Originally a comment by Arcadia on Stephen Fry is a rat.

This bit is the bit that genuinely infuriates me:

‘Sir Stephen said: “She has been radicalised, I fear, and it may be she has been radicalised by terfs, but also by the vitriol that is thrown at her. It is unhelpful and only hardens her and will only continue to harden her, I am afraid. I am not saying that she [should] not be called out when she says things that are really cruel, wrong and mocking. She seems to be a lost cause for us.”’

This double standard. This quote makes clear he knows full well what Rowling has been subjected to, and he knows it constitutes harassment. The only concession he makes to deeming this bad behaviour is that he calls it “unhelpful”, but otherwise, he is blaming Rowling for failing to take this harassment and abuse well. He is expecting that, if she were nice, she would have overlooked it all, and backed down. He requires that of her to count as kind, in his estimation, while requiring no such thing of the vitriol flingers and public pissers. In fact, he excuses them so much, he still says Rowling should be “called out when she says things that are really cruel, wrong and mocking”.

There is apparently no limit to the amount of abuse he requires her to take in good humour, and she absolutely must not learn any lessons like “these are abusive men, subjecting me to abuse, and that justifies my position rather than undermining it”. Likewise, there is apparently nothing Fry won’t excuse from the trans activists, given the worst he’ll describe their behaviour as is “unhelpful”. A ten year old who won’t put their plate in the sink is unhelpful. A man threatening the beheading of women’s rights campaigners is hardly in the same league.

His behaviour and reasoning is frankly outrageous.