Anyhoo...I feel that this has to be said and I've bitten my tongue for too long.
When is wilful neglect not considered to be neglect?
This is the question that has been on my mind for more than a week now.
The answer appears to be when the parents involved are middle class “educated” people.
Now to me this stinks of double standards…
Let’s look at the evidence…
A couple on holiday lock their sleeping pre-school children in their home and leave to enjoy a meal in a nearby restaurant.
The eldest of the children is subsequently abducted.
Some would say that is a tragedy….I say it’s a fucking outrage.
That child relied upon those parents to care for it and keep it safe yet the press seems to have overlooked this. Instead they prefer to concentrate on the social status enjoyed by the parents and present a sympathetic front.
Now let’s for a moment pretend that rather than being professional people the parents were in receipt of welfare payments and were visiting a run down resort on a bargain break to enjoy some sun, sea and cheap booze….can you just imagine the outcry that would have caused?
Newspaper editorials would have been baying for blood and demanding that the couples other children immediately be taken in to care, that the mother be sterilised, their welfare payments stopped etc….The couple would have been crucified.
Instead of this justified outrage what do we get???
An endless stream of the great and the good lining up to send some words of sympathy to the parents in front of any TV crew that will stick a camera & a boom mike in their face. And later throwing a wedge of cash into the reward fund which now tops £2.5m.
I would like to make it clear that I truly hope the little girl is found safe and well as in all of this she is the one character who does deserve our sympathy.
This is the question that has been on my mind for more than a week now.
The answer appears to be when the parents involved are middle class “educated” people.
Now to me this stinks of double standards…
Let’s look at the evidence…
A couple on holiday lock their sleeping pre-school children in their home and leave to enjoy a meal in a nearby restaurant.
The eldest of the children is subsequently abducted.
Some would say that is a tragedy….I say it’s a fucking outrage.
That child relied upon those parents to care for it and keep it safe yet the press seems to have overlooked this. Instead they prefer to concentrate on the social status enjoyed by the parents and present a sympathetic front.
Now let’s for a moment pretend that rather than being professional people the parents were in receipt of welfare payments and were visiting a run down resort on a bargain break to enjoy some sun, sea and cheap booze….can you just imagine the outcry that would have caused?
Newspaper editorials would have been baying for blood and demanding that the couples other children immediately be taken in to care, that the mother be sterilised, their welfare payments stopped etc….The couple would have been crucified.
Instead of this justified outrage what do we get???
An endless stream of the great and the good lining up to send some words of sympathy to the parents in front of any TV crew that will stick a camera & a boom mike in their face. And later throwing a wedge of cash into the reward fund which now tops £2.5m.
I would like to make it clear that I truly hope the little girl is found safe and well as in all of this she is the one character who does deserve our sympathy.
As an innocent child it must be truly horrific to be let down so badly by the two people you love and trust most.
4 comments:
Several years ago a young lady came in to my office to get a job. I liked her a lot. I saw photos of her kids. I found the perfect job for her. A few months later she left her children (age 2 and 4) alone for the evening while she went out for a New Year's Party. She figured they would be fine as long as they were asleep. A fire started in her apartment that night and killed both of her little boys.
She went to prison.
She was a young, single, working mother who also happened to be very stupid.
I have never gotten the photos of those boys out of my head.
I have disagreed with some of the things you have said on this site and been outraged by others. I have wondered sometimes what drives you, but today I am so proud of you!
Thank you for saying what so many people out there are definitely thinking.
Had these two people not been who they are, would we be holding candlelit vigils in Glasgow Cathedral etc? I think not! And, as you say, there would be police and social workers waiting at the airport for the arrival home.
Does the consultant cardiologist show the same reckless abandon when dealing with this patients?
I, like you, hope that Maddie comes home safely but I do think that the parents should definitely have known better.
Well Put. It is a bugger judging people by their class, but the press seems to do it every day.
Only just found your site. And while I'm awfully late with this, you have articulated perfectly what I've felt since this whole sad and preventable tragedy unfolded.
Thanks
Post a Comment