I used to read current news. I used to love curling up on a Sunday afternoon and drifting off after paging lazily through the black & white print. Perhaps I was naive and kept my rose coloured spectacles on, or maybe I was just capable of turning a blind eye to the horrors but no more.
Every week I help out at our village corner shop and one of my chores involves packing up all the unsold newspapers to be returned to the mill. Despite a concerted effort to look elsewhere I am continuously drawn to headline after sensationalist headline about the horrors that us humans willingly inflict on each other. Most prevalent being the Madeleine McCann case which seems to divide the nation into those who believe that the McCann are involved and those who don't. Unfortunately the press seem to have placed themselves squarely into the done it camp and are doing all they can to fan the rampant rumours.
Perhaps my distress over this story stems from being a parent but I'm not convinced that is the csae because as a parent I should be horrified that their daughter went missing from beneath their noses. Instead I get angry at the blatant attempt to implicate the parents as if it is simply a formality. God! When did we all become so selfish?
People complain that the parents aren't warm enough/emotional enough/distressed enough and that Kate in particular seems to lack maternal skills. The internet is rife with rumours that they sedate their children - don't all parents at one point or another sedate their children? What about the cough medicine that makes them drowsy?
Show me a parent who hasn'tmade any mistakes and I will show you a liar. None of us can say that we have been with our children 100% of the time and all of us must admit that if wanted, the opportunity has always been there.
Too often we let the press control the emotional rollercoaster. In this though the stakes are too high, the horror too unspeakable to contemplate and so we wait for an outcome, any outcome to find closure. I only hope that the outcome is one that we can all live with.
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2 comments:
I couldn't agree with you more about this! Being compassionate seems to be a thing of the past!
The McCann's deserve our sympathy - but all they seem to get is criticism after criticism. They should be assumed to be innocent unless it is proven - without a single doubt - that they are not!
This whole thing really does upset me!
I try to avoid news. It just depresses me. This story is especially sad.
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