My goal is now to find out who he really is, what his life was like before Madeleine McCann went missing in the Algarve, and I intend to try to add posts to this blog as I manage to get a grasp of his history and how he is seen by those who actually know him.
Having followed the McCann case from the very beginning, I had been aware that Goncalo Amaral was not being treated fairly by reporters. I've always had a vague sense that "something needs to be done about this" but as a person with no access to a press room and no "friends" in the media, I have been incapable of getting a personal answer as to WHY reporters are doing this, much less a chance to demand some unbiased information be written about Dr. Amaral.
It has always been my belief that when the truth of what happened to Madeleine McCann is finally told, Dr. Amaral will be vindicated. It seems to me, watching him on videos and reading his statements, that he has remained dignified and calm in the face of brutal verbal attacks by the British media, the McCanns, the McCann spokesman, their family and friends. His demeanor, if nothing else, convinces me that he has a clear conscience about his choices and his actions.
I have been doing my best to scan the over 1600 news articles with references to Dr. Amaral. On previous posts, I've tried to list a few of the common descriptions of him found in those reports. Even when an article's main topic is a different aspect of the McCann case...even in brief or passing references to him, I have found in almost every article an adjective used to demean him, to call into question his motives, his professionalism and/or his character.
The truly gutter press has gone over the top in this regard; describing him as boozy, unkept, bumbling, a torturer etc. The so called "mainstream" press has also been brutal; perhaps a bit less inclined to use the blatantly xenophobic and defamatory terms and limited themselves to terms such as "disgraced" or "inept" or dropping in a reference to the alleged two/three hour lunches - that type of thing.
Even the mainstream press seems incapable of writing objectively about the case and instead uses disparaging adjectives to describe Dr. Amaral and sympathetic adjectives to describe Kate and Gerry McCann. As someone who simply wants to make up my own mind and be presented with the facts, the coverage of this case has frustrated me and at times downright made me mad. It seems to me that the press has attempted to LEAD their readers rather than inform their readers. That, in my opinion, is not journalism - it is propaganda.
Last week, the BBC broadcast a report from BBC East Midlands Today reporter Mike O'Sullivan who was reporting outside a Lisbon courthouse. The McCanns were in Lisbon attending a preliminary hearing regarding Amaral's book, "The Truth of the Lie".
As Dr. Amaral was walking toward the courthouse, O'Sullivan asked him a question about whether or not he felt his actions were hurting the McCanns. Dr. Amaral answered in Portuguese “Fale com os McCann" This means "Speak to the McCanns". (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA5R7c1c42A&feature=channel )
The BBC blipped out Amaral's words and claimed that Amaral had responded "Fuck the McCanns" to the question posed by O'Sullivan. There was then broadcast an exchange between O'Sullivan and the main program anchor and they displayed disgust over Amaral's alleged use of vile profanity toward the McCanns.
To date, BBC has not issued a retraction nor have they apologized for the mistake - they have not (to my knowledge) even acknowledged that it WAS a mistake. Instead, they have let their viewers believe that a man who speaks NO English, who was on his way into court regarding something as fundamentally vital to society as freedom of speech, would curse in a language he does not speak about a couple he has never insulted to date.
There is a huge difference between how Amaral has treated the couple and how he has been treated by them or their supporters. He has never insulted them personally, he has been very careful to only describe the facts known to him and his conclusions, based on the investigation itself and his 27 years of experience in law enforcement. It would be entirely out of character for Dr. Amaral to use this vile profanity and entirely incongruous for him to speak in English.
So, I have a goal. Find out what I can about Dr. Goncalo Amaral and add it to this blog.
One thing I have noticed about fairy tales is that a good writer leaves much to the imagination of their reader when they are creating a monster. The less said, the better, as long as it is established that a monster exists. To flesh out the monster is to make him less frightening or less grotesque. This is also a tactic used by propagandists. It should not be allowed anywhere but in fairy tales.
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