This is a great tragedy for the child and the parents but it absolutely resolutely is not a world event. In the last two weeks, there has been a frenzy in the
It seems to me that the British have become grief junkies. It started with Diana and it’s got worse since. It’s not helped by the rolling news cycle, with 24 hour news stations being desperate to fill time. Eventually, the coverage of a human interest story itself becomes the news and a firestorm starts.
I sincerely hope that the kid is found unharmed, although that’s surely an ever more remote possibility. The top story on the BBC news today is that her father believes she’s fine. Once more, I hope that this brings him some comfort, but how does he know? And since when has the hunch of an anxious, arguably negligent, father been a big enough story to top every other event happening in the world today?
Now I know that in the period that saw Tony Blair finally step down, my own headline was a whinge about Eurovision and that’s pretty trivial. But I’m just a middle aged poof who keeps a blog. I am entitled to my random, deeply disproportionate rantings because I’m not the BBC.
I find this sort of thing deeply distasteful. If there’s one thing that “sells” better than fear, it’s fear for the safety of children. The sort of frenzied coverage of this event further convinces people that the world’s more dangerous than ever (the bald facts are that it’s not). So fewer children get to walk to school and society trembles itself to pieces even more. This sort of grief journalism is plain irresponsible. I also wonder how many parents in
I predict that in a week or so, there will become considerable pressure to buy a yellow ribbon to wear to “show support” and pay money into the fund that has apparently been set up for…. Well, it’s hard to be sure what for. I strongly urge you to not contribute. Write a letter of support to the parents if you feel sufficiently moved to do so, but don’t encourage this sort of lachrymose frenzy that has become all too common.
4 comments:
Unlike my usual self Manc I find myself agreeing with you.
The scarey thing about these two is that they are supposed to be two responsible members of the public. They are doctors for goodness sake... surely the phrase "shouldnt you have known better" be ringing in these two poor parents heads.
I am not a parent my self, one reason for the choice is the responsibility that comes with this role. I cant look after myself let alone a child or in reality a person. Irrelevant of their age as a parent you always feel like you remain responsible for your offspring.
Although very sad indeed. I cant get over the sheer idiotic notion that they could leave their kids unsupervised in an apartment while they are off galavanting. It's not as though Mark Warner couldnt provide a baby sitter and all for what approx 15 Euro an Hour. I know what I would have chosen...
Quite a relief that somebody agrees with me. It seems one is a bastard if not feigning being overcome with grief. I am appalled by Sky News's coverage of this. All I can get here in Prague is Sky News. That's the subject of another blog entry I guess.
This is all part of the Dianafication of Britain, like all those flowers and teddy bears you see at the site of accidents.
The headline today about the father "believing" his daughter was safe was deeply unpleasant. I don't blame the father at all - of course he must believe and hope that his daughter is safe. But his private despair should be private.
The disgusting business of the captured sailors being encourage to sell their stories really sticks in the craw. I don't blame any of them for "confessing" - they were under duress. But whingeing about a stolen i-Pod and being paid for your whinge is pathetic. Worse still is the cynical, spin driven government who permitted this to happen.
What happened to the British stiff upper lip? Well, actually, it's still around, but, by definition, quietly buggering on, as Churchill said, rather than emoting and ejaculating in the papers.
If the words "stiff", "upper", "stiff upper", "buggering" and "ejaculate" offend, well Stephen Fry once came out with something both pertinent and impertinent on the subject of offence.
I suspect that there is more to this story than meets the eye and I imagine at this point perhaps the parents are under suspicion. (Jeanne Bennet Ramsey anyone?) What has been truly breathtaking is the attempts by some parts of the British media (IE Sky and ITV) to suggest that the local police are somehow incompetent because they don't subscribe to minute by minute updates, breakdowns and analysis to suit their schedules.
For Sky she is no longer a missing person but a sad human soap opera to keep the channel rolling in ad revenue.
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