Similarities in Needham and McCann cases

[Jayelles]

Having read Kerry's book, I was very struck by some of the strong similarities in the experiences of Kerry Needham and the McCanns.

Both encountered brick walls with the local police, often the result of egos. Both encountered hostility from the locals who blamed the families for the childrens' disappearances and resented the negative impact this had on their communities. Both mothers were accused of being "bad" mothers. Both were attacked by complete strangers for daring to smile in the weeks and months following their childrens' disappearances. Both were negatively judged and abused by strangers on the basis of misleading tabloid headlines.

Both women were deemed to be not acting correctly after their children disappeared.

Kerry feels that Ben's case would have had more global publicity now because of the internet, but also acknowledges that she would have been subjected to considerably more vilification as well - by "trolls" and online abusers with nothing better to do.

Both mothers have said that the hate levelled at them by ignorant strangers is nothing in comparison to the disappearance of their children.

I have highlighted some passages from the book to back up the above and will post them in due course, but it's probably no surprise to learn that Kerry has gone through the same abuse and hate attacks (by strangers) as the McCanns, the Wells family, the Payne family, the family of Vicky Hamilton, the family of April Jones and the family of Colette Aram.

It is evidently a terrible sickness in our society which needs to be understood and dealt with.

[Alibongo]

I would never have believed that the pitchforkers and trolls would sympathize with p.a.e.d.o.philes till I saw it with my own eyes.
They really are the scum of the earth!

[scoobydoo]

It is evidently a terrible sickness in our society which needs to be understood and dealt with.

It IS a sickness, I agree. It's some sort of mental deficiency, shared by the anti-McCanns as well as those who troll the families who have suffered other tragedies. But, what is the cure?

I don't think there is a cure, there has always been nastiness. Hundreds of years ago the trolls would have been accusing people of witchcraft, decades ago they would have accused them of homosexuality if they lived in Nazi Germany, communism if they lived in McCarthy america. Problem is now they can join forces with others a lot more easily.

[Jayelles]

It is evidently a terrible sickness in our society which needs to be understood and dealt with.

It IS a sickness, I agree. It's some sort of mental deficiency, shared by the anti-McCanns as well as those who troll the families who have suffered other tragedies. But, what is the cure?

I don't think there is a cure, there has always been nastiness. Hundreds of years ago the trolls would have been accusing people of witchcraft, decades ago they would have accused them of homosexuality if they lived in Nazi Germany, communism if they lived in McCarthy america. Problem is now they can join forces with others a lot more easily.

That's the downside of the internet Scooby :( Personally, I find that reading these hateful, negative posts has a detrimental effect on my mood and it's really no wonder that so many of the hounders claim to be suffering from depression.

One thing I think is inevitable is that society will simply develop a much greater awareness of internet trolls (and I use the term loosely because I think we are talking about several very different behaviours, not all of which are technically trolling as we understand it). They will simply become an accepted aspect of online life which has to be tolerated as we tolerate the muttering nutter on the bus (as someone recently put it). Gradually, as people develop an awareness of these people, they will judge and dismiss or move on accordingly.

A great many people now know that there is a horrible hate campaign against the McCanns and that many of those involved are conspiracy theorists who think everything from 9/11 to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann to the murder of Lee Rigby is a massive governmental cover-up. We know from comments that many consider them to be mad/bad/sad. Lately, I've seen an increasing number of conversations on Twitter which allude to the hounders in veiled terms - people clearly don't want to attract the hounders' attention because they KNOW it will result in them becoming targets for hate trolling. So there already is awareness of it all. Some do think the hounders are wicked, but many regard them as weird and/or in need of help. I think the sense of shock and outrage at such cruel treatment of the family of a missing child is developing into more of an acceptance that here is another facet of mental health which needs addressing through resourcing, research and (hopefully) treatment.

And I am not saying that there aren't bad people who use the internet to deliberately hurt and abuse people. There most definitely are, and they need to be reported and dealt with accordingly. However, it is definitely not normal for someone to devote their entire life to obsessing and fantasising about a family they've never met nor are likely to meet. It is not normal for people to devote their lives to drumming up hatred against a family for trying to find their missing child. It is not normal for people to spend hours creating sick and perverse photoshopped images of the parents of a missing child. No matter how much the anti-McCann try convince people that they are "only asking questions", the vitiolic and hateful posts, obsessive misinformation spreading and sick photoshopped images are what everyone sees and recognises them for. Some of the goons are online posting and re-posting tabloid headlines from 2007 from early in the morning till after midnight - 24/7, 365 days of the year, for years on end. That's way more than a mere interest in the case. It HAS to be a mental illness.

Those hounders who aren't anonymous might not exactly encounter open hostility or aggression from people who know them, but IMO, people who become aware of their online activities may well regard them differently. And I will qualify that by saying that I think it will be subtle because at the end of the day, most people ARE polite and fairly tactful. They won't mention what they know or think to their faces any more than they would mention that they know someone frequents p*rn sites or is a member of the BNP. However, I think there will be whispering behind backs and a change in social behaviour. If I found out that the parent of one of my children was involved in am online campaign of abuse and disinformation for example, there is no way I would allow that parent contact with my child, but I'd try to be subtle about it and would find excuses rather than have any direct confrontation.

However, having seen the way these people behave, I suspect that if they realised friends and colleagues were subtly shunning them or laughing at them behind their backs, they'd either consider themselves "the real victim", or they just wouldn't care and would lash back in the same way as they lash out at those who condemn them online. I'm not sure how the haters think they are going to be convincing their critics that they aren't horrible abusive people when they form a tag team to attack anyone who mentions them in a negative way. IMO they are simply demonstrating that they are everything they are accused of and more.

[scoobydoo]

I don't think those who know them will be surprised though.