Missing People

[Ant-Shimmin]

Before I start this, prepare for some shock tactics, I am not drying to cause trouble, just to provoke thought...


__________________________________________________ ______________

Have any of you ever experienced the dissapearence of a loved one?

Madeline McCann, a prominent figure in the paers recently, the little girl who was abducted from her Apartment, straight away the whole of Britain was tuned in on this horrific and gripping story.

Since her dissapearence, countless church services in her name have been held, yellow ribbons have been created, awareness was on the highest level.

But what about my friend?

What friend I hear you ask?

Steven Cook, a family friend who went missing in September 2005 in Malia, Gone without a trace, 20 at the time heading for his final year at Uni with the world at his feet. What was ment to be a holiday turned into a nightmare for his friends, as they frantically surched Malia, without any proper help from the Police, poor publicity and a bunch of Holiday Reps trying to put the whole hush on the thing and spare Malia a reputation.

The Cook family had no help, no money no nothing, Only an internet forum which he posted on and small donations from friends to try and get something going.

Malia's authorities didn't help either, a few days after him going missing we mananged to fly over some make shift leaflets which where torn down by the public and landlords, in sake of the resorts reputation.

Yes there has been some publicity but none of the scale of Little Maddy, which I cannot understand? How can you chose to put one story forward, and not the other.

Steven's mother is in an absolute state, she cannot understand why this girl get's the publicity but not her son, and I totally feel the same.

The Government, the news agencies done absolutely nothing to help, the odd story here or there, but only in a little column.

The Sun where only willing to publish a story if they could claim that "Albanian Gangsters" where behind his dissapearence. Being who they where, they did not want to go to the sun, but they needed publicity, but there terms where atrocious. A Symbol of what the News Agencies are about nowadays.

I really do hope they find that little girl, but let's get this straight, where is the justice?

Madeline McCann, Missing on holiday through her own Parents Negligence, yet they get all the support in the world, awareness of a high level, you name it they have got it. Massive Donations

The Cook Family, Missing on holiday, No Money, No Awareness, No Help, No Government Support, No Pope Visits, No nothing. Just a resort trying to cover it's name, and a Government doing nothing.

I don't want to compare how they both went missing, but how can a news agency chose one story over another, Steven is a really person too, tragically taken with no trace from his loved ones.

I really hope they find Maddy, but I wish to God they didn't make a big deal out of it just for the sake of viewing figures, paper sales. I wish they would do this for everyone who went missing, not just the odd exception.

Come Home Soon Mate

For more on Steven Cook please visit

http://www.findstevencook.co.uk/about.htm

[JonSt]

I totally agree with you, I'm getting sick of this bulllshit about maddie's parents. their day to day itenerary published in every newspaper. I suppose it comes down to the fact that she was only a little girl.

[Hellfire]

It's something that bugs me actually. I mean, I'm very solidary to madelaine's family and I feel sorry for them, but it's like she's the only missing person in the world.

[mcj metroid]

There is that little conspiracy theory that her parents are involved with the whole thing.....but i don't know anything about this really.. I agree with your point and i do think something is up here. Far too much attension on one story.

[ipaul]

Well said. I also totally agree with you and don't see how anyone can see otherwise. Thr girl missing is sad, but things like this are not that uncommon. Granted this incident might be stranger than most cases but not to the extent to warrant the amount of press it has gotten.

[Roostophe]

They're only doing all this publicity for Madeleine is because she is a cute little 3-year old girl. Whereas your friend Steven is a 20-year old lad, old enough to look after himself.
And so the papers choose to do publicity for Madeleine for those reasons.

[hobbzinio]

when the story of madaline is getting prime time press coverage over the appointment of a new PM, a man who will more or less run the country or the countries progress in a war - u know that priorities are wrong in the media...

the story is indeed tragic and my sympathy goes with the parents, however the media has gone with it to such a high degree because they know it will appeal to its readership, not because its the most important story and thats wrong...

but i guess negatives make positives (money in this case) these days

[Ant-Shimmin]

They're only doing all this publicity for Madeleine is because she is a cute little 3-year old girl. Whereas your friend Steven is a 20-year old lad, old enough to look after himself.
And the papers, opt to do publicity for Madeleine for those reasons.

Hate to be so cynical, but the fact that Steven's parents are retired yet Maddy's are a a Doctor and Surgeon have anything to do with it?

[Shino]

The only reason she gets this attention, is because she was a foreign 4 year old cute girl kidnapped in Portugal, and for tourism sake the police had to make a big deal out of this.

Although if I was in her parents position, I would use all this attention too.

[Fields]

To be honest you can only give the girl's parents credit for attracting such publicity and raising awareness in the way that they have done, and if it all results in the safe return of their daughter, surely that can only be a good thing?

[mcj metroid]

Hate to be so cynical, but the fact that Steven's parents are retired yet Maddy's are a a Doctor and Surgeon have anything to do with it?

Hit the nail on the head i think.
Yep they have money and are taking more seriously because of their profession i would think.

[Roostophe]

Hate to be so cynical, but the fact that Steven's parents are retired yet Maddy's are a a Doctor and Surgeon have anything to do with it?

To be honest, I can't see what difference that would make.
I'm only looking at the profiles of the two missing people and their differences which probably show how the press would favour one of them.

Edit: Ah, MCJ's pointed it out for me. I didn't see that before. :woops:

[Oxigen_Waste]

She's in my basement. Not... or is she? :P

[Ant-Shimmin]

Hit the nail on the head i think.
Yep they have money and are taking more seriously because of their profession i would think.

My Dad also made the point, if this was a single Black Parent, she would be acused of negligence and battered in the press.

The Cook family have tried everything to get in the media for Steven, but all they get is a barely noticeable column, in the middle of the paper.

People say he maybe dead, that might be true, but the family have had no help, they are Crippled by the finances and the Malia police are doing nothing.

Steven is out there somwhere, yet our Government, and papers turn a blind eye to this poor lad.

[mcj metroid]

To be honest you can only give the girl's parents credit for attracting such publicity and raising awareness in the way that they have done, and if it all results in the safe return of their daughter, surely that can only be a good thing?

Let's put it this way. The kidnappers would most definetly have heard all this publicity. With her pictures everywhere they couln't possibly keep her alive. is it a good thing? i'm not sure what i would do in the situation.

I also find it strange that NO demands were made at all. Ok maybe the kidnappers are completely psychos that are off their heads but her parents are 2 doctors clearly they are wealthy.

[UziT]

She's in my basement. Not... or is she? :P

not funny dude...

[Jordan]

You know, i hate to be the kinda guy who says this but... jeeze after the amount of weeks its been what slight chance is there that shes even alive anymore?

[Fresh]

You know, i hate to be the kinda guy who says this but... jeeze after the amount of weeks its been what slight chance is there that shes even alive anymore?

We are all thinking that.

[Slaggis]

To be honest you can only give the girl's parents credit for attracting such publicity and raising awareness in the way that they have done, and if it all results in the safe return of their daughter, surely that can only be a good thing?

Very true, but theres no way she'll be found now tbh, she's either in someone foreign country being shipped somewhere or worse

[Supergrunch]

As far as I can tell, the media picks the odd missing person, probably ones they think the public will emotionally connect with, and blows up the case into a massive (inter)national event, when the disappearances of other people, who are perhaps less appealing to the public, are pretty much ignored. This strikes me as massively unfair.

[BlueStar]

To be honest you can only give the girl's parents credit for attracting such publicity and raising awareness in the way that they have done, and if it all results in the safe return of their daughter, surely that can only be a good thing?
Maybe not:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/04/nmaddy04.xml
Media 'may have scared Madeleine kidnapper'

Police in Portugal believe that Madeleine McCann may be in the hands of a kidnapper who has not issued a ransom demand because of the intense media coverage of her disappearance.

Detectives said the abductor may have "panicked" because of the worldwide response to the case of the missing child, who was taken from her bedroom in the resort of Praia da Luz a month ago.

As far as I can tell, the media picks the odd missing person, probably ones they think the public will emotionally connect with, and blows up the case into a massive (inter)national event, when the disappearances of other people, who are perhaps less appealing to the public, are pretty much ignored. This strikes me as massively unfair.
Known in the US as "Missing white woman syndrome"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_white_woman_syndrome

[DCK]

There is absolutely nothing right with the attention the little girl got... The only reason why she got so much attention is because her parents are attention whores and their daughter was a really adorable kid with big eyes saying "oh look at me, I'm so cute" - perfect front cover material. It's sickening. And there's no way it helped either.

[uəʌəsʎɐɾ]

My Dad also made the point, if this was a single Black Parent, she would be acused of negligence and battered in the press.


I really hope that's not true.. I mean, I don't think the british press would do that.

Isn't the main reason this came to light because of the Portuguese police's poor handling of the case at the start?

And once it's known... well heck. Our country loves to have a little kid in danger every few years. Not meaning to take any of this lightly, but I think much of the public reads the news in the same fashion they watch a soap. Nobody wants to hear about the serious, world-affecting news as much as they want to be entertained - I think many parents are 'entertained' by news such as this because they can read it and realise how much better off they are, as opposed to reading about the new budget, for instance.

Now, Maddie going missing, in my eyes, is absolutely none of my business. Sure if i spot her in the Leeds town centre I'll give the right number a bell, but knowning what her parents did, where she went in portugal is useless to me. As is the maddie chain mail going around, and the facebook group.

Maybe one day when I have a child I'll see this differently...

[Cube]

Wouln't the amount of press just drive the person that took her futher and futher away? Heck, it could be the sole reason that they haven't found her - ther person in Italy or Switzerland now.

I would go as far as saying that the press killed her.


If any perent did what maddie's did, but didn't go and get the press on their side (and kept it to the police, instead), they would hade had their other children taken from them.

The only reason it hasn't happened in this case is that the press has "protected" them - the amount of bad press that the government would recieve from doing what they would normally do would be immense. I don't see how that is fair.

[thirtynine.]

The only resons she is in the papers is because she is a blonde haired blue eyed middle class girl. Her parents are clearly mentaly chalenged as they allowed it to happen, The thing is the press have rammed it down peoples faces so people stop caring and get sick of it, personally i dont think the press should report anything like this as its just not fair on the other familys who arent deemed respectable enough to be newsworthy.

[Rummy]

I agree totally too. It's stupid how much fuss was being made about it, especially given the circumstances in which it occured(the parents going out and leaving their kids home alone, in a foreign country). Yet, they get so much exposure and help, it's stupid!

[ReZourceman]

Word.

I saw a TV thing, and the father said "It wasnt disimilar to eating in the living room, and have the kids in the garden"

Bloody ridiculous. Im so sorry to hear about your friend. I hope he comes home soon.

[Shino]

To be honest there wasn't many things the police could do, as soon as she was kidnapped she could be in Germany in just 40 minutes. Her parents don't seem to care much about the way our police do things, which was exactly the opposite of all this attention seeking.

[Mike1988uk]

With her parents being wealthy n all, could they not have paid for some of this media coverage?

Also she may have got this much attention due to the fact she is so young and can't look after herself but your friend in theory could of just ran away and started a new life and so if that came to light after they made a big fuss of him being missing would just make the media look stupid?

I am not saying for a second he has done that but that could be how the media would look at something like that possibly?

[ReZourceman]

Yeah, I dont understand the whole campaign anyway, its like she could literally be anywhere.

[BlueStar]

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/7825/bbcmaddymu0.gif

[Ant-Shimmin]

Maybe Abit Near the Nuckle, Still Funny However

The best bit is the "Maddy" side button

[Fierce_LiNk]

Having somebody go missing is really horrible. You try to remain hopeful that they'll 'find their way home', but there's always doubt in you're mind that maybe they won't come in. I have respect for her parents and for you, dude, because it can be pretty traumatic.

It's difficult to say this, but people go missing all the time. Whenever I watch my local news, there's always at least one man or another person missing. After the broadcast ends, that's it, that's all the publicity that person will get.

It's to do with the age, and also I guess the fact that she is a girl. This reminds me of the Soham Murders, where those two girls went missing. The British media really grasped that one. But, if I'm honest, some times I think parents or people who are involved with those who went missing really, really go too far. It doesn't become a case of doing your best efforts to bring someone home, but more like..a media circus, or minor stardom.

Remember that little girl went missing all those years ago, and they brought in Sarah's law. Well, I remember years after all that, the Mother was still appearing in the papers, telling the destruction of her family, how she had moved on and had another baby. To me, I just find that a little unsettling.

[Jordan]

The thing with the Maddy stuff that gets me, to be honest... her parents were to blame.

Why the fuck did they leave her alone in the room for? She could have done anything, nevermind get kidnapped. Common sense? Anyone?

[Hellfire]

I also think her parents were very irresponsible. Also, I understand that they might not be thinking straight with her daughter missing and all, but they're taking way too much advantage of it. I mean, going to the Pope? And this when they said they wouldn't leave Portugal until they found her.
I also don't see what else the police could do, in fact they're doing much more than what they would do for a local kid, cause of all of the media coverage.
Also, I assure you, the Portuguese Mafia had nothing to do with it and that Oxigen Waste will be punished for his words.

[Paj!]

A family friend's sister went missing when the friend was still a child. I'm not sure whatever came of it though.

It was weird this whole Maddy thing.. Every mronign on GMTV, they kept saying something else the parents were doing, and never even brushing on the possibility that the girl wouldn't come back.

[Ant-Shimmin]

A family friend's sister went missing when the friend was still a child. I'm not sure whatever came of it though.

It was weird this whole Maddy thing.. Every mronign on GMTV, they kept saying something else the parents were doing, and never even brushing on the possibility that the girl wouldn't come back.

I've always thought that if you are worrying, is because you are contemplating he/she might be dead

[Fields]

The thing with the Maddy stuff that gets me, to be honest... her parents were to blame.

Her parents were not to blame. They made a mistake by leaving her alone, but that doesn't make it OK for someone to go in and snatch her does it?

[rokhed00]

Her parents were not to blame. They made a mistake by leaving her alone, but that doesn't make it OK for someone to go in and snatch her does it?

No, but somebody running a campaign for a lost child way after the child is undoubtedly dead is more than a little suspect.

[BlueStar]

I find it strange that Margaret Hill, the 3 year old British girl who's being held captive in Nigeria by gunmen who have threatened to kill her isn't getting 0.0001% of the media attention the Madeline McCann case did, even though it was generally accepted Madeline was probably dead while this little girl is undoubtaly alive and in need of saving from being murdered.

Ah, hang on - just seen a photo of her parents. No chance of blonde hair and big blue eyes then. Carry on.

[darkcloud]

Her parents were not to blame. They made a mistake by leaving her alone, but that doesn't make it OK for someone to go in and snatch her does it?

As a parent myself I can say for certain it's there damn fault. Why the hell would you leave a little girl alone at that age? It's stupid, no only can they get kidnapped, they can wonder off and get lost, hurt themself or pretty much anything else. Of course it doesn't mean it's ok for someone to snatch her but the point is that it wouldn't have happened if they hadn't left her alone.

I've never once had my daughter of 4 months alone, and not until my little sister was quite old was she left alone.

Urgh, you would expect doctors to be smarter then that surely?


As for the reason she's got so much attention? Parents status, girl, young, cute and anything else that helps the story sell.

Oh and as people said before, if it weren't two doctors as parents, they would have been slamed so hard for leaving her alone. It would have been a compeltely different story.

"Maddy left to die by negligent parents!" anyone?

[Ant-Shimmin]

I find it strange that Margaret Hill, the 3 year old British girl who's being held captive in Nigeria by gunmen who have threatened to kill her isn't getting 0.0001% of the media attention the Madeline McCann case did, even though it was generally accepted Madeline was probably dead while this little girl is undoubtaly alive and in need of saving from being murdered.

Ah, hang on - just seen a photo of her parents. No chance of blonde hair and big blue eyes then. Carry on.

Read about that myself, disgraceful if you ask me stuff like this makes me hate the media's stance on abductions so crude and unjust

[BlueStar]

Kate McCann is being named as an "arguido" by Portugese police. This is being generally translated as "suspect" in the news but it's not quite that simple - It's a legal classification and both police and the person being interviewed often request the status because it gives them certain legal rights - It gives the arguido the right to silence and a lawyer and it gives the police the right to ask a much wider range of questions. So "suspect" doesn't automatically translate as "We think you might have done it" because there are other reasons for setting that status.

However, friends of Kate McCann say the plod are suggesting to her that they found traces of Madeleine's blood in their hire car and she fear's she's going to be charged over her death.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,70131-1283158,00.html

Completely unsubstantiated, but a friend-of-a-friend in Portugal says the papers there are saying today that police believe the couple (both doctors) drugged the kids so they could go for a meal and overdid it with Maddie - the evidence being the blood traces in the car and a needle found during investigations.

[tapedeck]

That would be a horrific and inhumane thing to do to a small child. Sickening. I guess the plot thickens..I was at work this morning and some woman was showing me the front of the mirror saying "I told you they did it, I told you so". (The front of the paper had Madelines parents with SUSPECTS written above them). The fact she never picked up a broadsheet sickened me yet she was wholly adamant that all along it was the parents. She based this on the sheer fact of the parents supposedly leaving the child alone from the very start. People are obviously entitled to their opinions but shouting it out in Asda is just insensitive and rash. I hope the truth is laid out for everyone as soon as possible. As previously said it's just turning into a media circus.

[Fresh]

I visited the pope yesterday because I lost my hat, he blessed receipt I got when I bought it. I live in hope....

[Charlie]

It's about time that they're being treated as suspects I have to say.

[mcj metroid]

i really think her parents had something to do with it.

I always did But was afraid to say it for a while.

[mariosmentor]

You know I said this near the beginning(in the real world not here) that it was ridiculous the way the whole world is jumping on this and celebrities are all getting on the bandwagon when they're plenty of missing kids and people who don't get this recognition.

Response : You're a sick fuck.

The media really do control this country, it's as if people can't think for themselves.

[That Guy]

The thing with the Maddy stuff that gets me, to be honest... her parents were to blame.

Why the fuck did they leave her alone in the room for? She could have done anything, nevermind get kidnapped. Common sense? Anyone?

I wouldn't say they were to blame but I completely agree with what you're saying about them leaving her alone. Thats just asking for trouble. If I had a kid and I was going to pop to the shops for 2 minutes, I still wouldn't leave them all alone let alone if I was in another country.
It bothers me how much sympathy her parents have gotten, as I think to do something like that is disgraceful. All my sympathy is with the girl to be honest.
I don't think this is something we should be joking about however..