The comments are fairly mixed, with a number taking what she says at face value and assuming she really is being trolled.
In her various interviews she seems to do what SH has done - appearing to give examples of what's said here but making them sound much more sinister. In the Woman's Hour interview the other day ES says 'People say they are going to get all my passwords and bring my business down' - which sounded pretty terrible, as if people were plotting to hack into her account.
The Em Sheldon WH interview was, as you say, classic for Sali tactics. She said a couple of times 'trolls kept saying they wished I didn't exist' - implying people wished she was dead. But it turned out people wished there wasn't such a thing as influencing as a whole. So completely different.
Exactly like Sali kept saying 'people want me to lose my job'. The main bulk of comments about this have always been that if the columns are continually going to be as half arsed and biased towards certain brands then The Guardian should get someone new.
So yes *technically* she is right, but she applies a sort of mad slavering unfocused bitchy slant to it.
The Times comments are spot on. Any kind of negative critical comment is viewed by them as trolling and bullying. They never ever mention the real concerns people have with them eg the shilling, lack of clarity over advertising, constant pushing of certain brands for their own ends (cough Hershesons cough) etc etc. They mention the few rather silly, harmless and exaggerated comments, eg in Sali's case her husband being a useful nanny. Obviously to anyone with half a brain cell this was hyperbole and a lighthearted comment - made once I think - and I personally don't think even particularly insulting. But the spin Sali put on it - 'they said I only married my husband because I wanted a free nanny. The kindest, most decent person I have ever met. It was deeply hurtful and a LIE'. Why on earth is it remotely hurtful if she and almost everyone knows it isn't true? An off the cuff comment - rather than someone doing deep research and background checks to come to that conclusion.
I presume this ONE nanny comment is the basis for her constant assertions 'they talk about my marriage'. Because we simply don't. How can we when we know fuck all about it apart from what she choses to put in the public domain?
You're right, it is pressure. Insidious pressure, day in and day out. A creeping feeling that you're not doing "enough". It's never enough though, is it? That's how capitalism works
