McCann: Has Mary Kenny hit the nail on the head about people who consider themselves anti-McCanns............

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analys鈥?/a>





';It is rank prejudice to judge a person, or persons, on the way they look, or on the way you ';feel'; about their appearance, when those persons are suspects in a police case, as the McCanns are in the eyes of the Portuguese police.





It is not only prejudice: it is dangerous prejudice. It encourages a mob feeling -- which exists and always will exist -- that ';there is no smoke without fire';, and ';a nod is as good as a wink';, and all the rest of that ignorant farrago.





These were the grounds on which Alfred Dreyfus, in the notorious case which broke France in the 1890s, was wrongly convicted of treason.';





There speaks a measured voice of reason.McCann: Has Mary Kenny hit the nail on the head about people who consider themselves anti-McCanns............
The so called 'anti McCanns' are in fact nothing other than a 'lynch mob' and they have the same morals and understandings.





The Daily Mail has provided a supposedly legitimising voice for these persons for years now...just as it has for the disenfranchised racists, bigots and other assorted scum in our society.





These idiots are no different to their unprepossessing for-runners. Let them hang themselves and hunt them down later. This is the time honoured way. Nowadays however...lawyers can find people through IP addresses on the Internet and take action on the evidence they find there...I look forward to these people answering for their ignorance.McCann: Has Mary Kenny hit the nail on the head about people who consider themselves anti-McCanns............
if you want to call it judging then im using gut instinct
It works both ways...





Should they be considered obviously innocent because they are white middle class educated people?





No. The police have made them suspects. They are suspects. There is doubt.
it is time the McCanns went out out the lime light and you got a life
I knew nothing about the McCanns when I saw the very first reports about this case, I saw them speaking on the reports and from what I heard and the reactions they gave I felt that all was not right with the case.





I didn't even think about what they looked like or who they might have been. Their attitude and body language said it all for me and the look in his eyes when being interviewed. I didn't know what their jobs were or who was associated with them.





I will say the same as I have before they have not been truthful about any of this and the one thing they are definately guilty of is child neglect. If they are guilty of anything else we will no doubt find out shortly.





And as for looks etc they have many people rich and famous speaking up on their behalf, I wonder if the same would happen if they had come from a local council estate and been on benefits. I apologise to anyone who is from these areas I use it as an extreme example.





We all know of Ben Needham I felt for his mum when this story first came out I am sure she would have loved the help of all that has surrounded the McCanns she didn't get any!





We do know from statistics that children who are killed or vanish are usually the victims of relatives or someone they know.





No matter whether you are Anti or Pro McCann we all know one thing, no matter what the parents look like, sound like or where they work or who they know, if they hadn't have left the three children alone that night we would not be here debating this and Maddy would not be missing.





So no matter how many news reports you throw at people this is where the arguements fall apart as those you consider Anti McCann will quote just that, if they had behaved like ordinary parents should on holiday and been with the children this would not have happened. Its a plain and simple fact.





May they find Maddy soon what ever has happened to her and also spare a thought for the hundreds of children around the world who go missing each day.
You're having yet another go because not everyone agrees with you.
what absolute rubbish
I agree with Ms. Kenny. Does seem to me people have an irrational hatred of the McCann's which I do not understand. They were guilty of a foolish mistake in leaving their little ones - but that is not murder!
It looks like if you have an opinion on the stupidity of the parents for leaving their kids unattended then you get accused of being in the anti mcCann faction. Never been one to join any faction, just have an honest opinion on the stupidity of the parents to leave their kids unattended in a foreign country. If this makes me anti macCan in your eyes then tough.
Nobody's judging the McCanns on how they look, we're judging them on how they neglected their kids.





Edit: Lorelei, i assume you fully support neglect then?
im sorry i was under the impression it was kate who told everyone that she was hated because of how she looked.


she is hated because she and her hubby left 3 kids on their own.


your believing their spin yet again. what else do you believe that has actually came out of her head and is not factually proven. your a slave to the mccann spin machine and i pity you wait for solid proof before you take a side.





its just sour grapes from kenny shes just jealous a better writer won the award enright said what a lot of people are feeling and i for one support her.
not that old chestnut again!
I dislike them for leaving three children alone while they went to a bar. I couldn't care less about their appearance. They can look and act like the Queen if they like it still doesn't negate the fact that they left their children alone so that they could party with friends.
People don't consider themselves to be Pro or anti Mccanns others label them that when their opinion differs from their own. Then they come up with stupid remarks and immature childish comments instead of valid arguments which could prove a point. Instead of people sharing opinions they start a mini slanging match and suddenly it isn't about the Mccanns anymore or truth or justice. It ends up being about which ';side'; is right and which ';side'; is wrong with no one backing down and no one putting across valid arguments. This subject has now become all about oneupmanship, and truth and justice have gone out of the window..
I have not judged the McCanns on the way they look or on the way I feel about their appearance.It is very presumptuous for anyone to say differently as they do not know how I have reached my opinions on these people. No one has asked me, they have assumed.


My opinions have been formed soley on the way they have acted and lied since their daughters disappearance. It is my own personal opinion which I share when asked. It is also my opinion that the McCanns showed little or no responsibility to their 3 children when they left them unsupervised while they went out for a drink. You do not need to agree with me or share my opinions but do not assume I formed my opinions on looks, just because you read something in the independent about someone elses opinions.





In reply to your edit.........My opinion on the McCanns are formed on the way that the McCanns have acted and lied. I can see I will have to word my posts in a more simple way for you in future. Although I think most people would have understood what I meant as most people would know opinions can not act or lie. I am disappointed that that was the best response to my answer you could come up with.
i dislike the way the mccans conduct themselves, as to many others, that doesnt mean i have them tried and convicted, im still objective when it comes to that
Emmmm Mary Kenny is also a writer......sour grapes perhaps ?


The article by Ann Enright about the McCanns was written for the London Book review before she won the Booker prize. How dare she call for her to donate half of her hard earned winnings to a couple who have spent little or nothing of the 'fund' on searching for their own daughter.


Ann Enright is a fine writer, I wouldn't prop up a wonky table with Ms Kenny's writings.
thanks for the link - it was a good article.:)





Before I joined YA I was blissfully unaware that the mob mentality was still prevalent in modern society...and Mary Kenny sums up perfectly the dangers of people with such negative perspectives..





pre judging guilt outside of a court of law is just so very very wrong. We wouldn't teach our children such low ethics...well...most of us wouldn't.!
I agree with CHARLEY %26amp; LITTLECOMFORT 100%. And why SHOULD Enright donate to the Madeleine fund? Why, at this stage should ANYONE donate to it? Haven't they got enough of people's hard-earned cash just to lie in a bank and gather interest. Cos it isn't being used for the purpose for which it was intended, is it?
.Yes I am 100% with the questionaire. There seems to be a witch hunt against this couple almost verging on a lynch mob. So far there is no evidence against them exept for the possiblity of neglect and who of us have sent our young children out to play without even knowing where they have gone Abductors act quickly, they have to So while your children may be playing in your garden he or she could easily be snatched. . The McCanns were only a few yards away and did go back to check on their children . So please don't be to quick to point the finger, it could have been your child.
Read it and yes bang on the nail.
As I've said this elsewhere today - leaving kids like the McCanns did has been standard practice by holidaying British middle/professional people for as long as I can remember and I've done it on every holiday for last 45 years with own kids and grandkids here and abroad. What's suddenly the problem with this? Kids need their regular sleep, the adults need their holiday time. We and our friends havew always done exactly as the McCanns did - put 'em to bed go out and then visit regularly on a roster (like the Tapas nine were doing). Thius is simply a cultural practice and not a crime - I've holidayed with British senior police officers and lawyers over the decades and they've done exactly the same.
Exactly tell to the doubters.