Only stand and wait

Useful article here, which I'm prompted to highlight by my own disquiet at seeing the panel of judges on tonight's Any Dream Will Do (BBC1) - of all things - with yellow ribbons tagged onto their lapels. It really is mawkish in the extreme for this terrible story to be appropriated by a Saturday night light entertainment show. By the same token, I chanced on a Doctor Who website that squeezes in a 'Help Find Maddie' box between banners advertising a range of action figures and a Doctor Who podcast; I was going to upload a screengrab by way of illustration, but it's so distasteful that I've changed my mind.

It should go without saying (though obviously I feel it can't) that I would love to hear the news that Madeleine McCann has been safely returned. But it isn't contradictory to wish for that and feel deep unease at the sentimentality of these misplaced actions. Is anyone who knows anything about her disappearance, or in a position to offer practical help, really going to be moved to action by a Doctor Who website? And what are the ribbons meant to suggest? I would assume, by sheer dint of being human, that the panel of musical theatre judges feel sadness for the McCann family; it achieves nothing to parade that - quite the reverse, as it implies that they have some special claim on the case that I, being ribbonless, do not. But I do feel for the family, and, to the best of my knowledge, Bill Kenwright and Denise Van Outen have no extraordinary attachment to them.

It is awful when bad things happen, and frustrating when you want to help, but can't. But, with a case like this, most of us can't offer any help; we can only act as spectators. To pretend otherwise is absurd, and it is a fragile ego that is incapable of being content with that.

It occurs to me, as I type this, that someone might think this hypocritical, in view of this blog displaying a button highlighting the disappearance of the BBC reporter Alan Johnston. My answer is that the cases are different: Johnston has (it appears) been kidnapped by an identifiable group, that direct appeals can be made to them, and that the BBC, as his employer, have thought it useful to display support for him in this way. The button links to a petition and news pages on the case; it is not asking for information or help, other than to sign the petition. One specific plea for one specific action you can make, albeit a very small one. That's the difference between appropriate and inappropriate.

See also: here