The Mythical Child

I know I keep harping back to A Few Good Men, but I really do foresee one of those Courtroom drama moments on Wednesday when Gerry takes the stand.  Lets face it, he's quite a character. Will he try to flirt with the Judge as he did with lovely Sandra Felgueiras?  Will he treat the Defendants' lawyers as if they are a bit simple, maybe speak to them crossly, as though he were their dad? Will he discuss Team McCanns' very clear objectives, their wider agenda? Balloon days and candlelight vigils, a Madeleine Day for the whole world? 

Perhaps he will discuss the mental health issues suffered by himself and his wife.  Jeez, you'd need a couple of weeks for that and 'ologists' of every variety will be writing about it for years to come. For myself, it will be one big old blog with everything my itchy little fingers have been dying to say this past 6 years.  

But I digress, I am particularly looking forward to hearing about the McCanns' obsessive desire to keep all horrid headlines out of the UK.   Maybe a clue lies in Kate's reaction to the first police suspicions: 'what will my parents say'.  Indeed. 

By now it must be clear to the whole world and its wife, that the McCanns are using the Madeleine Fund to finance malicious libel actions against anyone who questions them.  Not content with the huge financial rewards the McCanns had already received, they also wanted the Law changed to protect them against any crisis they may have in the future,  Happily, the government momentarily regained its senses before altering the 1689 Bill of Rights to protect 'The Search for Maddie', and sanity prevailed.  

Madeleine didn't reach the age of 4, the mythical child did. The cherubic picture of Madeleine in her red dress, bore no resemblance to the up to date picture of the little girl clutching the tennis balls that had been taken that week.  Regardless, the cute toddler picture was the one the parents decided to go with and by dawn the tapas group were handing out hastily run off A4 copies of the baby faced Madeleine in her Christmas frock.  

The picture became iconic, the pretty angelic child grabbed our attention, appealed to all our maternal and paternal emotions. The mythical child drove the mythical search, the only thing real was the cash that was piling up.  By June 2007, the McCanns went from not knowing they needed a Fund at all, to a desperate need for more and more cash. The newspapers rushed to get first front pages of a pretty little blonde girl peeping out from her Moroccan Mother's backpack without questioning why on earth an impoverished family from rural Morocco would want to steal a western child?  The search became more ridiculous and the headlines more sensational.

The parents registered their copyright to the mythical Madeleine brand and saturated the media with heart rendering pictures and appeals to the masses.  Again and again, the parents told us there was no evidence Madeleine had come to any harm, she was a real, findable child who could be returned to her loving family if we all prayed and contributed to her Fund.     

The mythical Madeleine is growing up before our eyes, as age progression pictures remind us of how she might look now.  We have a 6 year old Maddie,  an 8 year old Maddie and even an Asian Maddie, handy I suppose if her skin changes colour or she is being raised by a nice family with a place in the sun.  The UK backed the 'Madeleine is alive' myth, our own Scotland Yard producing the most recent image for the McCann Fund Campaign and a Court is threatening a man with prison if he dares say otherwise.  

The thing is, what does 'search' actually mean? I think it should be clearly defined, because some of the more virulent McCanns supporters are criminally insane.  I fear for young blonde girls the world over.  Actually, I fear too for swarthy foreigners who walk funny and of course Victoria Beckham lookalikes.  Obviously, child snatchers, the lot of them.  But sticking with hope.  I doubt there is a doctor or dentist on this planet who is not aware of Missing Madeleine and her very distinctive eye, presuming of course that she is being well cared for.  The 'Cleveland' option is unthinkable.

From a non cuckoo land perspective, the fact is both the blood and cadaver dogs alerted in Apartment 5A and Madeleine has not been seen for more than 6 years.  Why then are people being prosecuted for believing she is dead?