In the weeks since Prof. Christine Blasey Ford accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a high school gathering, media coverage has focused heavily on Ford’s memories. Ford admits that she can’t remember key details about the incident, including whose house it took place at and how she got home afterward. Those gaps in her memory have led many of her critics to argue that Ford isn’t credible. Fox News in particular has seized on holes in Ford’s account to raise doubts about her allegations , even floating the theory that Ford may be confusing Kavanaugh for a doppelganger. But forgetting non-essential details is not unusual for trauma survivors. As my colleague Brian Resnick has explained, human memory is notoriously faulty. We often forget or misremember details about our experiences, even if we initially perceived them clearly.
Tuesday, October 2, 2018
Why Kavanaugh's accusers can't remember everything
In the weeks since Prof. Christine Blasey Ford accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a high school gathering, media coverage has focused heavily on Ford’s memories. Ford admits that she can’t remember key details about the incident, including whose house it took place at and how she got home afterward. Those gaps in her memory have led many of her critics to argue that Ford isn’t credible. Fox News in particular has seized on holes in Ford’s account to raise doubts about her allegations , even floating the theory that Ford may be confusing Kavanaugh for a doppelganger. But forgetting non-essential details is not unusual for trauma survivors. As my colleague Brian Resnick has explained, human memory is notoriously faulty. We often forget or misremember details about our experiences, even if we initially perceived them clearly.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment