I'm particularly pissed about this since it quite blatantly and plainly was pure racism.
The hysteria over the Greek case (again, the child there turns out to be - surprise, surprise! - genetically Roma; they've identified the mother), the Madeline McCann case, and the whipping up of prejudice against immigrants and 'dole spongers, welfare cheats, criminals and fraudsters' by politicians all contributed to this disaster.
I wish the media would take responsibility for what they did, but of course they won't - the case of the girl in Dublin was obviously done in response to fears that a tabloid journalist who hosts a 'true crime stoppers grass on your neighbours' show on our national downmarket TV station was going to run a "Shock, horror, Gypsies stealing our kids and the cops do nothing" story.
That's probably a very legitimate fear (because yes, the newspapers, TV, radio and talking heads would have loved a juicy scandal like that for ratings), and it should not be what's driving policy when it comes to the State taking children into care.
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carisma_sensei
no subject
Date: 2013-11-11 09:41 am (UTC)The hysteria over the Greek case (again, the child there turns out to be - surprise, surprise! - genetically Roma; they've identified the mother), the Madeline McCann case, and the whipping up of prejudice against immigrants and 'dole spongers, welfare cheats, criminals and fraudsters' by politicians all contributed to this disaster.
I wish the media would take responsibility for what they did, but of course they won't - the case of the girl in Dublin was obviously done in response to fears that a tabloid journalist who hosts a 'true crime stoppers grass on your neighbours' show on our national downmarket TV station was going to run a "Shock, horror, Gypsies stealing our kids and the cops do nothing" story.
That's probably a very legitimate fear (because yes, the newspapers, TV, radio and talking heads would have loved a juicy scandal like that for ratings), and it should not be what's driving policy when it comes to the State taking children into care.