What annoys me is the printed press will have a field day with the likes of Diane Abbott and others, either directly or by hiding behind the comments of "internet trolls", but as soon as there is a whiff of someone at the BBC making even just one comment they are holier than thou.
The harsher treatment of females probably also applies to Fiona Bruce too. Indeed after the praise she got in week one for holding panelists to account I suspect some people are running scared so taking any opportunity to discredit her.
I agree - this is what really irritates me about our society these days. There isn't one of us who hasn't made a mistake in our jobs. The difference is that for those in the public eye, it seems fine for everyone to publicly pull them apart. Yet the vast majority of us have the luxury of either being able to cover over our mistakes or only have to answer to our immediate superiors; not be publicly humiliated for them. That's not to say that people in the public eye shouldn't be held to account. They have chosen that as a career path knowing that it's a possibility. But that can be done with decency and respect. It really worries me how what in effect is bullying seems to be completely acceptable in our so-called modern society.
I agree - this is what really irritates me about our society these days. There isn't one of us who hasn't made a mistake in our jobs. The difference is that for those in the public eye, it seems fine for everyone to publicly pull them apart. Yet the vast majority of us have the luxury of either being able to cover over our mistakes or only have to answer to our immediate superiors; not be publicly humiliated for them. That's not to say that people in the public eye shouldn't be held to account. They have chosen that as a career path knowing that it's a possibility. But that can be done with decency and respect. It really worries me how what in effect is bullying seems to be completely acceptable in our so-called modern society.
Agreed, it started on this forum a year or so ago, it does seem to have calmed down a bit now but some people just don't want to listen to others' opinions.
JM
JamesM0984
Aaron_2015 posted:
The PR team have rather chucked Bruce under the bus I feel. The majority of opinion polls have shown a Conservative lead for months, even when the Government have been in a total mess. It was entirely reasonable for Bruce to tackle Abbott on her claim.
The repeated claims that Abbott is the victim of racist abuse from the media is lazy and extremely damaging.
Totally agree with this, and Abbott has made racist comments on several occasions.
Yes, we all screw up at work. However, when you want to be Home Secretary one day you're going to be watched by the media. May gets called out for just as much, for example (but not limited to) some of her famous soundbites which are more than a bit "WTF love?" in hindsight!
Furthermore, it's oft-cited that the media is "pro-Tory" but with newspapers alone (which can be out-and-out partisan in ways other media cannot) I can name plenty of pro-Labour, and certainly anti-Tory papers. For every Daily Mail or The Telegraph there's the Daily Mirror or The Guardian.
I agree - this is what really irritates me about our society these days. There isn't one of us who hasn't made a mistake in our jobs. The difference is that for those in the public eye, it seems fine for everyone to publicly pull them apart. Yet the vast majority of us have the luxury of either being able to cover over our mistakes or only have to answer to our immediate superiors; not be publicly humiliated for them. That's not to say that people in the public eye shouldn't be held to account. They have chosen that as a career path knowing that it's a possibility. But that can be done with decency and respect. It really worries me how what in effect is bullying seems to be completely acceptable in our so-called modern society.
Without wishing to get off-topic, if it were one case of Diane making errors/putting her foot in it, it would be understandable but there's been a fair few over the years.
Can't say I'm surprised unfortunately to see Twitter become a pile-on at Fiona Bruce- Twitter is an absolute cesspit at times and is a horrible way to follow politics. Posts become so hysterical and partisan that it makes football Twitter seem sensible by comparison which is good going - and like if you saw the posters in real life you'd run a mile.
I agree - this is what really irritates me about our society these days. There isn't one of us who hasn't made a mistake in our jobs. The difference is that for those in the public eye, it seems fine for everyone to publicly pull them apart. Yet the vast majority of us have the luxury of either being able to cover over our mistakes or only have to answer to our immediate superiors; not be publicly humiliated for them. That's not to say that people in the public eye shouldn't be held to account. They have chosen that as a career path knowing that it's a possibility. But that can be done with decency and respect. It really worries me how what in effect is bullying seems to be completely acceptable in our so-called modern society.
Without wishing to get off-topic, if it were one case of Diane making errors/putting her foot in it, it would be understandable but there's been a fair few over the years.
Can't say I'm surprised unfortunately to see Twitter become a pile-on at Fiona Bruce- Twitter is an absolute cesspit at times and is a horrible way to follow politics. Posts become so hysterical and partisan that it makes football Twitter seem sensible by comparison which is good going - and like if you saw the posters in real life you'd run a mile.
To be fair to Diane Abbott, yes, she has made a fair few gaffes over the years, but not even as many as the likes of Boris Johnson, Bill Cash, Nigel Farage, and others. And they don't get the same level of vitriol fired at them that Diane Abbott does.
But honestly, Question Time is a programme that has outlived its usefulness. In its early days, it was the only way to interact with politicians on a regular basis, and politicians took that seriously. Now, you can follow the politicians you want to on Facebook and Twitter, and Question Time has become little more than a weekly dose of political theatre that the politicians treat as theatre and play up to the audience.
Diane Abbott is undeniably the authority on receiving racist, sexist, and myriad other forms of abuse. She has experienced it from the days of the green inked letter, and given many accounts of how such abuse, whilst heightened these days, isn't something new. There was a study done that showed around half of all abusive tweets to female MPs were directed towards Diane Abbott alone.
Clearly the narrative that's pushed by these abusive tweets is nonsense - she wasn't making constant gaffes during her long tenure on This Week. However, she is not by any means perfect, and she is on record making comments and saying things that are racist and offensive.
In the end, the latter could never excuse the former, and should she ever get into government she will be able to set the record straight. After all, who would doubt her convictions of being anti-racist and anti-sexist?
I agree - this is what really irritates me about our society these days. There isn't one of us who hasn't made a mistake in our jobs. The difference is that for those in the public eye, it seems fine for everyone to publicly pull them apart. Yet the vast majority of us have the luxury of either being able to cover over our mistakes or only have to answer to our immediate superiors; not be publicly humiliated for them. That's not to say that people in the public eye shouldn't be held to account. They have chosen that as a career path knowing that it's a possibility. But that can be done with decency and respect. It really worries me how what in effect is bullying seems to be completely acceptable in our so-called modern society.
Without wishing to get off-topic, if it were one case of Diane making errors/putting her foot in it, it would be understandable but there's been a fair few over the years.
Can't say I'm surprised unfortunately to see Twitter become a pile-on at Fiona Bruce- Twitter is an absolute cesspit at times and is a horrible way to follow politics. Posts become so hysterical and partisan that it makes football Twitter seem sensible by comparison which is good going - and like if you saw the posters in real life you'd run a mile.
To be fair to Diane Abbott, yes, she has made a fair few gaffes over the years, but not even as many as the likes of Boris Johnson, Bill Cash, Nigel Farage, and others. And they don't get the same level of vitriol fired at them that Diane Abbott does.
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I'm sure there's a debate to be had on gaffes/vitriol for sure. Was just pointing that Diane Abbott's gaffe last year wasn't an isolated example. Which of course doesn't excuse the abuse she can get on social media.
I just find following politics on social media a depressing experience full stop (which may in a large part be down to the politics too) - it's just a constant barrage of hysteria, anger, abuse and name-calling (again same could be said about politics at the moment) and worse
