Unite for all our children
About 100 children die each year in England and Wales as a result of abuse or neglect. And these are just the most serious cases.
A report last year by the charity the National Children's Bureau found that hospitals in England treat an average of 471 children each week who have sustained deliberate injuries, many of which can be presumed to have been inflicted by parents or carers.
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There were 24,497 such cases in 2005/06 involving injuries such as a black eye or a broken arm; 21,334 children were treated, some more than once.
In the case of Baby P in the news recently, yes, the system failed horribly, and something similar seems to be happening for at least two children every week.
But is it the system that kills and abuses children or is it the parents and carers? There are clear lessons to be learnt. Gathering a lynch mob to hang the social workers is not going to help.
Clearly, there is a serious issue that needs to be urgently addressed. As a parent myself, this situation is deeply distressing, frustrating and painful. It hurts and it makes you angry. And it is exactly at times like these that sweeping statements are made, stereotypes are formed, and prejudices are ingrained. It is precisely for these reasons that we need to be calm.
The other day, an elderly Muslim man asked me: "Why do people in this country treat children so badly? Look what they did to that baby."
I replied: "There are some evil people in this world. Just as you would be upset if someone asked you why do Muslims kill people, just because some people who claim to be Muslim do this, many people here would be upset at you comparing them to the evil that others do."
He considered his words, apologised and rephrased his question to ask: "How can someone be so evil as to abuse a child?"
It was a small victory.
I was left wondering how many times in this busy world are we prepared to challenge such sweeping statements about what other people do? Do we reinforce the stereotype or do we challenge it?
Because the media repeatedly highlights horrible things that some parents and carers do to their children in this country, this process had formed a stereotype in the mind of the elderly Muslim man.
In the same way, the media repeatedly highlighting the actions of a few bad Muslims forms a negative stereotype in the mind of non-Muslims. From that point on, without thinking, our words begin to sow the seeds of division and intolerance.
We set ourselves apart from the "other". We no longer see ourselves as a part of wider humanity. Our questions change from "how can we..." to "how can they...".
We begin to point the finger of blame on a people, on a collective, for the actions of an individual. And just by us doing that, other people point their fingers back at us, as a people, as a collective.
We have serious problems in our society. And it is our society. Let us work together to resolve them; for the sake of all our children.
3 Comments
by Martin, Knowle,Bristol
Wednesday, November 19 2008, 11:32AM
“"The roots of these issues " seem simple to me.
Someone that commits terrible crimes to a child is bad or stupid or both. they have no morals.
Our collective responsibility is to educate them or punish them and take the child to safety.
The few British Muslims "who commit terrible acts" do so after consulting a book or are influenced by someone else who has consulted this book, and actually think that they are in the right.
The many law abiding British Muslims often use the same literature to justify their actions. There are many parts of the world where the actions of "the few who commit terrible acts" are considered to be perfectly acceptable.
Child molestation is universally condemned.
The root of this issue is the fanatical adherance to nonsensical literature.
The auther is right to point out that we should not generally stereotype but he cleverly uses baby p as an an example of how some people stereotype Muslims and the two are not the same.
people don't need "a kick up the backside to think".
By saying that you have actually distanced yourself from responsibility.
WE need a kick up the backside to think logically.”
by Andy, City Centre
Wednesday, November 19 2008, 1:22AM
“Not sure how Martin got onto 'good' and 'bad' muslims and 'something being wrong with the book' there. I thought the article was about this awful baby P story and collective responsibility. Anyway.
Just a quick thought for the author:
How about we don't believe everything we read? How about all children, at the start of secondary school receive a module dedicated to 'How to analyse an article you read or see in the Press instead of going off on a moan about something you read in the Daily Whinge'?
However, I don't think we do 'need to be calm' about the wanton destruction of social standards and priveledges. Quite the opposite. We need to be focused about the roots of these issues and to be ruthless. People need a kick up the backside to start thinking for themselves.
There's no culture of autonomy any more. The author is right that we all like blaming other people for this sort of thing. That is a result of the de-devolution of culpability for one's actions. But our ultimately responsible collective character is nothing more than an extrapolation of the interaction with each other in our own lives.
It is not the fault of 'the media' that stereotypes form. Its your fault.
If any particular religion (in it's capacity as a group of people or syndicate) wants to avoid all of its members being tarred with the same brush, then its upto the 'good guys' in the gang to do something about it.
Maybe, for example, people (of whichever religious inclination) in this country don't see enough in the news about british muslims distancing themselves from 'the few who commit terrible acts etc'. High up syndicate spokesmen I mean.
Its the same with crazy parents and Babies A to Z. No-one stigmatises poor behaviour because no one wants to be responsible.
Make sense?”
by Martin, Knowle,Bristol
Tuesday, November 18 2008, 1:18PM
“good point about stereotyping groups.
Lets not confuse baby killers(The dregs of humanity) with Muslim suicide bombers.
The so called "bad" muslims cherry pick their morals from the same book as the "good" muslims."Bad" muslims often justify their actions through this book, and with reason. The reason why people sometimes stereotype muslims is because they get their morals from the same book.
Is it possible that there is something wrong with the book?”