The McCanns have admitted that, though they believed it was safe to do so at the time, it clearly was a mistake to leave the children alone in the apartment. They have said that this decision will haunt them for the rest of their lives.
Have they? The last I was aware they were busy laying the blame elsewhere with the well-worn quotes we all know and love.
Their actions in this respect were not found after full investigation by the Portuguese authorities to have constituted neglect, that accusation against them was specifically rejected.
Was it? Did the Portuguese really do a "full investigation" into neglect or anything else? Why do they refer to this as the "interrupted investigation" then? Where is your proof of this "specific rejection"?
Given those facts, what does the continued hounding of the parents over this issue actually achieve? What is its purpose?
What good does any protest about anything do? It appears that the McCanns and their supporters wish to be free to live in a blue-sky world where no clouds of suspicion ever darken the horizon but that simply cannot be the case whilst the McCanns continually fail to demonstrate they had nothing to do with events in PDL. Both the Portuguese Authorities and Leicestershire Police refer to this ongoing status. How long did it take Eugene Zapata to come clean about what he did? Do you think that a few years after the event people were saying, "that's enough now, the poor man has lost his wife, isn't that enough?" What about the Ramsays? Are they "in the clear"? Doesn't look like it to me yet. What about Casey Anthony? Do you think she's innocent?
Do the people who engage in this activity do so as public-spirited citizens who feel duty bound to warn the McCanns of the perils of such behaviour? Seriously? Do these people not realise that the loss of a daughter has already had that effect?
If the McCanns showed that they had learned from whatever happened and used it as a message to the other idiots out there who still say what they did was "well within the bounds of responsible parenting" then that would be a start. As it is they continue to deflect and use similar arguments to yours.
Do they do it as a public service perhaps, as the clarion call of danger? Is the motive to warn others of the perils? Well the same answer applies? Is the loss of Madeleine, not warning enough?
As above. Whilst the McCanns continue to peddle their agenda in the media, they are fair game for criticism.
Or do they do it as surrogate judge, jury and punishment officer, taking over where they have decided the Portuguese and UK authorities have failed? Do they believe that this hounding is a deserved punishment for the McCann's behaviour and though the legal authorities have deemed otherwise their attitude is that these parents are, by the court of lynch mob opinion, to be seen as guilty? Remember the one specific allegation of a crime by the McCanns which was dismissed by the Portuguese authorities was that of neglect so it can only be lynch mob justice which hands down punishment.
We'll reserve judgment (unlike the pros) on the UK authorities until the review is over. The legal authorities have shelved the case, not cleared the McCanns. The pros seem unable to grasp this concept.
Whichever motive those hounding the McCanns have for their action and it may not be one of the above, there is a consequence to their action which they appear to ignore.
The consequence to NOT doing it may be that one more person somewhere may make the same bad error of judgment that the McCanns did and cite the lack of prosecution/condemnation of the McCanns as a reason for thinking it was ok to do the same thing.
We cannot affect what happened back in 2007 in any way, but our behaviour and more specifically their behaviour can and does have effects today. The continued hounding of the McCanns and their Tapas friends for whatever reason has consequences beyond the effect on the parents of Madeleine and their friends. It has direct effects on the lives of the other children caught up as part of the families.
So what's your personal statute of limitations then? The whole T9 had, and still has, the power to improve things by being more accepting of their roles in whatever happened. They are entirely culpable and yet it's still all endless excuses.
The name calling, the threats, the accusations of all kinds without any proof of any of them is simply abuse not only of the parents and the Tapas group themselves but of their children who will be taunted over these allegations throughout their school lives and beyond. And not one of the allegations is even remotely backed up with proof.
Again, those responsible could have done and still could do a whole lot more towards clearing this all up and having less suspicion hanging over them. To continue to chant "haven't we been through enough" when they haven't addressed and done all they could do and "won't someone think of the children" is weasel behaviour. I do not want any of the T9 children to be affected but you aren't going to stop suspicion with a switch, it's the lack of action by their parents that is causing the trouble. It's THEM that are perpetrating the abuse here, not those that continue to question their frankly rather implausible tale.
It is simply not good enough to repeat the mantra that the McCanns shouldn't have left the children and that its their fault all this happened.
I agree. The whole T9 should be arrested and properly investigated with full cooperation from both police forces. If they come out of that without charge, I will then believe all has been done that can be done. Until then I'll believe that they are simply taking advantage of a murky situation of their own causing.
The reality is that those doing the hounding should also take responsibility now for their actions too. It is their actions which now constitute child abuse. It is their allegations which they simply cannot prove (no-one can) about the McCanns and the rest of the group which will form the basis of the taunts directed at those young children. It is the hounders who are ensuring that those young children cannot escape from such abuse.
No, it is their parents.
There is simply no excuse for abusing children even if that abuse is by proxy through attacks on the parents, particularly when there isn't any proof at all that the allegations being made are true.
I agree. You're aiming at the wrong people though. There's also no proof that the T9 story is true but you accept it regardless.
If any of those who think it is clever to hound the McCanns have children, then I hope they think carefully about how they would feel if their children were the target of vile abuse because of some mistake they may have made in the past? Perhaps they think it is right for children to be abused in this way? It certainly is beginning to look that way to me.
"Clever"? No. Right? Yes. Here we get to the crux of the matter. Your whole post assumes they had nothing to do with the disappearance of Madeleine. If they did have, their other children should be far away from them by now. In the absence of proof to the contrary, they are still rightly under suspicion of involvement both morally and legally. What does the world look like from that high horse of yours?
