Defending a mother who kills: the new selective empathy
The Lindsay Clancy case reopens the debate over selective empathy toward mothers accused of killing their children and the taboo surrounding maternal mental health.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Mothers who kill: why more and more people are defending them
There are crimes that, the more atrocious they seem, the more leniency they inspire among parts of public opinion. The case of Lindsay Clancy, accused of taking the lives of her children – including a baby – has proven it once again: one current portrays the defendant as a wonderful mother, and TV presenter Tania Llasera even defended her in a video she later deleted, admitting she did not understand her own empathy herself.
Perplexity at so much selective compassion is the dominant feeling. On one hand, some argue that maternal mental health, especially postpartum, turns these cases into clinical tragedies that the system was too late to treat. On the other, the argument weighs that incivil responsibility does not fade: no context turns the victim into a suspect or the killer into a role model. In between, a third, more uncomfortable reading emerges: empathy is distributed according to the perpetrator's profile, not according to the victim's suffering.
The precedent of Almansa, a Spanish town where a similar case occurred, helps gauge the shift. In 1990, a mother killed her 11-year-old daughter during an alleged exorcism. Without social media or ideological poisoning, the case was read as an extreme mental disorder. Today the same atrocity fuels slogans, conspiracy theories and public defenses of the accused. The conclusion is not pleasant: pavor has become ammunition in the culture war.
The underlying question remains: if the killer were the father, how many videos of support would end up in the trash?
There are crimes that, the more atrocious they seem, the more leniency they inspire among parts of public opinion. The case of Lindsay Clancy, accused of taking the lives of her children – including a baby – has proven it once again: one current portrays the defendant as a wonderful mother, and TV presenter Tania Llasera even defended her in a video she later deleted, admitting she did not understand her own empathy herself.
Perplexity at so much selective compassion is the dominant feeling. On one hand, some argue that maternal mental health, especially postpartum, turns these cases into clinical tragedies that the system was too late to treat. On the other, the argument weighs that incivil responsibility does not fade: no context turns the victim into a suspect or the killer into a role model. In between, a third, more uncomfortable reading emerges: empathy is distributed according to the perpetrator's profile, not according to the victim's suffering.
The precedent of Almansa, a Spanish town where a similar case occurred, helps gauge the shift. In 1990, a mother killed her 11-year-old daughter during an alleged exorcism. Without social media or ideological poisoning, the case was read as an extreme mental disorder. Today the same atrocity fuels slogans, conspiracy theories and public defenses of the accused. The conclusion is not pleasant: pavor has become ammunition in the culture war.
The underlying question remains: if the killer were the father, how many videos of support would end up in the trash?
Also available in: Deutsch
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (13 replies).
More summaries
-
The double standard of empathy in the Lindsay Clancy case
Tania Llasera empathizes with a mother accused of killing her children, reopening the debate: why is empathy not the same for men and women?
-
Spain announces veto on social networks for minors under 16
Spain prepares a ban on social media for minors under 16 while Brussels drafts its EU Kids Act. The challenge: verifying age without identifying everyone.
-
Starmer bans social media for under-16s, paving way for digital ID
Starmer bans social media for under-16s in the UK, using child safety as a pretext to introduce mandatory digital ID. Elon Musk warns of a surveillance state.
-
La Vanguardia fires columnist over article accusing PSOE of seeking civil conflict
La Vanguardia suspends Lacasta for criticising the PSOE's drift. A reflection on the limits of journalism.
-
Spain's Right Is Stuck: Feijóo and Abascal Still Don't Know What to Do About Sánchez
Spain's right has spent years announcing Sánchez's downfall without ever delivering it. Feijóo can't get going and Abascal won't negotiate: the problem, they say, is not the rival but the alternative.
-
Spain's job market is shutting out young men
Employment is growing and benefiting women and migrants, but young Spanish-born men are being left behind. Fierce competition, falling wages and a career ceiling at 40.