Lessons from Fiona Bruce is gaslighting. Let's look at what she's done here:
1) She has played the victim. She insists that she had to 'legally contextualise' the remarks about Stanley Johnson. Not like *that* she didn't. 1/8
1) She has played the victim. She insists that she had to 'legally contextualise' the remarks about Stanley Johnson. Not like *that* she didn't. 1/8
2) She suggests that she has been misunderstood or misrepresented, that she actually said 'it was a one off' not that she quoted the 'friends of Stanley Johnson' saying such a crass thing. She is deliberately fudging the fact that reintroducing that defence is awful. 2/8
3) She has suggested that she didn't minimise domestic abuse. I disagree. I think she did. She swept it away - didn't allow the panel member to finish her comment - and swiftly moved on with a pre-written reply. She - in other words - minimised the criticism and stifled it. 3/8
4) She reiterates that she was supposedly 'required to say' what she said. I do not believe that she was required to say *that*. She also did not say that Charlotte - the ex-wife of Stanley Johnson - reported that she was repeatedly assaulted. Fiona Bruce could have. 4/8
5) "But I can apologise for the very real impact that I can see it has had" - this is also known as the infamous "I am sorry that you feel this way" or "I am sorry about how you feel". Which is an insult and it's (once again) victim blaming - which DV victims often face. 5/8
6) I'm glad that she has stepped down from Refuge - clearly could not stay - but she has demonstrated no accountability for what she said (blames everyone else) and shows only that she feels that she has been wronged. 6/8
7) Fiona Bruce is trying to persuade people that she was misunderstood. No - I for one appreciate that she quoted other people - but she underlined that as some type of valid or reasonable defence or mitigating circumstance to domestic violence by doing so. 7/8
It is absolutely time for Fiona Bruce to step down from BBC Question Time. She has been acting as a goalie for the Tory Party since the day she took the job on. She throws herself on every hand-grenade. In front of every bullet. Her purpose is clear. 8/8 #GTTO
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