A Round of Applause for Ratchit

I always give credit where credit is due, and my prize again this week goes to Walford Web Bullyboi and Troll Emporium, centering on the thread debating who should get custody of Scarlett. You can read the thread here.

It's obvious from the reams of discussion that a lot of people speaking about Janine and her situation have absolutely no understanding of what PND entails, especially the resident and previously banned member Biffo Penn. (Please. John Swallow shoul;d raise himself from his glutimus maximus and realise that this is Biffo, whose alter ego, Blossom, was banned as part of a multiple account, whilst Biffo was only suspended. Biffo, you'll note, has duly "disappeared," but Penn and Peege have popped up from nowhere, although I'll bet both sport the same IP as Biffo/Blossom - or at least an IP which originates in the Biffo/Blossom geographical region ... Och aye. Hint: John, remember Kirsty AKA Supernatural?)

Biffo Penn says:-

 Janine abandoned her baby.  I'm sorry but I'm not buying the PND as an excuse.  Plenty of women have it, very few walk out on a newborn.  And let's not forget Janine didn't make a single phone call in all that time, even when she was on the road to recovery she didn't enquire about Scarlett.   Janine, more than anyone, is aware of how cold and cruel Michael can be so why would she leave a helpless baby with him?

I know there's a lot of sympathy for Janine and I absolutely love her as a character.  I have sympathy myself because I think she's had a rough deal over the years.  But like in Kramer v Kramer, I don't think any parent who walks out on a child should be able to just stroll back when it suits them and demand custody.  Maybe we need to know what Janine's been doing for the past seven months.  If she was in a private clinic getting intensive treatment for her depression, that makes a difference.  It shows she tried to sort herself out. But if, as she hinted, she was simply travelling and partying then I don't think she's any better than Michael.  She's very selfish.

God, this sounds so much like the snidey, pinched-nose style of Biffo, it makes me want to puke. Biffo Penn states as fact that "few" women walk out on a newborn. Really? Back-up facts and figures, please; and whilst it might be reasonably true that "few" women with PND walk out on a newborn, it's also true that those who stay and suffer from the condition have actually been known to kill their children. I think it's clinically called the Medea Complex.

Funny, but years ago, there used to be another Och Aye commentator on a long-dead forum, who was known as Theodore, who stalked and targeted various people who disagreed with him/her; and Theordore was adamant that PND, as a condition, simply didn't exist. As much as this troll tones down his/her postings to try to soften the image and detract from any similarities, the same old same old seeps through.

It's also interesting that Theodore Big Gray Sally Biffo Blossom Penn offers that opinion in support of the one issued by  Mute Banana, whose view and understanding of women equals that of an amoeba bordering on outright misogyny. This hapless soul opines:-

Very simply Janine left and Michael brought up the baby. A judge would want to know what the reasons for this were and what has changed in Janine. They'd want some kind of evidence that Janine can be trusted to care for her baby. Michael is a manipulator and may not play fair. So Janine will have a lot to do to convince a judge that there's no risk of her doing a runner again.

 It's no good people pointing out what a psychopath Michael is. As far as everyone's concerned, despite his issues, he's the one that has been a father to Scarlett and taken care of her. If they don't shed any light on Janine's recovery then Michael will have to either trip up spectacularly or have a change of heart. Both of which are quite possible.

A couple of points here:

Yes, Janine says she's traveled about and boosted her confidence by a few affairs, but Janine is just as capable of lying as the next person. In fact, she's a very accomplished liar; and it could very well be plausible that she checked herself into an exclusive private clinic for some treatment - EastEnders isn't big, remember, on counselling of any sort, considering the reception Grant's admission got in 2005 that he'd had treatment for anger management. Maybe that's something to be revealed in time.

As for Michael's psychopathy, it's true. He is a psychopath; and psychopaths are master manipulators, which would account for everyone being presented with the image of Michael being the so-called "good" father; but - Lordy! - there are certainly enough people who've been affected by Michael's skewed behaviour in the recent past, not to realise exactly what a nasty piece of work he is.

Like Alfie, whose wife he impregnated and who still welcomes him into his home. Or Kat as well. I seem to recall she was pretty pissed off at the way he treated Jean last summer, so much so that Alfie threatened him. Or Roxy, whom he manipulated and whose sister he tormented. Or Jean, herself.

In case Mute Banana and Theodore Big Gray Sally Biffo Blossom Penn don't realise it, Michael Moon seems to target women who are mothers. Michael's main psychological issue is his rage against his own mother, a psychopath herself, who played one attention joke too many and ended up inadvertantly killing herself. When he's ultimately faced with a wife and a child, himself, when the wife is physically, emotionally and psychologically exhausted by a difficult pregnancy, a premature birth and caring 24/7 for a sick baby with absolutely no support from him, when she's hormonal and - yes - suffering from PND and totally isolated from her family (in short, vulnerable), he can't help but project his irrational feelings held for his own mother on the mother of his child. Because Michael's mother was psychologically and emotionally inadequate, he's got to believe that about every woman who has a child.

Psychopaths don't bond. They don't show remorse, compassion or empathy. With anyone - parents, siblings or children. Michael was willing to watch a total stranger beat his youngest brother to a pulp just for revenge on his father. Who'd want a child to be brought up by someone like that?

But then, out of the dankness of general stupidity, comes Nurse Ratchit, once again, the voice of wisdom:-

Michael did nothing when Scarlett was born; it was Janine who spent the most time in the hospital with her. I am no expert but I suspect her PND was exacerbated by Michael's behaviour towards her; I find him far more of a dangerous prospect as a parent than her. I would like to hope that whatever bond she has/had with Frank and Pat will help to make her a better mother than anyone might expect.

Correctamundo. And may I add that, as far as actually hands-on caring for Scarlett, in the wake of Janine's departure, most of the real heavy-duty childcare was done by Roxy, in the run up to Christmas, and afterwards, it was assumed by the ineffectual and inexperienced Alice, who had enough integrity to correct Michael's assertion last night that he was the one who worked 24/7 to care for Scarlett, when Alice reminded him that most of the waking hours, she was on hand to administer childcare.

Quite honestly, anyone advocating entrusting an infant to the care of a functioning psychopath is just too sick for words.