Seana Sperling

Archive for the ‘Civil Rights’ Category

Cointelpro One and Two

In African American, Bullying, Civil Rights, Economy, Education, Latino, Mobbing, Native American, Peace, Politics, Religion, Roma, Surveillance, World Relations on July 15, 2012 at 18:52

By Seana Sperling

Throughout history different regimes have constructed programs to control dissent. During the Cultural Revolution in China, students were encouraged to denounce, harass and sometimes even stone the Intelligentsia, their Professors and Scholars. This was Chairman Mao’s way to silence his biggest critics. The pigtail, a sign of the Intelligentsia was stigmatized and many were publicly clipped off. Thousands of miles away, in the United States, the Intelligence Agencies began using Cointelpro to destroy Peace Activists and other critics in the “land of the free.” According to former FBI Agent, Mike German who is currently working with the ACLU, Cointelpro, which was supposed to have ended when the Church Committee Report exposed it in the 1970’s, is still alive, but has evolved.

Cointelpro One involved using rumor campaigns, gaslighting, set-ups and tracking of Peace Activists and other dissenters. In the 1960s the FBI, paired with local Law Enforcement agencies and even some corporations started using these tactics against demonstrators, writers and the nation’s critics.

Peace Activist Abbie Hoffman was gaslighted, defamed, tracked and harassed for years by the F. B. I. The film Steal This Movie reveals a part of his life that mainstream media would never cover. Hoffman was under constant threat of arrest, which drove him underground for years and this isolated him from his real support group. His crime: organizing very creative protests against the Vietnam War and criticism of the corruption in government. (There were accusations of cocaine possession, but Hoffman maintained that law Enforcement had planted this according to his biography on Wikipedia.) In the late 1980s Hoffman made a brief comeback and began organizing and teaching about civil disobedience with students at Amherst. (I saw him speak at my University in 1988.) Unfortunately, Hoffman took his life in 1989. He was only 52-years-old.

General Motors used Cointelpro tactics against Ralph Nader after he exposed GM’s faulty and even dangerous vehicles in the 1970s. In the documentary, Ralph Nader, an Unreasonable Man, Nader tells how complete strangers followed him around (Gaslighting) and he also speaks of set-ups. On Gaslighting: if you tell friends that strangers are tracking and harassing you, and they see no evidence of it, they will think you are paranoid.

Cointelpro Two includes all of the above, but similar to the Cultural Revolution in China, it involves recruiting certain members of the community with propaganda and even slander against the target. Then this group will engage in tracking, set-ups and gaslighting of the targeted Activist, Writer, Teacher, etc. The group feels flattered that they have been selected for such an important job and they do not see themselves as tyrants and Informants, but as protectors. One even said as much to me. It was late afternoon and I was walking from the grocery store. There was a 20-something, white, male standing near the store entrance looking at his cellphone then he looked directly at me and said, “I’m here to protect babies!” I thought, “From what?” At the time, I did not know about all the slander about me on sites like www.rottenneighbor.com.

Cointelpro Two is much nastier than it’s forerunner. Not only can they start a rumor campaign that the person is crazy and anti-American, but they throw in false accusations of sexual deviancy and criminal behavior. If you want an entire community to hate someone, just put out an accusation that the person is a pedophile. Then local Law Enforcement is able to Amber Alert a judgmental and punitive populace to track, harass, gaslight and even set-up the Activist. Some local Law Enforcement agencies use average citizens as Informants and empower them to go after the victim of the accusation. Welcome to the United States of Oceania.

With the expansion of Cointelpro, the Intelligence Agencies have a vast and more efficient communication system to gather and disseminate information called the Fusion Center. Corporate America has also created Intelligence gathering websites like www.123people.com, www.pipl.com, www.instantcheckmate.com, etc. that gather all sorts of correct, but also erroneous information on millions of people without their consent or even their knowledge. According to some of these sites I am three different ages and they offer my Social Security number, address, and phone number, etc. for a price. Of course I get none of the proceeds or even a say in their selling of my information. Also, some of these sites claim to have arrest records on me. I checked my name on www.instantcheckmate.com and a warning popped up: “Caution. This background report is very graphic… The content of this report may shock you, so please prepare yourself for the unexpected.” I actually paid the $19.86 fee to see if there was more slander there. There were no arrest records of course, but anyone looking at that warning would think that some serious crime had been committed. If you are seeking employment and that comes up in a Google search, well, good luck.

If you try to get your information removed, you are lead into the maze of links and original source research and nothing is really ever taken care of. This may be another way to harass and gaslight people. I even wrote to Washington State, Attorney General, Rob McKenna’s office, and sent in plenty of documentation, yet was told there was nothing they could do. These sites are allowed to slander me, violate my privacy and sell my private information, yet there is nothing the Attorney General can do? This is not a 1st Amendment issue, but Corporte America violating my rights. It’s a flagrant violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.

Another prop from the toolkit of Cointelpro Two is called Social Isolation. Social Isolation has been used in our prison system for decades and is called Solitary Confinement. The person is cut off from others and since humans like most animals are social animals this breaks the person down incrementally. The longer they are isolated, the more they adjust to it. When and if they are finally thrust back into a social environment, they must adapt again, which causes social awkwardness.

Social Isolation addresses all avenues of support that may be available to the activist/writer, etc. Cointelpro’s vicious rumor campaign takes care of the support group. Family and friends will shun the activist/writer, etc. because of slander or accusations of being “under investigation.” Who wants to be friends with someone that is under investigation for anything? Sometimes the support group merely tires of the victim’s complaints of constant harassment from strangers, neighbors, coworkers, etc. When the support group is gone, or at least very weary, Law Enforcement (and in my case many former Military) can surround the person with people that, under the guise of friendship, will continue to gaslight, set-up the victim and spread more rumors. These are called Handlers. They may even record everything the victim says on their cell phones and later put it up on You Tube or any other video, voice-over site.

Handlers and infiltration are tools of both Cointelpro One and Two. There have been assorted reports of former Military and off-duty Police officers infiltrating Peace groups since the 1960s. One segment of Michael Moore’s Documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11 shows how a Peace group found that one of their members was actually an off-duty deputy using an alias, after his photograph appeared in the local paper with his real name.

I know about Handlers personally. In my naiveté, I befriended some former military who only revealed their deeply conservative and militaristic side in 2006 after my life had become a shambles. I remember the look of satisfaction on one bully’s face when I was almost at my breaking point. I had lost real friends and was being bullied everywhere I went by complete strangers because of the rumor campaign. Thus I was gaunt, exhausted and hyper-vigilant. I also had multiple phone calls from around the country at all hours, Cyberbullying and E-personation. I would find my name linked to provocative items on the Internet, which of course provoked even more bullying. (The slander helps the bullies recruit.) Since 2006 I have had to turn the ringer off on my land line phone and screen calls with my answering machine. I do not own a cell phone for a variety of reasons.

Cointelpro, although rarely discussed in mainstream media, is known in many activist and scholarly circles. In fact even Microsoft Word recognizes the term and I did not have to add it to Word’s lexicon even though I have had to add many other regular words. Mainstream media needs to pay closer attention to this violation of our constitution. Unless the majority of people know how serious it is and how much it threatens democracy, the bad guys will win.

The Arts Will Save Us

In Bullying, Civil Rights, Education, Mobbing, Peace, Politics, World Relations on July 15, 2012 at 18:35

By Seana Sperling

Arts and Media programs are disappearing in public schools across the country according to a May 2012 issue of The Nation, What Teachers Want. At the Community College where I work we lost the College Newspaper and the accompanying Journalism Program in 2009. Next it was Publishing Arts. Currently in 2012, they are cutting the Film Program and there is speculation of closing the Apparel Design Program. Has the college become merely a place to educate corporate automatons or is this a way to curb Freedom of Expression?

Throughout History Artists like Goya, Solzhenitzyn and Woody Guthrie expressed their political beliefs through their art, and as a result helped provoke socio-political change. Freedom of Expression is essential to a civil society and is essential for our happiness.

The Arts have saved me many times. Music, drawing, writing, cooking, creating anything is very uplifting. Even listening to music elevates the soul and there have been times when I have felt great joy because of a certain series of notes. I would not be here today if it were not for art.

There was a time in Fall 2006 when I was in a deep depression because of a horrendous slander campaign against me, which had provoked intense organized bullying by the community. People were actually hinting that I was some sort of sex offender, racist or thief and I was being tracked everywhere I went by the bullies. I wasn’t aware that these accusations were being directed at me until I found multiple postings on www.rottenneighbor.com in December 2007. While these things aren’t true, the accusations caused friends to drop me completely and not one person would tell me what was going on. It was a very dark time in my life.

I forced myself out of the shadows by singing along with my favorite CDs. I felt a little silly at first, because when you live in an apartment building, the neighbors can hear you. One neighbor did make fun of my singing, but you have to ignore the bullies.

I’m not the only one who feels inhibited about singing. Over the years I have noticed that many Seattleites seem reluctant to sing outside of their choirs, bands, churches or without a Karaoke Machine. I rarely even see anyone singing along with the radio in cars anymore. This is a sad statement about Seattle, which is ironically a city famous for its music scene. I suppose people fear appearing uncool. (In the 1990s people were walking around without umbrellas in the rain for this reason.) From what I’ve seen at Peace rallies and marches most the people chant, but you rarely see them singing. Always chanting gets boring and singing provides a much better vibe.

The Seattle Peace Chorus used to take part in the Peace marches. They were a nice addition and very inclusive, handing out lyric sheets if you wanted to join in. The arts, such as singing have played an important role in the history of U.S. protests. Imagine a scene from the 1960’s with hundreds of people singing, “We Shall Overcome.” Singing provides a strong and positive vibration. Would the Police send pepper spray into a multitude of voices?

In some cultures the arts are on a parallel with mysticism. Tibetan Throat singing is linked to mysticism. The Whirling Dervishes of the Sufi spin into spiritual trances and the Kecak (Spirit Dance) of Indonesia historically also provoked trances in the participants. In these cases music and dance is sacred.

Tibetan Monk Throat Singing (Tuvan Throat Singing) is a very interesting use of this positive vibration. I’ve tried it and although I’m not very adept, I can feel the vibration in my chest. The singing originates in the throat, but seems to echo through the trachea into the chest. I think I am making the correct sound, but it’s hard to be objective when the only critics are overly curious neighbors and my cats. (No neighbors have made fun of my Throat Singing thus far, but my cats have given me some odd looks.)

Buddhist culture seems to value art very highly. You have only to look at the beautiful Watts (temples) of Thailand to know how important art is to this Buddhist country. Evidently the spirits of Thailand have a great interest in the arts and the Thai people want to please the spirits. When I was visiting friends in Khon Kaen, we came upon an outdoor film one evening that was being hosted by a student. According to my friends, in Thai culture it is popular to earn merit by doing good deeds or otherwise pleasing the spirits, thus the student would earn merit by entertaining them.

That same week we visited the Turtle town. I can’t remember the name, but it was a very small town famous for having turtles. We saw lots of softball-sized turtles crawling around in a big pen, but later we came upon people of the town hand-weaving beautiful designs on large traditional looms, which I found much more interesting. They seemed very happy with their work, which brings me to another consideration. If we create something with love, or at least in good spirits, does the creation retain that energy? Can happiness be woven into the fibers of a Monk’s robes? Does our Sweat Shop-made, off-the-rack clothing retain the hard labor and anxieties of the seamstress? That hand-woven cloth was not for locals, but to be sold in the city, which reminded me of Nestle who replaced Ghana’s Yam fields with cash crops that were too expensive for the citizens to consume.

Other works of art like the Mandala Sand Paintings are beautiful creations, yet are not sold and deliberately brushed away after their creation. (Except for the few that were donated to museums.) There is no effort to preserve these works and the joy is within the creation rather than preservation. There is no attempt to sell the art and the ego is not attached. Maybe art is not supposed to be for sale. Perhaps this is how the idea of the “Sell Out,” originated.

I’ve never been to an art auction, but when I have seen them in films, the scene is usually an auditorium filled with wealthy folks nodding or lifting a finger to signal a bid. Is there a certain point when people who are so occupied with making money lose their ability to make art and therefore have to buy it?

After the devastating earthquake in Haiti, one Reporter on National News remarked that Haiti is a country of artists. There is little financial stability there unlike the neighboring Dominican Republic. Perhaps there is something to the idea of the “Starving Artist.” If we are not hungry spiritually, mentally and physically perhaps we are unable to create. Or is creativity a survival skill meant to strengthen us?

I have heard some people say that they are not creative. I think everyone is born with the ability to create and there are a multitude of ways to express it, but it needs to be cultivated. It needs to be encouraged and yes, taught. People have to feel confident to create and Arts Programs nurture this confidence.

If we aren’t creating are we busy destroying? It seems that in the new millennium some people drift into very corrupt behavior like gossiping, bullying, Cyberbullying, Cyberbaiting and stalking online and offline. There has been a sharp rise in bullying of all kinds in the schools, the workforce and communities in the last ten years. There are so many stories of teens or even adults taking their own lives because of group bullying. Perhaps the rise in bullying is a result of boredom and lack of creativity. Let’s bring the arts back to the classroom and especially the community at large.

Rumor and Associates

In Civil Rights on July 14, 2012 at 18:43

By Seana Sperling 2000

Defamation of character—via accusations of being prejudiced, became the weapon of choice in the late twentieth century. Gore Vidal, one of the Government’s most tenacious critics, has been accused of being anti-Semitic because of his views on the National Security State’s support of the Israel Lobby. This tactic of discrediting an opponent is frequently being used as a weapon and it seems that you don’t need any evidence in this atmosphere of Tabloid truths. The accusation alone is enough to create doubt.

I was an English Second Language Teacher for years and in 1999, a new colleague that had just started at our school began to make insinuations that I was racist. Ironically, I had interviewed this man and recommended him for the job. He was very nice to me at first, but then he befriended a former friend and colleague of mine. Individually they were fine, but when they were together, they would fling subtle barbs. After a couple of months, he began scrutinizing everything I said for racist comment. For example, I had been at China Gate’s Karaoke bar for a friend’s birthday party and a Hong Kong version of the Sir Mix-A-Lot video, “Baby Got Back,” was playing. In the video there were rail-thin Caucasian women in one-piece swimming suits and the camera focus seemed to be on their actual backs. One friend remarked that it was funny that none of these models had back and that the video maker had obviously missed the point. When I relayed the story during lunch in the Teacher’s room the next Monday, he interpreted that as being racist. I thought, Huh?

After that my former friend and one of the other Teachers (both female and white) would walk around saying, “I’ve got back.” The Instigator continued with his racism Schtick and would say “Lots of people are prejudiced, but they say they aren’t.” How do you respond to that? It is so vague. Which people are prejudiced? Caucasians? African Americans? Asian Americans? Rich? Poor? Comedians? Who are they prejudiced against? Was he saying only Caucasians were capable of prejudice since he was African American and I look white? (I’m very ethnically mixed and also bi-racial.) The comment was directed to me in front of all the Caucasian teachers in the room. If that had been the case, why did I choose to work with students from all over the globe and why would I have recommended that my boss hire him?

It was always at lunchtime in the Teacher’s room that they would throw barbs. On one occasion I was talking about my family and I mentioned that my Step Mother was Panamanian and I had half-brothers and sisters. One of them asked why I didn’t just call them my brothers and sisters and insinuated that maybe I only cared about the white half. It was hurtful and ridiculous.

A couple of months elapsed and two new coworkers and even my boss began treating me differently. A tale had been spun and evidently embraced. Over the years my boss (and the former friend that was now spreading the slander) had met many of my friends from all different races, orientations and backgrounds. They knew better, yet even my boss picked up the mantra, “Lots of people are prejudiced, but they say they aren’t.” I started having serious health problems as a result of all the stress and began using my insurance. I was also in my forties and the new hires were all 20ish or 30ish.

The slander went viral. I was at a birthday party for one of my colleagues when another colleague’s husband launched an unprovoked attack. I lived in Boise, Idaho on and off as a teen and later for college. His wife knew this of course as I had known her for a number of years. In his little French accent he began asking me about Neo-Nazis and Nationalists and insinuated that I might be one of them. I told him that I was not and asked him about racism in France. He got very angry and defensive and slurred that everyone got along in France. Then he said, “So you’re a racist.” I was tired of being baited and harassed and told him I could barely understand his speech. Then he said, “So you’re racist against French people.” I just looked at him. I happen to be a smidge French and again, it was a ridiculous accusation. My friends that had come with me were shocked by his outburst and we left shortly after. I held my temper, as I didn’t want to make a scene at the party.

The next morning, I was still angry and left a lengthy message on their answering machine. I asked, “Who the hell I was supposed to be racist against since I have had friends, roommates and dated nearly every race. “ I also told them I was from a multi-racial family. That part my colleague already knew. It was just harassment from her bullying husband. When I saw his wife later that week at school, she tried to explain it away as French humor.

All my life I have been on the receiving end of hate-monikers such as Fag-hag (90’s through the new millennium) and Nigger-Lover (60’s through mid 80’s) because of the company I keep and the beliefs I hold. I’ve many times been accused of being too PC and now this reversal? Just because I thought OJ Simpson was guilty doesn’t make me prejudiced against all six-foot, African –American movie stars.

Next the boss began whittling away at benefits I had earned after seven years of working there, such as changing my work schedule and retracting a project that I’d been assigned to. (I later found out he had offered this to a new employee at a much lower wage.) He claimed that my schedule was unfair to the other employees even though most had been there less than a year.

Friends in Thailand invited me to stay with them for a couple of weeks and since I had not had a real vacation in years, I decided to take one then. When I returned the boss had pared things down even further.

In Spike Lee’s film, Do the Right Thing, pizzeria owner Sal is accused of being racist because he doesn’t have any pictures of African-Americans on his wall. He only has Italians and Italian-Americans. The argument was that it was that almost all Sal’s customers are African-American and that he should represent them too. Sal explains that the pizzeria is an Italian restaurant, so he has Italians on the wall. Sal’s reputation and career is ruined when the neighborhood turns on him and destroys the pizzeria.

Nowadays racism is still a touchy subject and in Seattle especially I have seen some people turn tail and run when the topic is brought up. I have witnessed and even experienced racism here in the U.S. and abroad.

Rather than widening barriers or even creating non-existent ones we need more dialogue about this social illness. The reformers of the 1960’s were not divisive people, but inviting all to help change a broken system. We should not be fighting among ourselves, especially over a “He said/She said,” rumor. We need to stop accusing each other of ridiculous things and combine our creativity and power to help cure the social ills that keep evolving. A divided country is easy to control and by fighting among ourselves we are making it easier for the Haves.

Cointelpro and the Age of the Bully

In Bullying, Civil Rights, Education, Mobbing, Politics, Surveillance on July 6, 2012 at 22:26

By Seana Sperling

In the film, Ralph Nader: An Unreasonable Man, we learn the history of Ralph Nader’s battle with Corporate America. Nader was a Consumer Protection Activist in the 1970s and exposed General Motor’s negligence in the manufacture of some of their vehicles. In retaliation, General Motors began using Cointelpro tactics to defame Nader such as having strangers follow him around everywhere (so when he told supporters of the tracking, they would think Nader was delusional). In the film, Nader also speaks of set-ups in which very beautiful women would try to befriend him. Currently, average citizens, armed with the latest technology, are engaging in the same Cointelpro tactics to harass and set up other average citizens in the twilight of our Democracy.

In 2010 there were news reports on KIRO and KOMO TV about public service organizations, ACORN and Planned Parenthood being set-up by Neo-conservatives posing as pimps and prostitutes? The Neo-cons would manipulate the ACORN worker or Planned Parenthood worker into saying something that would reflect badly on the organization. All the while the Neo-cons would be secretly filming and later air it to discredit the organization. This is called Cyber-baiting.

Norton Family Online Services describes Cyber-baiting as one or more persons deliberately harassing someone to get a reaction, which they capture on their cellphones and post on the Internet. I have dealt with set-ups for years. Almost daily, complete strangers in my neighborhood go out of their way to try to get me to react, by either calling me a lewd name, or blocking my way when I’m walking on the sidewalk or entering a building. On occasion some of the abuse has been physical such as people deliberately bumping into me, blocking my way, opening doors on me and I have been spit on twice. You might wonder why strangers would target me. Aside from the vengeance stalking that I have had to deal with for many years, you can’t be a Peace Activist during a time of war and not have some enemies. Many Educators, Writers and even some school children are experiencing the same abuse.

Bullies like cliques and if you enrage even one bully, they can recruit all of their Social Network friends to harass, defame and ridicule you. In the article, Student’s Organize Day of Bullying, www.upi.com, students created a FaceBook page called, “Annoy (Student’s name) Day,” to harass one of their fellow students. In another case, Phoebe Prince, a 15-year-old in Massachusetts was constantly tracked and harassed through her school hallways and neighborhood until she took her life in March 2010. An alarming component of Cyber-baiting is surveillance/tracking the victim via cellphone. These teens were using Cointelpro tactics.

The following articles reveal authorized Cointelpro tracking/surveillance of average citizens: From the A.C.L.U., Stop the Government From Turning Neighbor Against Neighbor and from The Register, NSA Setting up Perfect Citizen Spy System and Amerisnitch from Peace Corps Online. If you are seen as a troublemaker, whistleblower, etc. you may be placed on a Watch list. Law Enforcement in your community may alert the neighborhood that you are “under investigation” or “a person of interest” for being (choose any) a terrorist, prostitute, pedophile, dangerously insane, racist, thief or drug dealer. If someone in authority accuses you, the neighborhood bullies go on patrol. (It’s a possibility that if the Neighborhood Watch asks Law Enforcement why they don’t just arrest you, Law Enforcement may say they don’t have strong evidence with a wink to the community that maybe they can “help” get proof. The Cyber-baiting begins with cell phones in hand.)

Another disturbing component of Cyberbullying and baiting is E-personation (posing as someone else online). In 2007 my name was linked to online articles that I had not written. One was about the Iraq War and the F-word was used liberally. Another was titled, “Everyone Loves an Abortion.” In 2006, online articles that I had written were linked to porn and gambling sites. In 2007, I found multiple blog postings stating I was a child molester, prostitute, thief, racist, crazy, etc. on www.rottenneighbor.com and more slander in 2008 on www.thestrangernewspaper.com‘s SLOG. While none of this is true, a gullible community might not question something that is in print. If it is from a popular source, some may join in to be part of the popular crowd.

We have an abundance of technology at our disposal, but as a nation our Emotional Quotient (E.Q.) lags far behind our I.Q. If people can do harm without actually seeing the blood they’ve drawn (such as from the safety of their computer or cellphone) they gleefully follow the bullies. We must recognize the signs of decline from history. The same bullying, self-righteous attitudes that appeared during Hitler’s rise to power and other Fascist takeovers are cresting in our society.

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The Rise of the Cults and the Anti-Christian—Part One

In Civil Rights, Education, Politics, Religion, Surveillance, World Relations on July 4, 2012 at 22:26

By Seana Sperling

More and more we are seeing an emphasis on conservative Christianity appearing in the media. In 2010 I heard a News Anchor say, “Scammers have preyed on the faithful.” Then they showed footage of an austere little church and went on with the report. Why not say Christians or the name of the particular church? Are Christians the only “faithful?” Flipping through local channels I have seen eight or more conservative Christian stations with lone speakers loudly proselytizing one ideology in assorted languages. Where is the Buddhist channel or the Hindu channel or even a Progressive Christian channel? Are they only available on cable? This culture of same-ness is very disturbing. This rise of conservative Christianity is beginning to dominate society and creating a cult culture.

There also seems to be an increasing divide between Progressive Christians that live in the tradition of Christ, and the Neo-conservative Christians whose rigid, cult-like fundamentalism drives them to judge and even punish others that don’t share their ideology.

How do you recognize a cult? According to Michael Shermer’s article on Christian Scientists, Is Scientology a Cult? Skeptic, May 2011, Cults may have the following characteristics:
“The leader claims to have extraordinary powers.
Members are isolated from friends and family.
In Group vs. Out Group/Us vs. Them.
Practices are highly controlled, and at advanced levels, secretive.
Group and leader are not accountable to any outside authority.
Denunciation sessions, debilitating work routines to reinforce Group-Think.
Meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues.”
Most cults are an authoritarian environment where questioning and dissent is not only discouraged, but also punished according to Shermer.

In 2000 I was telling a friend about some horrible experiences I’d had in a Seventh Day Adventist Church School I attended as a child. My friend claimed that the Adventists were a cult. This he based on a class he’d taken on cults. Even though I knew about David Koresh and the Branch Davidians, this idea had never occurred to me. When I was a part of that church no one was speaking in tongues or chanting, nor did we live in a compound.

In retrospect, some of the indicators were present. The spiritual leader of the Adventists was a Psychic named Ellen G. White, who claimed to have communed with God. It was also a very top down, authoritarian environment at home and school where I received beatings, ridicule and other psychological forms of punishment from parents and Teachers for minor things. There was an emphasis on control. (There were some nice people there too, but more often than not, the people in authority positions were bullies.)

When I reached seventh grade, I insisted on going to public school. There was no seventh grade or even other eligible students, but the Teacher and my mother spoke of planning a grade just for me. At this school multiple grades were stuffed into one room with one teacher as a monitor and we did our studies alone with our workbooks. The Teacher would grade the work and we could go to her desk with questions, but there was little in the way of actual teaching. Fortunately I loved reading and my mother took my older stepbrothers and me to the library on a regular basis. If I’d not had this resource, I would have been very behind in public school.

My first morning at the entrance to the public school a bully pushed me. It was as if she was trying to keep me from entering. I pushed her back and went inside. This could have been a set-up by the church or my mother to make me fear going to public school. Some cults seek to control every facet of their member’s lives according to Margaret T. Singer’s 1996 book, Cults in our Midst and my mother was very controlling. Even after I became an adult and had not been to church for over 12 years, Adventists would stop by my apartment uninvited, claiming that my mother had asked them to visit me. Later, even after moving to Seattle, a few took jobs at schools where I was working. They always seemed friendly, but disturbingly ubiquitous.

In the new millennium, I have seen more and more conservative Christians entering into key positions in higher education where I am still working. Some have even become Shop Stewards in my union. Chris Hedge’s book, American Fascism: The Rise of the Religious Right illustrates how The Dominionists, which are conservative Christians, seek to dominate key areas of society. According to Hedges, the Dominionists seek control of politics, education, the economy, etc. Although he does not call the Dominionists a cult, their ideology seems to be very authoritarian and controlling. (This paired with the conservative’s attack on women’s rights is very reminiscent of Margaret Atwood’s book The Handmaid’s Tale, in which, a totalitarian religious regime takes power in the U.S., the media turns into a propaganda machine for the regime and most women are enslaved.)

There seems to be a growing trend by the conservatives in shaming and destroying public services as well. According to national news reports in 2010, some neo-conservative Christians set-up/entrapped some community support organizations. According to the footage, two conservative Christians, a white woman who posed as a prostitute and a white man who posed as a pimp, secretly filmed an African-American ACORN worker who thought she was helping poor people with housing. There was also a secretly filmed set-up of Planned Parenthood by conservative Christians according to national news. What these neo-conservative Christians did was far removed from the teachings of Christ and against the law yet, there was no report of them ever being penalized.

More and more the media is reporting on bullying coming from conservative Christian church members. An article from Truthout, Persecution is Not a Right, by Vincent Warren speaks of some conservatives making absurd claims that they are being persecuted because they are not allowed to bully people. “The insistence by some U.S. Christians that they are being oppressed, when others try to keep them from bullying, discriminating against and sometimes hounding LGBT people to death.” What does bullying have to do with Christianity? I am tolerant of all types of religion, however, I am not tolerant of bullies of any ilk.

Some Christian conservatives will even bully as a group. Extremist groups like the Westboro Baptist Church disrupt funerals with their vitriol against LGBT. This group’s hate campaigns are about as far from the teachings of Christ as you can get. It seems that this group baits grieving people into fighting with them for publicity and monetary gain. According to local news reports, if the injured party reacts against the hatred and disruption, the Pastor who is also a lawyer sues on 1st Amendment Rights. KIRO 7 2011. It seems like this is either a scam or the actions of a very negative cult.

Part Two–Veiled Religious Cults

Harmful cults are not easy to detect if you are unfamiliar with their ideology. In the early 1970s when I was 11 we were living in Pocatello, Idaho for a few years. A white neighbor girl who I did not know well asked me if I wanted to go to a John Birch Society meeting with her. I had no idea what the Birchers were and asked my mother. My mother told me they were racists. Of course I had no desire to go after she told me that.

It was ironic that the girl had asked me since I’m very ethnically and even racially mixed and my best friend at the time was African-American. I suppose the Bircher thought she was recruiting another white girl since I had blonde hair. I don’t remember if I gave the Bircher a lecture on racism or not, but it was something I was doing a lot of at the time, which angered a lot of white racists in Pocatello. (Many years later, in 2002 I was in Boise for a few months and joined a Peace group. Shortly after I joined, Birchers tried to infiltrate the group. One male Bircher grinned hideously at me when he arrived. I spoke against them to the organizers, who told me we should be inclusive of all who were anti-war. I pulled away from the group at that point. Later one of the organizers confessed that they had been wrong to include the Birchers, but had not understood how wrong until a Bircher Preacher was a guest speaker at one of their meetings. In retrospect, I think the Birchers just wanted to disrupt a Peace organization.)

Recognizing a cult is also difficult when it doesn’t have the typical appearance of a cult. In the late 1970s when I was an adult I was in Boise, Idaho for a couple of years and joined a Karate class at a Community Center. At first, it seemed like a normal class where we learned various techniques and Kata (forms). There was an emphasis on meditation, which I was no good at, so I merely shut my eyes, periodically peeping out to see if meditation time was finally over. Out of the corner of my eye I would see the other students seemingly asleep or in trances and wonder why I was merely ruminating about my day.

I didn’t know many people in Boise in the 1970s so I began making friends within the class. After a month, my classmates invited me to a picnic. All were into healthy activities like gardening and tennis, none of them drank or smoked and some were even vegetarian. They were a tight-knit group and had known each other from the class for over a year. They spoke fondly and often of our Karate teacher Mr. (name withheld).

Later, Mr. (name withheld) encouraged us to read parts of the Bible in our spare time. Having been stuck in that Fundamentalist school as a child I was quite familiar with the Bible, but did some review. Mr. (name withheld) also told the class that we had negative entities and to learn to control them with meditation. At this point I was wary, but I liked my new friends.

In July Mr. (name withheld) invited the class (approximately six people) to his house one night for a potluck. He made Pineapple Upside Down Cake and the students seemed so excited about it. They went on and on about how wonderful it was. Then there was some Bible reading and someone started passing around a plate for donations. I thought, “Oh God. I’m in church.” I really wanted to leave. It was at this point that Mr. (name withheld) encouraged us to meditate more on our own and to beware of our Negative Entities.

That weekend I went tubing down the river with my aunt, cousin and one of her friends. We joked around, drank beer and I got a sunburn.

I didn’t go back to the Karate class for well over a week and when I did return Mr. (name withheld) berated me for letting my Negative Entity control me. That was it for me. I never returned. Later, I left Boise and when I did return in the late 1980’s, out of curiosity, I called about the Karate class. The guy at the Community Center Desk said, “That was a cult!” which confirmed my earlier fears. I never thought that I could possibly be wooed by a cult. I still don’t know what type it was, but it wasn’t one of the White Supremacist cults, because there was a mixture of races in that one.

Boise seemed to have a lot of cults. Some of them were well-established churches and even with their incredibly odd ideas they still had thousands of followers. There was also the rise of New Age and Paganism in Boise in the late 1980s. There was a store named The Blue Unicorn that sold crystals, books and cassettes about New Age topics, which had quite a following. Some of my friends would joke around about past lives and channeling as New Age ushered in a host of trendy topics. My Mormon Sociology teacher even offered a class that explored New Age ideas, such as Numerology, Personality Tests and Guided Imagery, which a few of my friends and I took. It was called Personal and Planetary Transformation.

I was surprised that a Mormon Teacher would offer such a class, but I knew there were unusual things about their ideology. Joseph Smith, the spiritual leader of the Latter Day Saints/The Mormons claimed to have spoken with God and most people know he and Brigham Young’s views on marriage and procreation. Also, there is a lot of secrecy around their temple marriage rituals. Are these well-established religious organizations on a parallel with The Moonies and Rajneeshies? It seems it is simpler to accuse an organization of being a cult when their origin is from another country.

The Psychologist Margaret T. Singer co-wrote Cults in Our Midst, with former cult member Janja Lalich, which provides an insiders view on the life of a cult member and the psychological aspects of a cult. The authors explore the control the cult has over its’ members, the allure of belonging to a cult, and how even quite normal people can be attracted to cults. There are also detailed cases of Singer’s patients that were exiting cults of different types and the cult’s attempts to reclaim and/or punish them.

In the final chapter, Singer writes about how she was systematically harassed and defamed by some cults because of her counseling the victims and her expert witness testimony against the cults. According to the book, on one occasion they sent in a cult member posing as a student volunteer that gathered information on Singer and all her student’s contact information. The cult impersonated Singer through letters to her students to defame her. (This seems no different than the conservative Christians that posed as pimp and prostitute to set up ACORN in 2010.) Another time the cult stalking Singer showed up dressed as Nazis claiming that Singer was a Nazi Scientist outside a lecture she was giving according to the book. PP. 341-345

How can the cults justify that kind of behavior and why would an entire group feel compelled to engage in an illegal act? This goes back to Shermer’s “Group and leader are not accountable to any outside authority,” and the idea of “Us vs. Them.” The Group-Think of the self-righteous maintains that the end justifies whatever means and that they answer to a higher power than the law of the land.

Not the Only Cults in Town

There is a vast array of cults beyond the Fundamentalist Bible types according to Margaret T. Singer’s book Cults in Our Midst. There are New Age cults, UFO cults, Political cults, Satanic cults, Psychic Phenomena cults, Karate cults, etc. Singer makes the distinction between negative and benign cults, since the group may hold some of the same traits of a cult, yet not harm anyone. Although she does not mention these, I have always thought of Sororities and Fraternities as cults of the privileged because of their elitism, competitive nature and their predilection for secrecy and odd rituals. If they are a cult, are they negative or benign?

Apart from the traditional cults, there are online bullying groups that organize only for the purpose of harassing others. Some organize through social networks to harass their enemies or someone else’s enemy or someone they have targeted because of envy. If you search Facebook for the word “Annoy,” several pages will come up in which the page owners brag about how they like to annoy others. Some students were suspended for organizing a day to harass one of their classmates, www.wbi.com Students Organize Day of Bullying. More and more stories of people of all ages killing themselves over bullying are appearing in the media.

Some people will even go after complete strangers who are perceived to be an enemy of one of their online friends. The story from: The International Herald Times, In South Korea, Online Rumors Hit Hard, By Sang-Hun Choe, illustrates how mobs of people can be recruited to go after an innocent person they have never met. Mobbing is a universal term for this group bullying phenomena we are seeing in this millennium. Are they cults? They do meet some of the requirements: Group-Think, Secrecy, Punishing the victim with harassment, Defamation of Character and Social Isolation for the imagined wrong. This group-vigilante behavior echoes the K.K.K.’s brutality against African-American Leaders in the 1960s, Nazi practices prior to WWII, Stasi practices post war and Cointelpro tactics that have been used against Peace activists since the 1960’s. The bully’s main tool is rumor and the whisper campaign.

Bullying is an extreme and destructive action, bad for the bullied and bad for the bully. The bully will never realize their full potential in life, if the only way they can maintain their high self esteem is through persecution of others. They will never truly lead or create anything of lasting value. They can only destroy and be unhappy with occasional small emotional triumphs.

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MOB THINK

In Civil Rights, Education, Politics, Surveillance on July 4, 2012 at 22:21

By Seana Sperling

It’s become commonplace to accuse a Teacher of being a pedophile, racist or something equally heinous, however there appears to be little or no accountability for the accusers. The people making the allegation should at least have to take a Polygraph test, because an accusation is as good as an indictment in our hypercritical society. There is no accountability because of our reactionary, Amber Alert mindset and the fact that people are eager to believe the worst about others. This is a fertile seed for the destruction of our democracy.

I imagine this would suit the current regime very well. They have been gaslighting the public and using negative campaigns for a long time to control the political arena. Suppose our government would use something as simple as gossip to achieve their agenda. It’s been done before. The SS vilified the Jews, Gypsies, Gays and Lesbians, anyone that didn’t fit into their Aryan ideal. They united the Germans by rallying against/mobbing minorities. History repeated itself during the Cultural Revolution in china and students were manipulated into violence against their Teachers. The Soviets used community spies and the spread of propaganda to keep their Scholars and Writers in line. How do you get rid of the Activists and Writers, the dissenters—spread rumors.

We are immersed in an age of mob mentality once again and gossip has become a national pastime. Look at our penchant for Reality T.V. We like to see people behave badly, so we can group-judge them over coffee the next day. In the 80’s people would discuss evening soap stars in the same manner, but now people prefer to take pot shots at real people. I’ve heard people denigrating some of the contestants of Survivor, American Idol and America’s Top Model as if they were intimate enemies. Is this a natural evolution of fads and tastes or was this carefully manufactured? We have been duped before and Manufacturing Consent, by Noam Chomsky illustrates the patterns and methods used to manipulate our desires.

Other people’s business, A.K.A. spying has also become the hip thing to do nowadays. There are films like, Spy Kids, Civic Duty and Disturbia, where the participants in the spying feel they have an important cause, which permits them to abuse another’s Civil Rights. What if the government is following in Mao and Stalin’s footsteps and creating little units of people to spy on Activists, Writers and Teachers. Of course they would need some propaganda to recruit their spies. Let’s see. Shall we say Mr. Something or other is a drug dealer or a pedophile?

Neighborhood Watch groups could be persuaded to orchestrate surveillance. A little man with a real or fake badge goes around the neighborhood with a file on the Teacher that lives on the block. A photoshopped image of the target could be the cement that unites the team. Like the game Telephone, the propaganda can get even more distorted as the stories fly through blogging. The group discusses what to do in the situation and a decision is made to keep an eye on the person. There could be a decision to drive the person out of the neighborhood with noise campaigns or street harassment. How much proof would a Watch group need to begin surveillance? Would they need any or would a slanderous statement suffice?

I used to think Community Policing was a good thing, however, as with everything, good ideas can be corrupted over time and Neighborhood Watch groups can turn into angry mobs given the right motivation. Secondary School Teachers are especially vulnerable as they are grooming the young for adulthood and if the Teacher questions our government or especially the misdeeds of our multi-national corporations, they can risk angering people that are opposed to free speech. There are a lot of them out there, especially if they are getting huge tax breaks from a corrupt system. Welcome to the United States of Industry.

We need to think independently and not go along with the mob. Question everything you see, read and hear. This is a lesson hard-learned by ex-Soviets and one we need to heed. Our gullibility and greed for gossip could be our downfall.

It shouldn’t be career ruining for Midwestern Teacher to tell her class, “I honk for Peace.”

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The Mobbing of President Obama

In African American, Bullying, Civil Rights, Education, Mobbing, Politics on July 4, 2012 at 22:17

By Seana Sperling

We have our first President of color in the White House and I have never seen such a backlash against a President before. It is a virulent hate campaign instigated by the Neo-Conservative Rightwing and unfortunately some on the Left are joining the ranks. This is Mobbing—a ganging up by the many against the one and I’m not joining the mob.

President Obama may not be perfect, but he is doing many good things. Protecting women’s reproductive rights—good idea. GLBT can serve openly in the Military—good idea. (Even though I’m heterosexual and a little bit thick, even I have noticed the unfairness that GLBT people have had to endure, well, forever.) A Universal Healthcare program—good idea. (Although I would prefer the Single Payer system, the new healthcare program is a start.) Troops are being pulled from Iraq–finally. Even the bail out of the big auto companies seems to have been wise as more people are re-employed at the plants now and the companies are paying back their debt. There are many more good things that President Obama has done, but the reactionaries are always in attack mode.

First we had the Birthers, “Show us your Birth Certificate Obama!” It made for great comedy, but seriously folks, actions like that demonstrate the hate and racism that is still feeding on our society. Then we had the controversy over “Death Panels,” when the Universal Healthcare Plan was announced. The Neo-Conservative Republicans gaslighted their constituency into thinking that it was going to be a scene straight out of Soylent Green and that all the seniors were in danger. “Quick. Hide Granny! The Death Panels are comin’!”

Some in the news media are critical of President Obama’s every breath and try to rally the ranks by blaming this administration for the economic crisis, unemployment and the two wars that began long before President Obama took office. They try to pass this propaganda off as news. Real news is based on facts and is supported by looking at both sides of the story. If a story is completely slanted, we should view this as editorial/opinion and not a news story. Synonyms for propaganda are misinformation, half-truths and party line. In this election year these synonyms are very appropriate.

There is also the alarming trend of the growing lack of decorum in the media towards the President and the Leftwing in general. Some commentators will actually scream at interview subjects that disagree with their Neo-conservative views. For example, Shepherd Smith verbally attacked Naomi Wolf in the 2008 interview on FOX News. The commentators that are engaging in these tantrums and the spread of propaganda indicate the decline of real Journalism. Even more disturbing is the fact that some in society consider these commentators role models, which justifies the spread of more incivility to every household, school, workplace, church, temple, etc. creating the impression that it is acceptable to disparage, spread rumors and out right lie about this administration and the Leftwing.

I am not saying we shouldn’t be critical when our Leaders are involved in things that do not promote the ideals of the country. (The real ideals as outlined in The Constitution and The Bill of Rights, not the mythological rules imposed on us by any religion.) I am certainly no fan of the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act), which I view as worse than the Patriot Act and will only cause more Civil Rights abuses, but I am saying that President Obama is under attack more than any other President and we need to examine the reason behind this. Hmmm. What could it be?

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Un-America

In African American, Bullying, Civil Rights, Education, Latino, Mobbing, Native American, Politics, Roma, Surveillance on July 4, 2012 at 22:15

By Seana Sperling

Under the tentacles of the punitive and judgmental Bush regime, our tolerance for cruelty and selfishness grew exponentially. Our Constitution has been turned into a puree of abandoned quotes with a crucifix on top; cliff-noted to suit the needs of the Religious Right. This distortion of our rights has enabled us to become very un-American; the manifestation of the bully nations we used to criticize. Unfortunately today’s technology has made this easier to perpetuate and there is no crisis of conscience when the “righteous” are prescribing punishment via their laptops and cell phones.

Under the topic “Mobbing,” there are a variety of stories on the Internet about cowardly group behavior, bullying behavior, where mobs of people verbally attack public figures or even private citizens. Online and offline summer of 2011, the mobbers went after Dominic Strauss Khan, former head of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) based on a sexual assault accusation and this was before the trial took place. What happened to, “Innocent until proven guilty?”(Coincidentally, he had appeared in a 2010 film that revealed the exploitation of derivatives in the housing market that lead to the current economic crisis, Inside Job.) Finally, after being harassed and defamed all summer Khan was acquitted, but the damage had already been done to his career and private life.

Mobbing is nothing new and throughout history there have been self-righteous mobs that go after individuals. Couple our current judgmental populace with today’s technology and you get hoards of people, from all walks of life, even the so-called pious, vilifying and passing judgment on complete strangers in Internet chat rooms. Oddly in the land of liberty, this has become very popular and entire communities are constructed around mobbing. Nothing brings people together like a good old-fashioned witch-hunt.

Like the KKK’s penchant for disguise, the mobber’s identities remain cloaked in anonymity as they destroy their victims from the privacy of their PCs or cell phones. How easy to slander and threaten others when there is little chance of getting caught. They think up cutesy monikers, such as Frank Sinatra’s Reanimated Corpse or Nonymouse and flatter themselves that they are writers, exercising Freedom of Speech or vigilantes punishing an evil person.

Not only do the Blog Mobs rip the victim to shreds on the Internet, some will post all of the victim’s personal information online and then try to rally the other bloggers to track/stalk, and report the victim’s every move to the group. (Organized stalking/tracking—Google: Texas Fred and see what he instigates against supposed sex offenders.)

Stalking and especially group stalking is a horrendous civil rights abuse—it violates a citizen’s right to privacy as laid out in the constitution. Also, slander and inciting hatred towards a citizen violates even more constitutional rights.

Some of these bully groups try to damage every facet of the person’s life by contacting their employer, neighbors and family with false reports that the person is crazy, a racist, pedophile, thief, sexual deviant, under investigation, etc. The accusations the Blog Mobs use to rally the masses are generally so reprehensible and embarrassing to discuss that the accused may never even hear what they are being accused of. Also, if you ask one of the bloggers if they have actually asked the accused if it is true, they just say, “Oh, they’ll just deny it anyway.” Ah, due process of law in action.

Some blog mobs have even used set-ups, complete with photo shoots to make the victim seem like an undesirable. This is later posted on You Tube or My Space or any number of sites. The slander creates conflicts where the victim constantly has to defend themself and thus create more enemies. I know from personal experience about the set ups. In 2006, I would walk through the park on my way home from work. On two occasions, I saw a middle-aged African-American man running ahead in the distance and looking back at me with a look of fear on his face. Then I’d see some twenty-something with their little camera phone, filming the scene. Scenes like this happened a variety of times and I had no idea what was going on until I came across other articles, that shed light on the set ups, which are referred to as “street theater.” There would also be set ups in the workplace where one coworker would try to manipulate trouble between myself and another colleague. I stopped taking the bait finally in 2007, but the attempts are still made anyway. (This is a facet of Workplace Mobbing.)

This cowardly behavior of Mobbing has been popularized and encouraged by mainstream media. In 2007 on Channel Five News, I heard Jean Enerson rally the troops, by saying, “Bloggers tracking pedophiles,” after a story about Jack McClellan, a person who was suspected of being a possible pedophile. Every week the reporters would proudly claim that this man had been driven out of another community. (America—Home of the brave.) I have no idea why this person was appearing almost weekly on the news and why he was perceived as such a threat as he hadn’t been convicted of anything. I do know that Texas Fred (who appeared on FOX news for his vigilante work) was encouraging blog mobs to stalk this man and run him out of various towns. I have little sympathy for real pedophiles, however as one that has been falsely accused of this egregious act on a site called www.rottenneighbor.com I say get some real evidence before you begin to stalk and torture people. Also, do some fact checking and let the accused defend himself. Don’t just take sound bytes from this guy that make him look bonkers.

Since anyone can be accused of being a pedophile and the community reacts with absolutely no proof, innocent Teachers and other’s lives are being destroyed every day. I see these amped up reports on the news almost weekly. Where is our Due Process? Where are the true Journalists that know that News needs to be fact-based and fact checked and not have a lead sentence such as, “A Harper Valley Gymnastics Teacher is being accused of Child Rape,” then cut to a shot of the person’s house and neighborhood. Of course the person’s neighbors will recognize the house and this person is instantly stigmatized.

A 2006 International Times article, illustrates the frenzy of an online mob and the damage they can do to an innocent person. According to the article, the victim was first accused of being responsible for his ex-girlfriend’s suicide. Then the stories began to build. The bloggers alleged she was pregnant and he was trying to force her to abort his child. The mob went crazy, posting all of his personal information on the internet, calling his workplace with demands that the company fire him, forcing him out of his college where he had night classes. Next the mob was reporting his every move–even what he was wearing on specific days. None of the rumors had any basis in fact, but Vigilante Bloggers don’t need any facts. From: The International Herald Times: In Seoul Korea, Online Rumors Can Hit Hard. By Sang-Hun Choe (This type of mob behavior is called Organized Stalking.)

As mentioned above, I have had my own experience with internet smears and organized stalking. In December 2007, I found my full name on a website named www.rottenneighbor.com. These anonymous posts claimed that I was everything from a redneck prostitute to a child molester. They ranged from character assassination to the ridiculous, “She will steal your husband.” I contacted the Webmaster from the site and by the next day all the posts were removed, but the webmaster never responded to my emails. (I began contacting State legal agencies and Human Rights Commissions, but they offered no help.)

In May 2008, I put up a few flyers in my neighborhood offering a reward for information about the Internet smears. A few days later, I received a call from Channel Five Reporter Chris Daniels asking for a comment about the reward and new slander posted on The Stranger Newspaper’s SLOG. I had no idea about this new twist and was shocked when I found 48 postings accusing me of being crazy and a crack “whore,” among other things. (These blogs had been posted shortly after I had hung my flyers and even a photo of one of my flyers was on the site.) I emailed Dan Savage, since I’d met him when I interviewed for a job there in 2002. Tim Keck, the Publisher (or is that just Unseen Hand Productions that controls this media) responded instead and said that he didn’t see anything wrong with the posts. When I checked the SLOG again, the more serious postings, that I was a crack whore and the one suggesting that I be “put down,” had been removed and replaced with the statement, “way too mean.” I had printed the originals however.

Next I discovered I was on a Watch List when I was detained at the U.S./Canadian border in 2007. Why? I don’t know exactly and every FOIA request I submit is denied or dismissed. John C. Inglis from the NSA went so far as to write, “While your appeal clearly states your concern of not knowing whether or not NSA maintains intelligence information on you, I must emphasize that NSA can neither confirm nor deny alleged intelligence activities or targets due to the classified nature of this agency’s signals intelligence mission.“ If my name can appear on a Watch List and since I have done nothing to deserve such a thing, then anyone can be vilified and harassed in this manner.

The CIA has always used slander campaigns against individuals they consider a threat—Activists, writers—so-called Enemy Combatants—Google: Abby Hoffman and Cointelpro. General Motors did the same thing to Ralph Nader—Watch the DVD: Ralph Nader: An Unreasonable Man. Now it appears they can even do it to average people like me. I guess anyone that stands up or stands out could be a target. Am I just an example to scare the other nobodies?

When anonymous bloggers (who could be NSA or LEIU) can so easily manipulate the public into going after innocent people, then that public can also be manipulated into a totalitarian system–A system where they do not question authority for fear of reprisal. If the government vilifies and isolates all the activists, then the weak will follow the crowd.

Sadly it’s not just the Religious Right that is involved in this (although these are the more serious offenders). Since self-righteousness has replaced common sense, Democrats will vilify other Democrats (Just look how divided the party was in 2004.). Scholars go after each other. (Look at the high percentage of Workplace Mobbing in Academia). Feminists attack other feminists and the rightwing fascists just sit back and laugh at all the mayhem they have caused. They create chaos to implement the destruction of our constitution, our unions and especially our unity. The 1960’s battles were won by many groups pulling together and we are currently very divided. This type of isolation only endangers us. We need to put aside our differences and search for our commonalities.

Throughout the ages Jewish and Roma people, activists, scholars, etc. have been vilified so terribly that entire communities turned on them. Some were driven out of cities, placed into camps and millions were murdered. During the Spanish Inquisition, Village Healers were burned as witches. During the Cultural Revolution, students were manipulated into going after the Scholars because of Mao’s wish to purge any intellectual threat. Stalin did much the same. During WWII, American citizens of Japanese descent were vilified and placed into camps; their homes and goods confiscated. During McCarthyism, suspected Communists were blacklisted, forced out of homes and employment and one couple was even put to death. Currently, in the “land of the Free,” liberal Teachers, Writers, Activists and Whistleblowers are treated as the new threat and can be placed on Watch Lists and harassed by their communities. Read: The End of America, By Naomi Wolf and You Have No Rights By Matthew Rothschild who refers to this as the New McCarthyism.

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Mob Rule in the Community

In African American, Bullying, Civil Rights, Education, Latino, Mobbing, Native American, Peace, Politics, Roma, Surveillance, World Relations on July 4, 2012 at 22:05

By Seana Sperling

There has been a growing paranoia in this country that has people watching for terrorists, drug dealers, thieves, etc. via Community Policing via Neighborhood Watch groups. These Watch groups are viewed as a necessary and positive thing and many people I have spoken to on this subject agree. However, when I asked people in the Capitol Hill neighborhood how much proof they would need to believe that a certain neighbor was a drug dealer, prostitute, thief, pedophile, nazi, etc. most paused. A few were very honest and said they would probably react rather than seeking proof.

I have been guilty of reacting. In the late 1980’s I was in Idaho working at a record store. One day a coworker of mine whispered to me that a person who had entered the store was a nazi. Without any proof, I instantly hated this person and gave him my best glare. I didn’t question it. Frankly, I didn’t know this coworker very well, but I believed her on this hot button issue because I was in Idaho. Reactions like this lead to Community Mobbing (a ganging up by a group against an individual).

In another case, two of my friends were driving around Lynnwood, WA looking for housing in May 2007. According to my friends they saw a white van with the word Rapist spray-painted across the entire side. My friends were shocked and we all commented later that whether it were true or not, the damage had been done. In this age of propaganda an accusation works as well as a verdict and I can only suppose that there was some reaction from the neighborhood.

The week of June 15, 2007, The Stranger Newspaper ran a short piece in the I, Anonymous column, titled, “He’s No Pedophile and You Know It.” It was about a Teacher who had been falsely accused by a jilted girlfriend. Teachers are especially vulnerable to this type of accusation because of the influence they have over the young. As stated in the piece, this Teacher’s career is over even if he is cleared of all charges. Was the jilted girlfriend ever given a lie detector test? For that matter, what about the mainstream TV Media that showed up on the doorstep for an impromptu interview with the accused? (The TV media has been used constantly in these witch-hunts and there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of evidence or fact checking. Since most people believe whatever they see on the nightly news, I’m sure his community is at least regarding him with suspicion.)

Sadly, this is happening globally. With such advances in technology comes convenience, but also new problems can arise, such as anonymous slander on the Internet (cyber mobbing). A satellite of The New York Times, The Herald Times, ran an article about Community Mobbing in China. A man suspected that his wife was having an affair with a University student they had met at a gaming party just because she had exchanged some emails with the student. Even though the husband had no real evidence and the wife denied it, he wrote a lengthy blog on a widely read message board accusing the student of adultery. In response, hundreds of people were recruited and began to stalk and harass the poor student who ended up dropping out of school and hiding at home with his family. From: Mob Rule on China’s Internet: The Keyboard as Weapon. Howard French, The Herald Times, 06/01/2006.

If rumor and innuendo via message boards can provoke such community harassment, then what do we do when we have “proof,” i.e. a photograph, video, a voice-over tape-recording? In this age of PhotoShop, digital imagery, cell phone cameras, etc. much can be distorted. While a picture is worth a thousand words, a photo-shopped image might be worth one life ruining statement and no one questions the accuser. There is no accountability or lie detector test required especially if it is posted anonymously.

It’s quite possible that one vengeance stalker could recruit an entire community with a digitally enhanced image or video of their victim. The Community would then view the targeted victim as an undesirable, someone that needed to be driven out, punished or at the very least watched. Police condone surveillance of suspected wrongdoers by Neighborhood Watch groups and there is no legislation yet for this kind of vigilantism.

Community Policing can turn into Community Mobbing very swiftly. Innocent people can be slandered, then bullied and harassed with little or no proof of their guilt. According to the article: Mob Rule on China’s Internet, there were responses on that message board demanding that everyone, including every store worker or business person harass the student.

I’ve experienced ongoing harassment in a variety of forms over the past few years. In December of 2007, I found multiple postings accusing me of everything from prostitution to racism on a site called rottenneighbor.com under my full name. I immediately contacted the webmaster through the site and alerted him to the slander. The posts were gone the following day, but the webmaster didn’t acknowledge my request for information on the postings. The most recent smear was a series of libelous blogs on the May 27, 2008 The Stranger Newspaper’s SLOG message board under the title, Modern Warfare. I only discovered this particular smear because Chris Daniels, one of the reporters at King 5 called me to ask about it. I wrote to Dan Savage, asking why The Stranger would want to make any kind of “warfare,” against me. Tim Keck responded on Savage’s behalf, writing that he didn’t t think the postings were that bad and the worst of the blogs had been redacted. (The blogs saying I should be “Put down, “ or accusing me of being a crack whore. I printed the originals out however.) These are only a couple of episodes in a long and consistent history of smears.

There is nothing new about Mobbing and the KKK, the Nazi’s and other groups used this to eliminate people they felt were a threat. During McCarthyism, similar tactics were used to destroy people that had been accused of being Communists. Slander campaigns, harassment at work, blacklists, and surveillance were employed. Throughout history activists, educators and writers have suffered the same abuses and there is still no accountability for a whisper or surveillance campaign.

In 2002, Ashcroft unveiled Bush’s plan for community action groups, originally charged with watching for terrorist activity, community action groups are watching for any real or imagined infraction and will mete out punishment vigilante style to anyone that comes under suspicion. In this era of citizen informants (Do an internet search for Amerisnitch.) anyone could spread slander to these citizen groups who then would feel entitled to gang up on the individual. Two or more enemies could then corroborate the lies. The targeted victim is then thrust into situation after situation where they have to defend themselves, thus creating more and more enemies. In my case some of the anonymous bloggers claimed to know me therefore confirming the smear.

The most serious issue to me is that a seemingly liberal community like Seattle would organize around this type of fascist behavior. Consider a quote by William S. Burrows, “A Police State needs no Police.”