see, the reason this is still in the public eye isn’t because she is blonde/pretty/middle class or anything else. It’s because her parents are fighting tooth and nail to keep it there.
I’m sure any parent in the same predicament would want to do exactly the same thing.
Yes they could sob and fall apart, but how long would that be newsworthy for? So they are travelling, thinking of new ideas to keep the story in the news.. And succeeding from what I can see! Here we are a month on still talking about, It’s still commanding at least 2nd story on every news bullettin, so what they are doing is working. We are all still talking about it, all still aware, we haven’t forgotten it as last weeks news.
Yet the British public just loves to knock people down!
If they had sobbed on the Tv for a week and nothing else everyone would had said ‘awwwww I hope Madeleine is found’ But you would have forgotten it by now. But these people are prepared to tolerate your ridicule, In fact I don’t think they really care what ‘we’ all think of them, as long as we are still thinking about it.
I for one admire their tenacity !
May 29th, 2007 at 11:53 am
anourmouse, i know your sort, i’ve met you before. you are very tedious and you are a cock. please die.
May 29th, 2007 at 11:53 am
Do you have a child Jane? Perhaps the video, however bad quality it may be is the latest way of displying the mannerisums of the little girl as this cant be achieved through photoes but can contribute to someone recognising her. Maybe it is just the latest way of generating some publicity who knows.
I am not missing the point i can see that Anourmouse was clearly making fun of the McCanns not the media.
And obviously if a child has gone missing the more media attention making people awere of her the better and i don’t blame the McCanns for taking advantage of that. I know i certainly would!
May 29th, 2007 at 11:54 am
“Honey, we’re slipping b ack to page 7…. the Cutty Sark is getting more inches than us… what’ll we do to continue living this lavish lifestyle?”
“Hmm.. the only way to keep the money flooding into our personal bank accounts is to…. GO SEE THE POPE!”
“Oh Yeah! The tabloids would LOVE those pictures!”
May 29th, 2007 at 11:56 am
“Honey, we’re slipping b ack to page 7…. the Cutty Sark is getting more inches than us… what’ll we do to continue living this lavish lifestyle?”
I think it’s more what will we do to keep the story in the news and get our daughter back!
May 29th, 2007 at 11:59 am
Anourmouse if someone kidnaps you the news will be full of chear! What a sad little sole you have.
May 29th, 2007 at 11:59 am
You’re a complete tabloid sheep if you honestly beleive that the News of the World is helping to bring her back. I could claim that wearing my lucky underpants ever day is helping to bring her back.
No way to disprove it.
May 29th, 2007 at 11:59 am
It’s spelled “soul” you idiot.
May 29th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
its spelt every you idiot
May 29th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
There’s a difference between having a loose keyboard and not knowing the difference between “souls” and “soles”.
I think Anorak should make those Spam protection sums harder.
May 29th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Intellectual snobbery of the worse kind anourmouse!! Who cares whether bla wrote sole or soul. We all knew what was meant!
May 29th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Yeah i’m sure that as soon as the McCanns found their daughter missing they thought Oh here’s an chance to have some fun, because of course thats what all parents would think!
Anourmouse on the other hand has thought- Oh look here is some people in misery, my chance to have some twisted idea of a joke.
May 29th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
Thanks Kath!
May 29th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
don’t ignore the possibility that anourmouse may also own a sad little sole, in a fish tank. i suspect everything connected with anourmouse is very sad and very little.