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2)Who cares what toth says?
2) lol
Hmm. Does it?
Also, I don't think people are "pointing the finger" at all, people are being very considerate and wary that they don't do just that. In fact the opposite is true, and anyone seen to be "pointing the finger" is painted as heartless and served with the "I hope you never have a child abducted" retort which means... precisely nothing? Or actually might mean "I hope your child gets abducted so you know how they feel" which was a delightful MattLiverpool retort in the other similar thread.
I really wish this much effort was put into saving young girls in Asia and Eastern Europe from being kidnapped or murdered or sold into the sex slave business. The wailing hand-wringers of celebrities and "civilians" who have come crawling out of the woodwork with this case have shown their true colours in my view, they couldn't give a rat's arse about the majority of similar cases. That applies worldwide. High profile breeds high profile breeds celebrity endorsement breeds The Sun editor wetting their underpants breeds saturation point.
I really wish they weren't now pressurising J.K Rowling into putting Madeleine's face on bookmarks to be distributed with the latest Harry Potter book. Print a link-up to a missing person's website or helpline, for sure. Print one missing child's photo and vital stats - that jars with me. This is not to even scratch the surface of the fear this is going to instill in young readers of Harry Potter. Seriously man, what the fuck?
Critical sympathy fatigue point reached. No longer able to muster up any feeling about this story other than puzzlement. Indifference reached in 3, 2, 1. Not to say I don't think it's horrible, I feel absolutely devastated for that little girl to the point it turns me into a bit of a wreck at the moment. But that the whole thing is so overexposed and hysterical while also seeming kind of... cold... it's strange.
Why didn't they go to Morocco a fortnight ago when she was supposedly sighted?
The parents shouldn't have left her alone, especially in a foreign country.
The last UK child to be abducted abroad was Ben Needham (please correct me if I am wrong). Assuming that approx 3m familes go abroad every year then that's 3m x 16 (for the number of years since), or in other words 48m holidays have been taken.
Simple maths tells you that the risk is therefore 1:48m. That's on the basis that only 3m holidays are taken, I am certain that the number is much higher.
People play the lottery on worse odds than that.
The family did nothing wrong.
Christ people look at the principle you are putting forward here. You are suggesting that a victim can be partly to blame for being a victim of someone else's actions. You might as well be saying that a woman is to blame, in part, for being raped if she wore a short dress/chatted to a bloke/had a couple of drinks...
The other issue you might want to consider if one of the sentence. Would you advocate a shorter sentence for the criminal in this instance because Maddy was left alone in a room?
If her parents had let her play on the dual carriageway and then complained that she`d got hit by a car Id have sympathy for the child who didnt know any better, but not for the parents who didnt look after her.
It IS an unpredictable world out there, and some people are predators. Thats why we LOOK AFTER our children.
What would be the point of having babysitters, childminders, nurseries, nannies if kids were fine to just be left on their own?
If you left your kids with your parents for example and they went out for a meal leaving the kids alone, would you not be furious with them?
If you had a childminder and they went out and left them on their own, would you not sack them?
If that had been me and id left my child all alone and something had happened, I dont think I could live with myself. I would totally blame myself, and quite right too.
Really ? You honestly believe that leaving 3 children aged 3 and under alone in a locked room in a foreign country for up to half an hour is not wrong ? I very much doubt you would pop next door for 5 minutes and leave your kids on their own, let alone be x yards away having dinner.
As for statistics and probability, well in all probability she'd be back home after a nice holiday if she hadn't been left on her own.
I don't think I would like to leave small children on their own in a flat however. Not because they might get snatched but for much more mundane yet plausable reasons- they might wake up and panic when there is nobody to answer their call, the older child can roll onto one of the smaller kids and suffocate them, they might get up, wonder around and let themselves out, etc.
However I don't have children and I don't think I'm fully qualified to criticise parents for leaving children sleeping by themselves for short periods of time until I myself am a parent. There has to be a line between being protective of your children and living your life. Whether half-hour intervals between checks were adequate is a matter for disussion though.
Agree with the people who think social class is a factor in the press coverage. Also agree with the people who are sick of hearing about it - apologies if that upsets anyone. I also think good old English imperial arrogance has something to do with the press angle.... imagine how the tabloids would report it, if a Portuguese couple (whatever class they were) came to England on holiday, dumped their kids in a hotel room, went out for a meal and then - when disaster struck - started jumping up and down criticising the English police at every possible opportunity, because the police hadn't immediately dropped everything to go and hunt for their missing child? How would the papers react when they got an audience with the pope? How soon would debates be raging about how much this Portuguese couple's neglect was costing the British taxpayer? About whether they should be sent a bill? etc etc etc. Typical press double standards, imo.
Please explain? I don't see how leaving 3 children under 4 in a foreign country is 'doing nothing wrong'.
I certainly wouldn't.
Opinion, not fact.
They left 3 kids under the age of 4 ALONE
regardless of "statistics" if the chance is there....why take it for the sake of a romantic meal?
when you have kids, you make sacrafices, you need to get over the fact that you CANT go on holiday with 3 kids under 4 and still have a childless meal! when you choose to have a child, you know what it entails....
I wonder if there would have been as much sympathy if maddie had fell and cracked her head open? or took her eye out on the corner of the bed?
Or one of the babies ran into a door and knocked themselves out?
there were so many possible outcomes to their actions, unfortunately for maddie, the worst one happened
the parents are going through hell, but i'm sure it's better than what maddie is/was going through
ALL the blame cant be put on them, but some can! You say you cant blame a victim, fair enough, but they aint the victims, the girl is.
Of course they didnt ASK for Maddie to be taken, but they gave the dick who did it a chance to do it.
If you leave your garage door open, your brand new Audi could get nicked. If you leave a window open, your plasma TV could get nicked. Your fault? No. Preventable, possibly, with common sense and careful thought.
presumably she means that the children could come across harmful substances, with no adult around to say 'no' when they try to drink it/squirt it on their sibling/whatever else dangerous.
They have 1 tree to the far end of the building. This tree is covered in them yellow ribbons and they have put a sign out saying 'madeline's tree' and people can put their own ribbons on etc
Whats the point? It won't change anything
You have a tree covered in ribbons :thumb:
ETA Is it an old oak tree ?
Being the tree expert i am, no it is not an oak tree. Its a ribbon tree!
:thumb:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6717761.stm
I had not heard of this. Had any of you?
I guess she should have been 28 years younger and a tad blondier...
Yep, I'd read about it.
You are right, let me rephrase.
The fact that these children were left like they were should not detract from the fact that the criminal intent of another person is what caused this event. Without that individuals actions we wouldn't even have a case to discuss.
Indeed and let's look at the people you mention there.
Statisically there is much greater chance of a child being molested by someone known to them/their parents. Do you ever let someone else babysit?
If the answer is yes, then are you to blame if that person abuses the child?
you could say the same about the parent's actions
without them leaving her, we wouldnt have a case to discuss
criminals are opportunists, if the opportunity is there, they take it
they gave them that opportunity and are now unfortunately paying for it
i wouldnt say so
yes you put your child in their care, BUT you THOUGHT you were doing what was right for the child, you werent to know that that person would abuse your trust, you cant predict that your best mate/uncle/brother in law would want to harm your child
leaving 3 children under the age of 4 alone, is not doing what is right for your child and the consequences of leaving children that young, alone, are numerous and predictable
Now you make sense.
:yes:
But they still take it, they don't have to and intent is important. I mean, you don't snatch every kid you see alone anywhere do you? You don't steal everytime the opportunity presents itself do you?
No, that is the big difference here.
Whether an opportunity was there or not, it was a criminal act of abduction.
Do you imagine that Maddy's parents thought that they were doing wrong, thought that they were placing her in harm's way?
Seriously, is that what you think?
Because if you do then you are accusing them of being complicit and, as I said previously, that principle of "fault" means that you should also argue for shorter sentence in this and every other case where the defendant can argue complicity. Including rape.
If you don't think that they knowingly placed her in harm's way then you cannot attribute blame.
Dude, never apologise for telling me I'm right
NOBODY just goes out leaving their kids alone thinking nothing of it. They MUST have known it was risky.