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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Blatantly not an AIBU. But Carole Malone certainly is!

47 replies

Debeez · 17/05/2012 13:05

Apparently the poor children who died in the fire in Derby were the result of an "accident waiting to happen". Didn't realise someone pouring petrol through a letter box then setting it ablaze was a pure accidental series of events! The family even had smoke alarms.

I know I am BU to post this here but I just wanted to point out the lovely words from Mr Philpot about thanking everyone who tried to help.

"Mr Philpott said: ?I want to thank my three eldest children because they have helped us cope. And then there?s a young lad who tried to get in the house the same as myself.
?Then of course there is the four firemen, the police, the ambulances, the doctors and nurses ? everybody who tried to help save our children.
?We can?t express our gratitude enough. It?s not just us that have suffered, it?s them as well ? it?s everybody.?
Mr Philpott said that his son Duwayne?s organs had been donated to save the life of another child.
?That makes us happy and it takes a bit of the pain away,? he added.
?We grew up in a community that?s been through a lot of problems with violence and to see this community come together like it has, it?s too overwhelming.
'Those poor gentlemen from the fire brigade, who saw what we saw ? my heart goes out to them."

There's a man who despite all his pain and suffering has thought of others, unlike Ms Malone.

OP posts:
Shinyshoes1 · 17/05/2012 13:11

just reading her name makes my blood boil Angry

Stupid little woman.

She's almost implying the kinda deserved what they got or it's their fault.

She's fucking hideous

idontbelieveanymore · 17/05/2012 13:16

Yes her comments are cruel and unnecessary. This was not an ACCIDENT it was MURDER. Poor children and poor family.

BupcakesandCunting · 17/05/2012 13:17

She is a howler.

Those poor, poor children :(

WandaDoff · 17/05/2012 13:18

Fucking sick bitch Angry

pumpkinsweetie · 17/05/2012 13:25

Carole Malone is a rude, ignorant, nasty b*.
Those children would have suffered very painful deaths, and now the parents are going through raw heartbreak and she says a thing like that.
They should take the loud mouthed hag of the telly

wannaBe · 17/05/2012 13:26

I think the comments have been posted totally out of context.

No, it wasn't an "accident" waiting to happen and her wording there was wrong. But she made the comments on This Morning, and she made them in relation to the fact that this family had been part of a TV documentary after which they had become the victims of a hate campaign. The implication was that if you put people up for public scrutiny and the public turns on them (as happened in this case) then it is only a matter of time before something dreadful like this happens.

I think she's right.

People need to stop frothing and look at the bigger picture. Nobody has said or even implied that those children deserved to die.

Katienana · 17/05/2012 13:27

So if, god forbid, someone did something awful to Carole as a result of these comments, she would shake her head and say 'oh well, i brought it on myself by going on the telly!' I seriously doubt it.
This was murder - no justification and for her to use it as an excuse to benefit bash is despicable.

sugarice · 17/05/2012 13:27

She is truly awful and a crap journalist too.

wannaBe · 17/05/2012 13:30

but she didn't say that.

Did people actually watch the comments? or are you all just bandwagon jumpers?

MsVestibule · 17/05/2012 13:32

What was the context? How was this an accident waiting to happen? I know the family had experienced a lot of media attention in the past (most of it at their behest, from what I've read) but surely she's not implying they were in some way "asking for it"?

pumpkinsweetie · 17/05/2012 13:33

What katienana said-shes in the public eye so if someone decided to attempt to murder her would she speak the same codswollop?? -dont think so

Debeez · 17/05/2012 13:33

wannaBe Speaking of bigger pictures, I've just seen the picture of the parents giving the conference to say thanks. I wish I hadn't.

I'm not keen on David Cameron, doesn't mean it's a matter of time before I attempted to murder him and his family. No rational person thinks like that.

Regardless of press coverage, appearance on J.Kyle or lifestyle you cannot sit calm as fuck the day after the 6th child of this family died and say

'I mean the culture of the family and the fact that they consistently did interviews about their situation. They did bring attention to themselves. The tragedy; this is what's happened. Six innocent children have died as a result.'

That sounds like blame to me.

OP posts:
wannaBe · 17/05/2012 13:34

let's bear in mind here that when these people go on the telly it is because telly wants them to, because there is an audience. Supply and demand, if you will.

It is the market for this kind of viewing that feeds the need for these families to go on these programmes, and often they have no idea what they're setting themselves up for.

So if we as the public continue to demand these types of programmes, then people like this family are going to appear on them, and are going to unwhittingly set themselves up as targets for hate crime. I don't imagine for one minute this family had any idea of the possible outcome of their appearing on this programme.

It's not about saying that "if you go on the telly then you deserve what you get," it's about saying "If we continue to put these people on the telly, if the public continue to demand this kind of television, and the public reacts in a hostile way to what they see, then it is only a matter of time until it gets out of hand and someone gets seriously hurt." In fact, perhaps it's time we started questioning the need for this type of programming.

What's wrong with saying that?

pumpkinsweetie · 17/05/2012 13:37

Tbh as its the childrens lifes that were lost what she said was very insensitive as these were childrens lifes not that of an adult so any normal person would feel sympathy with the family not directly blame the parents-at a time when they are grieving for 6 kids!!!
The woman needs to shut her gob

scrablet · 17/05/2012 13:42

6 children dead.
Ms Malone should shut up and not try to make other news about it.
6 children dead is surely news enough.

BupcakesandCunting · 17/05/2012 13:53

"but she didn't say that.

Did people actually watch the comments? or are you all just bandwagon jumpers?"

I saw it. Did you see it, WannaBe? She more or less said that because of their lifestyle, they'd made enemies and it was "an accident waiting to happen". She got her wording wrong. What she actually meant was "It was only a matter of time before someone sorted them out" Hmm

crazyspaniel · 17/05/2012 14:05

The programme's producers made a big mistake. This horrible tragedy should never have even been a discussion item at all - completely distasteful and inappropriate. And then to get someone like Carole Malone (who is not simply right wing, but actually mentally deficient) on the show. How exploitative.

Heyyyho · 17/05/2012 14:07

what crazyspaniel said

limitedperiodonly · 17/05/2012 14:13

It's a horrible thing to say and it's stupid to try and justify it.

Was the murder of John Lennon, for instance, an accident waiting to happen because he was rich and famous and off-hand with the man who shot him?

frowniefuckingface · 17/05/2012 14:22

That woman is odious at best. The comments she made on This Morning were just heinous. Six children have been murdered and all this vile woman could say was that they brought it on themselves.

scrablet · 17/05/2012 14:35

crazyspaniel is right.

SandyMumsnet · 17/05/2012 14:58

Hi there,

We at MNHQ welcome balanced debate and free speech, but could we ask you all to follow our guidelines

Thanks
Sandy
MNHQ

PandaWatch · 17/05/2012 14:59

It's a ridiculously flippant thing to say. You could say the same about any murder (or any crime for that matter) with a scrap of motive. If, say, someone's car got stolen, you wouldn't say "well you were driving around in a nice car, accident waiting to happen really".

This sort of callous, know-all commentary by journalists on horrific crimes is become all too common. Purely exploitative so they can make headlines.

carernotasaint · 17/05/2012 15:46

According to what i read on another forum the clip of this hideous woman making these comments has been pulled from youtube.

DesperatelySeekingSedatives · 17/05/2012 15:52

Such a callous thing to say.

And I don't think the family "brought this on themselves" which is what this foul woman has suggested (and this isn't the first time she's said horrible, uncalled for stuff). The press kept interviewing them, doing features on them, putting them on the telly. The press made a minor celebrity out of Mick Philpot, even after all the hatred aimed at him and his family. The likes of Carol Malone and co are as much to blame for any hate campaign as the Philpots, if not more for keeping up their relentless in this family.

I really do hope that, apart from appealing to catch the murderer of the children, they leave these poor people alone now.

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