Yellow ribbons and Madeleine

[binker]

Just listening to the radio and there's a discussion about the 'conspicuous compassion' being demonstrated by the people -celebs,MPs etc wearing yellow ribbons. It made me think,and perhaps I'm being cynical, that people are perhaps doing this to reflect favourably upon themselves at how thoughtful and good they are - kind of jumping on some bandwagon. I don't for one minute want to belittle the huge trauma which Madeleine's family are going through and I've prayed myself for her safe return and I'm sure that Madeleine's family are heartened by the huge response from the public, but I do question people's motives sometimes.

no, I put two in the bin yesterday

they were scaring my 4 year old daughter

laneydave, in all honesty, probably not. It's not something I would want to talk about with my children at the moment, and they would ask why I was wearing it.

It doesn't mean we don't care what happens to her or any of the other children who go missing everyday for all sorts of reasons. It doesn't mean anything. The not-wearing of a ribbon doesn't mean a thing.

I think if you are going to wear a yellow ribbon for Madeleine, you should add 300+ for all the other children who have been reported missing in the same time frame.

ummm that would be practical

Perhaps the yellow ribbon is more of a metaphor for all lost children, not just Madeleine?

(not that I feel strongly about it, I am not wearing one...just not sure why OP and others should get excited by others choosing to wear one)

so it would be better to do nothing?

I agree with Laneydaye and Custy. And I think the whole campaign is raising awareness about other missing children, and can only help them, as well as Madeleine.

To me, it's nothing like the Princess Diana hysteria etc. Diana was dead, there was nothing anyone could do about that, just moan and wail self-indulgently.

Madeleine may not be; she may still be alive, and surely any parent would desperately hope that she is. In which case, surely we all want to do anything we can to help find her. However slim the chance, it's still worth trying.

Who on earth thinks not wearing yellow ribbon = advocating doing nothing and not caring?

There's not a lot I can do about Madeleine. We already support charities that deal with these kinds of issues. Wearing a yellow ribbon or decking my house in them would have 0 effect in finding her.

but how is wearing a ribbon helping to find Madeline?

i hope all the gazillion people who have posted on these threads are putting their hands in their pockets and contributing to Find Madeleine

It's to do with the way the media work. The minute that the media in this country get the feeling that their readers and viewers no longer care about Madeleine and are ready to write her off, then they will stop their coverage. That cessation of media coverage will take the pressure off the police, both nationally and internationally, and off governments to do anything about it.

wearing a yellow ribbon will not bring Madeleine back.

wearing a yellow ribbon sends out the message to all parents whose child has gone missing without any media coverage that the plight of one is more important than the plight of many.

For the Mccanns, this is a tradgedy. But for me, it isn't. Yes it is very sad, and yes I think about it and hope that Madeleine is found safe, but I didn't know Madeleine, I have never met her parents, so this is not my tradgedy.

and no, I am not contributing to the fund either but that's a topic for a different discussion.

i was responding to suzywong. All the yellow ribbon acheives is keeping her in the public eye. i don';t actually wear one but don't see why people are against them.

i also think Madeleine is making people see about lots more missing children. It's certainly opened my eyes!

So for tjose who think Mdeleine is getting too much coverage and others none. Shall we ignore her as well to make it even and p.c?

I did not say it would be better to do nothing, I 'm sorry I mistook this thread for one on which it was permissable to express one's opinion.

I think the media speculation/publicising every little details/taking pictures of the parents/publishing their diary should stop yes. parents making appeals, putting up posters, absolutely fine. But publishing the parents' diary? making it newsworthy that Gerry Mccann is coming back to the UK? publishing the name of a suspect thus sending his daughter into hiding? it achieves nothing other than to get a lot of peoples' backs up.

No Suzy, i'm not arguing with you, ( i actually really like you since you swooned over my ds ) but i am genuinely interested at these views that she's getting an unfair advantage over other missing kids. Do people really think it would be better to ignore them all?

suzy, i agree with you. if someone wears a ribbon for maddie, why not for ALL other missing children?

Talking about Princess Diana, why didn't someone start a 'Clunk, click' campaign on the back of her dying? Surely she would have had more chance of surviving if she had worn a seatbelt - and AFAIR the only person who survived was wearing a seatbelt.

i am not wearing a yellow ribbon, and i wont be. its not that i dont support the maccanns, i do, and i hope their daughter comes back safe sooner rather than later. but i dont like the way its going. thjere is a bungalow near mine where its absolutly decked in ribbons. they now have a box outside of their home full of ribbons for pther people to tie to their fence. why? this is not an area that local to the mcccans, and i cant see why they appointed their own home as a place to do this. its screaming out to me what they are trying is 'i care and you lot dont'.

i wear a royal blue ribbon with a heart pin to support organ donation. as do my children (they asked for them didnt force them)