Um, yeah. I volunteer several times a week this side of the pond helping real abuse victims because I was one. And when I came out of abuse I had to attempt to prove it to the court. Because my abuse was largely emotional, and I very closely fit the pattern of most abuse victims in 'protecting' my abuser, that was a very difficult feat.
For months now I have made specific points about why I discount Jodi's claims of abuse and it certainly is NOT because I'm lacking compassion. My compassion is kinda what laid me vulnerable to a psychopath in the first place.
As such I have a reasonable understanding of how abuse works. And what would cause abuse NOT to work. Like living 1000 miles apart from the person abusing you. Or having no children with your abuser. Or living with other people. Or your abuser encouraging you to date other people. Or hundreds of accounts by acquaintances, co-workers, friends and family of Travis that discount Jodi's tale she only dreamed up in 2010? Because before that she was stating what everyone else who knew Travis was - he was a generous, funny, sweet man who truly cared about other people.
So maybe instead of us failing to display compassion it should be recognized that many, many survivors of abuse have spoken out on this board. It can be painful, traumatic, and humiliating to relive or recount some of what we've been brave enough to share....
But we've done so in hopes that people can see the similarities between our abuse and the very likely abuse of Travis -
the victim of an intimate partner homicide.
