Saturday, April 25, 2015

A Final Word on the True Damage of Ad Hominem Attacks in the Madeleine McCann Case

I want to write a final statement on the subject of ad hominem attacks in the Madeleine McCann case and hope it has some effect on what I see happening across the net. Although I did write a "final post" on the case way back and stopped providing a running commentary, I have come back a number of times to make specific comments on very troubling issues. This is one of the concerning issues and applies not only to the Madeleine McCann case but the problem of ad hominem attacks in general. Whatever issue the ad hominem attacks occur within they cause nothing but destruction which often is the entire point of those dishing them out. Ad hominem attacks destroy civil conversation and often shut down any unwanted viewpoint. There is a great difference between debating a topic and attacking the debater. One furthers analysis and the other shuts it down. And that is what is happening in the McCann case.

 I am not the only one being verbally attacked; there are others who have suffered really vicious slurs, some have dealt with far worse than I. Sadly, some of those who have been attacked are attacking others themselves; hence, the antis are factionalizing while the pros are pretty much just one group. We have lost the point of what we set out to do which was bring attention to the miscarriage of justice, open the public's eyes to the police files that contain evidence that should allow the public to question the McCann's innocence, to bring attention to the fraudulent fund, and to support Gonçalo Amaral in his fight to present the case to the public.

I think everyone was one pretty much the same page until Scotland Yard stepped in. In doing so, the Yard gave legitimacy to the McCanns and the pros' standpoint. Scotland Yard's search for an abductor pretty much labeled the antis as nutters. Now, at that point, we all had two choices: convince ourselves that Scotland Yard really was on our side and it is just a matter of time before they bring down the McCanns and we all are vindicated or accept that no such thing is going to happen and we are all pretty much just going to have to live with never seeing justice and being labeled conspiracy theorists and idiots.

I chose the latter because that is reality to me. It is sad and frustrating and certainly not ego-enhancing but it is the way things work. My hope is simply that enough people will eventually recognize that Scotland Yard had a remit that was political in nature and, in the future, we need to work to separate justice from political manipulation. I want to highlight that the McCann case was a gross perversion of how missing children's cases should be handled and publicized, how private funds  in such cases should be questioned and vetted before money simply handed over to be abused. I want the case to be understood because I believe that early proper analysis can prevent homicides and missing persons' cases from going unsolved and unprosecuted.

Others choose to believe the former, that Scotland Yard will come through. And, some, I believe, have gone further and further into complicated scenarios because they doubt that this is really going to happen and the more complicated the crime and the deeper the corruption, the easier it is to eventually live with the closing of this case as an abduction. I believe that when this happens, we will see years and years of continued obsession with these complex theories because many will need to keep doing so in order to counter the claim that the antis were dead wrong in their assessment of the McCanns. And I am not saying people don't have a right to delve into what ever they want, a speculate in any way they wish, I am not calling these people names and libeling them with all sorts of false claims; I am just pointing out that as a profiler I have seen excessive spinning of theories whenever a case doesn't see justice and, such theories rarely benefit the understanding of the case and the lack of justice served.

Nothing sucks like having the world label you as a moron or lunatic for spending years fighting for something that wasn't even true. I know because I have had that label put on me and there is no way to fight back because the truth is buried and likely will remain so. Watch the Jack Nickolson movie, The Pledge for a great example of this. I saw that movie years ago and I remember telling people that when I fight for justice in certain cases, if I don't win, this is exactly what will happen to me. And it has. And it isn't pleasant.

I don't believe that all that has been done in the McCann case has been for nothing even if the legal state of the case goes south. I believe it is always important that people speak out and question. And, when Scotland Yard shuts this case down, I do appreciate that the work of many people (even my detractors) will remain in public view.

The only thing I wish people would understand is that if we tear each other to shreds, the legacy left won't be a very good one and this can destroy all the good work done until now. Everyone who is now attacking me for my stance on Scotland Yard and my theory of the crime occurring on May 3rd is essentially is telling the public who reads of the case in the future that they can discount everything I said. Because there are attacks on Amaral, we can also discount everything he said. Because there are attacks on Joana Morais, we can discount everything she said. Because there are attacks on Tony Bennett, we can discount everything he said, because there are attacks on Sonia Poulton, we can discount everything she said, because there are attacks on Hideho, we can discount everything she said, and on and on.


Who will then be left to consider credible? I guess no one but the pros.



First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— 
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— 
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.


Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

April 25, 2015
Cover for 'Profile of the Disappearance of Madeleine McCann'


By Pat Brown

Rating: 1 star1 star1 star1 star1 star
Published: July 27, 2011

What really happened to Madeleine Beth McCann in Praia da Luz, Portugal in 2007? Was she abducted as the Gerry and Kate have claimed or did something happen to Madeleine on May 3 in the vacation apartment and the incident covered up? Criminal Profiler Pat Brown analyzes the evidence and takes the readers through the steps of profiling, developing a theory that is intriguing and controversial.

9 comments:

Annie Haley said...

The Martin Niemöller quotation at the end speaks volumes about voices being silenced too early when speaking up for Justice and Truth in this world. Who is left to speak when everyone with knowledge is muzzled and censored with libelous attacks against their character and good intentions?

I hope the history of this case will remember (sometimes) all the dedicated and determined (and loud) voices like yours, Amaral, Morais, Bennett, Hideho, and countless other voices, with gratitude and appreciation, and not with hatred and disrespect. You all have worked so relentlessly and been slandered daily for years.

I know that it has been a war for years to deal with and I can't even imagine how everyone's lives have changed from dealing with the corruption, lies, and spins of reality each and everyday.

For what it's worth from one person's perceptive of this whole debacle of a case since it conception, I view each of you as Heroes; not Morons or Idiots. That label just does not stick with me or many other people in this world!

As fierce fighters, I think all of you will continue to do battle (maybe not in this case) and will bring some light into this somehow.


guerra said...

I’m open to change my mind on what I believe if I find the arguments convincing, but no one is going to make their argument more convincing by belittling and insulting those who hold a different opinion, not in my eyes. Resorting to such tactics suggests two possibilities: the individual has developed an exaggerated sense of self importance based on the attention he or she has been getting and is threatened by any person he or she feels might detract from that attention or and that individual has an agenda i.e. he or she wishes to dissuade that a particular opinion be expressed publicly, e.g. political interference in the case.

I’m certain that the child is dead and that the parents disposed of her body, however one can’t be certain how it was accomplished. It’s understandable that many theories abound, since the investigation was far from complete, as Mr. Amaral has said there is still a lot of work to be done. And because there are still many facts yet to be established there is the danger of our imagination leading us to some convoluted theories, which often makes us look foolish in the eyes of those who are new to the case.

trustmeigetit said...

I agree. It shocks me how mad people can get over someone's theory in a case with strangers.

I had one get mad at me and so I said to them that IF they are innocent and she was kidnapped....these are the 2 most unlucky parents.

Not just bad luck that their Child was kidnapped. Then the kidnapping was from a room that someone was likely murdered in (cadavor scent in multiple spots like the closet and bush outside) and then 30 days later they rented a car that had a dead body in it at some point.

What are the odds.


And the thing that always gets me about those that say cadavor dogs are not always right....The issues is that we just don't know whose dead body was there.

But there was a dead body was in the hotel room and the rental car.

It's not common to have a death in a vacation rental and a rental car. So now we are expected to beleive that after having a child kidnapped the got probably the only hotel rental and only car rental where there were deaths in all of Portugual?

Again, what are the odds.

I can respect other opinions but struggled most with those that just argued for the sake of arguing.



Anonymous said...

I think a great many people respond to this case exactly as Pat has said (perhaps the quieter majority). They read from many sources and are perfectly capable of coming to their own conclusions. Isn`t that the very nature of Internet culture?

There are people, such as ex DCI Redwood, who have chosen to tar all of those who fall outside the limits of his abduction remit as "conspiracy theorists". This is straightforward rhetoric. Invariably those who advance it are not going to be persuaded by any amount of argument, by any theories, or indeed by any facts.

Irrespective of all extended theories (conspiratorial or not), there remains a hard kernel of information from which everything else follows:

http://onlyinamericablogging.blogspot.com/2014/10/madeleine-mccann-was-not-abducted.html

I think the Internet is a "polyphony" of voices that people are used to, and are capable of negotiating for themselves. As Stephen Jay Gould once said: "Excellence is a range of differences, not a single point".

If there are those who want to be treated as children, then there are blogs that will oblige them. No doubt they will find succour in singling out those who disagree with them, and attempting to harangue them into silence. But they will do nothing to advance the possibility of justice.

Each to their own.

Agnos

Anonymous said...


The attacks are inevitable on the truth seekers of this case - people need to consider the severity of this cover up...and what the truth would mean to the MANY involved.

Yes you got it ...a complete collapse of the Uk Governments from the top down...so you can see what's at stake.

There is a biological connection with all these people involved on all levels.

There is a society within a society that looks out for each other - they are spread out in all nations and stay connected like the family they are.

You see these people in the world today are networking and thus a matrix is created which strengthens over time as they grow in numbers and status within their homelands.

The mistake the public make is they think its not possible, partly because so many of the joe publics families have become broken or fragmented ..and to think that some families could stay together over many many generations... and work together seems impossible to modern society nowadeays....but that's what is happening I promise you all....and to your detriment.

In the meantime we are all been lied too on many fronts and as a result this network continues to shape the world to their desires.

At the moment people don't want truth ....its to scary for them.

Look at ALL people closely - slow your watching speeds of films / news reporters / politicians right down .....we are not all the same ..Fact.

When people get to understand that part and can see these biological differences, that medicine is refusing to speak about ...then maybe they can pick up where they see all these people and in what professions they hold ..it must be a successful gene is all I can say ...If not then there must be oppression taking place on the other section of society.

Its half the world that sleeps through fear of acknowledging their senses.
The other half are laughing all the way to the Banks.

Nobody will ever solve this case by looking at the case specifically - its much bigger than that.

Mojo (Kyle)



Unknown said...

Agree with you 100% - don't understand why people argue so much about theories that have yet to be proven true - this can only damage the cause!

Anonymous said...

If the emphasis of what has been leaked is true; it would appear that the Lisbon ruling has not been made with regard to established fact, but with regard to what Amaral, as a former Detective, might be able to convince people of.

They would rather you were convinced by Mr Redwood.

Agnos

Anonymous said...

The judgement is completely at odds with the interpretation of the findings I read. If this is correct it pushes manipulation to the highest level in my eyes.

The McCann's and their mates will be scrubbed so clean they will be unrecognisable.

I am wondering now if it's all a complete hoax.

A

highmyope1955 said...

Pat, I agree with your reality. No one is ever going to be prosecuted over Madeleine's disappearance; despite the misery caused to innocent Portuguese people by Operation Grange, I cannot and will not allow myself to believe that they are going to fit someone up for it. Besides, the Policia Judiciaria would not allow it. The investigations goes round in the same old circles; one can only hope that these circles decrease and Operation Grange will disappear. No newspaper that publishes articles about the McCanns will accept comments; the tide of public opinion has turned and no criticism of the McCanns will be tolerated.

Emile Zola was not a troll because he believed in Alfred Dreyfus, or Arthur Conan Doyle a troll because he campaigned for Oscar Slater. Neither was G R Sims a troll because he saw the flaws in the case against Adolf Beck (incidentally, has Jane Tanner heard of the Beck case?). But of course, these men did not have Rebekah Brooks on their side with her "persuasion" techniques, did they?