Seana Sperling

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The Vilification Industry and the Surveillance State

In Bullying, Civil Rights, Mobbing, Politics, Roma, Surveillance, World Relations on June 18, 2017 at 16:56

In the 1950s McCarthyism destroyed innocent lives. Anyone could be accused of being anti-American and have their careers destroyed because of the Watch Lists. In the New Millennium, an innocent person can be placed on the myriad of new watch lists. You could be placed on a terrorist watch list, a sex offender watch list, DEA watch-list, etc. The Community Action groups are called in, which could be VIPS, InfraGard, Neighborhood Watch, Freedom Corps, Sororities, etc. to monitor your every move as well as harass you everywhere you go.

Being under surveillance and the slander that accompanies these lists, can wreak havoc with your career and your life as I have found out. If you apply for a job, the watch team will contact the prospective employer claiming you are under investigation for something, and you will not hear back. If the prospective employer does an Internet search of your name and finds a false Police Report or false Police Record they will not call back. If you go for an eye exam, go for a haircut, the snitch groups will call them up, thus you will be treated badly.

I found a false Police Record under my name on www.instantcheckmate.com. This website claims to have “Real Records,” but is a con. I have no record and I am not a criminal, terrorist, pervert or whatever. I clicked on my name and at the top of the page that opened read: “CAUTION: This background report is very graphic. We do not censor our reports. We trust you to use this information responsibly. Please do not abuse this tool, or we could be forced to take it offline. The content of the report might shock you, so please prepare for the unexpected.” I paid the $9.95 to see what I was being accused of this time. There was no record. I contacted the site and threatened litigation and they took the slander down the next day. I called City Hall Records and said I was finding things online about some sort of Police Record and they confirmed that they had nothing negative about me.

Award winning Author, Gloria Naylor writes about this type of vilification and organized bullying in her fictionalized memoir 1996. What begins with a simple dispute with a neighbor escalates into a DEA investigation and gullible citizens are manipulated into stalking and harassing Naylor everywhere she goes. She writes of how friends turned on her and were actually aiding the bullies. She also writes of how the National Security Agency, the NSA, was using experimental surveillance equipment on her. (This technology is too terrible to think about, yet it is a reality. Her well-researched proof of the existence of this technology is listed in the Addendum of the book.)

The Neo-conservative Right-wing put the seed for much of this into place in the late 1980s. However, when the G.W. Bush Administration came to power in 2001 and after 911, they pushed through The Patriot Act and unveiled their already active Freedom Corps (citizen snitch groups). John Ashcroft then popularized this use of ordinary citizens to be the “eyes and the ears,” of the government.

The groups do more than just watch. When a person is targeted as anti-American (or whatever), the group may start a rumor campaign, which can be entirely manufactured. If the person looks white, they may tell all the people of color in the community, that the person is a White Supremacist. They may tell the Anti-Defamation League that the person is an Anti-Semite. They may tell the shops that the person is a thief or con artist. They may tell poor people that the person is a NIMBY and hates the homeless. The community watch group may also call in anonymous accusations to Law Enforcement claiming that the person is a criminal or crazy. They may tell Child Protective Services that the person is a known pedophile or sex offender. The bullies can accuse innocent people anonymously via the Internet or by a simple text to TIPS and then the self-righteous come out of the woodwork to stalk and punish.

The goal of the bullies is to isolate the target from any type of support. If everyone in the community hates him/her, then the Fascists have control. It is also a conditioning of the community: They unify a gullible community to hate the target and do the dirty work. This also has the bonus of chilling dissent within that community. Members of the community realize that if they do not go along with the bullies, they could become targeted as well.

The harassment directed at me may not be just politically motivated. It may also be racially/ethnically motivated by some of the primaries as my last name is Jewish and I am very likely part Roma. (The latter I was not aware of until 2000.) Unfortunately there are still hate groups in the U.S. that stalk and harass people of color, Jewish people, Roma people, LGBT, etc. In fact, recently, on Portland Indymedia, I found a list of Jewish last names that some Fascist had posted. Among these names were Spelling, Sperling and many more. It was a little shocking to see these names posted and for what, so other Fascists could hunt people with those names down? Globally Roma people are being tracked, horribly vilified, monitored and harassed by Fascists. That is overt discrimination.

What if, in the U.S., there is a more covert tracking and harassment of non-WASP people? There has certainly been a rise of shootings and false arrests of people of color throughout the U.S. recently and many are vilified by the mainstream news. Throughout history there have been instances when groups are turned against each other, manipulated by the wealthy elite. It’s the old “divide and conquer,” routine.

Remember that if you hear that a person is this or that: first, consider the source. Second, tell the accused about the accusation and the accuser. This is a constitutional right. Don’t be manipulated by some Fascist on the Internet. Remember that anyone can be anyone online or over the phone. What these groups are doing is criminal and un-constitutional.

In the German film, The Lives of Others, a couple’s life is destroyed because the Stasi put them on a watch-list. They were monitored daily. A friend of theirs who was a writer had been completely blacklisted, so he could no longer find work and friends were fearful to associate with him. Social Isolation through watch lists and defamation of character was the weapon the Stasi used to chill dissent and to destroy lives. The Editor of The Progressive Magazine is calling what is currently happening in the United States, the New McCarthyism. I call it the rise of Fascism.

Punishment by the People

In Bullying, Civil Rights, Mobbing, Peace, Politics, Surveillance on June 16, 2017 at 15:56

By Seana Sperling

In the United States, Land of the Free, online groups are being manipulated to stalk, defame and harass Peace Activists, Whistleblowers, Writers and Educators because of supposed, un-American activities. Mike German of the ACLU has spoken about Military personnel hacking Activist’s websites and accounts and manipulating content to discredit them. It’s not just the Military however. In the age of, “If you see something, say something,” regular citizens are being empowered to watch and report on their neighbors. Some are calling this Cointelpro Two and the Editor of The Progressive Magazine is calling it The New McCarthyism.

The vilification of Activists and Whistleblowers, accompanied by mainstream media Gaslighting the public about the wars can manipulate some people into doing terrible things to others in the name of Patriotism. The general public are hand-fed propaganda from a profit-driven media and therefore anyone can be vilified. We have only to look at the high profile cases of Julian Assange and Bradley Manning for examples of Whistleblowers being demonized by mainstream media. For non-public figures, the community can be recruited to vilify the victim on something as simple as a message board or blog. Then the Netizens take to the streets to punish their target.

The cycle of history continues and we stubbornly refuse to evolve. In the 1960s the KKK used to stalk and harass Civil Rights Leaders and Activists everywhere they went. Some victims in Nazi Germany dealt with the same things some of us are experiencing today: defamation of character, stalking/surveillance, being verbally and physically harassed by members of the community and vandalism of property. www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/knacht.htm

The Eastern German film, The Lives of Others, shows the heavy surveillance and harassment the Stasi used against dissenters. Dissidents were vilified and blacklisted, resulting in complete decimation of their lives and isolation from their peers. Decomposition is the term for the Stasi’s destruction of a life incrementally. The U.S. counterpart to this is called Cointelpro Two.

Cointelpro Two: The authorities start a rumor campaign to recruit others to ostracize, harass and surveil/stalk the victim, sometimes even to death (Bullycide). Sex Offender or Terrorist are the memes of the Vilification Industry and innocent people are being labeled.

E-Personation can be employed to set the person up to appear as some kind of pervert or a danger to the community. Craigslisting the Person: Creating a fake and defamatory advertisement in their name. A man in Connecticut created an advertisement with his neighbors name and address, inviting men to come have sex with her. Men started showing up as she was leaving for work. Was it Cointelpro Two or just a vengeful neighbor? http://www.dailybreeze.com/latestnews/ci_14936500

The bullies also employ gaslighting to destabilize the person. Gaslighting defined: “…false information is presented with the intent of making a victim doubt his or her own memory, perception and sanity.[1] …denial by an abuser that previous abusive incidents ever occurred, up to the staging of bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disorienting the victim.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting

Gloria Naylor’s fictionalized memoir 1996 shows in grim detail how a life can be destroyed incrementally with slander, gaslighting and constant surveillance/tracking. The technology of today, enables the bullies to persecute incrementally and covertly. Cyberstalking and Cyberbaiting are the new tools used by the zealots to punish people that disagree with their Neo-Conservative agenda.

Mainstream media should be reporting about these abuses, but they are reticent. Advertising dollars trump real journalism and if the news is unpopular, then it is suppressed. Only independent news sources even mention Cointelpro Two and The New McCarthyism.

In Nazi Germany, censorship and propaganda was used frequently and enabled the Nazis to recruit. Propaganda was also used to pacify the rest of the public. Collaborators like Filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl created propaganda films showing the public a very different reality than what the Roma, Jews, Dissidents, LGBT and other victims of The Holocaust were really experiencing in the camps. Her films showed happy people exercising, working or just going about their day.

On our local News in Seattle there is more and more Soft News, but also a focus on local crime. The Soft News ranges from Fun Runs to interviews with Sports fans. Peace marches or non-violent acts of Civil Disobedience are often over-looked. Abuses against activists seem to be completely ignored. In Kurt Vonnegut’s, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Eliot Rosewater comes home after work and as usual his parents are watching the “Happy News.” When this book was written, there was far less Soft News aired, so imagine Vonnegut’s satirical statement on the news, if it were written today.

There are other media distractions and manipulations however. Naomi Wolf’s The Guardian UK article: Cheaters and the Sinister Normalization of our Surveillance Society, raises a timely warning about modern media popularizing punishment, stalking and surveillance with shows like the Reality series, Cheaters. The Show’s description: “Syndicated series featuring detectives with hidden cameras staking out the wayward and amorous.” Reality shows like Big Brother also diminish the importance of privacy and popularizes bullying and backbiting. Undercover Boss is another show that appears to be making surveillance of citizens mainstream and it is also an attack on workers by deifying management and punishing the worker.

This is how some Americans spend their leisure time, by either watching or participating in the surveillance of citizen’s private lives. It’s a gross abuse of the Fourth Amendment and this departure from the ideals of Democracy shows the decline of our common sense, ethics and personal responsibility to others. The people of the world look to the United States as a symbol of Democracy, a symbol of freedom. Is it just a façade?

Mike German Youtube
www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/knacht.htm
http://www.dailybreeze.com/latestnews/ci_14936500
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting

The Popular Liberal

In Bullying, Civil Rights, Education, Mobbing, Politics, Religion, World Relations on June 15, 2017 at 22:17

By Seana Sperling

When did Liberal become a dirty word? I see all sorts of jabs at liberals online and even a search for “Famous Liberals.” brought up the haters. There were online articles that rallied the masses to “Boycott Liberalism,” to articles with titles such as, The Twenty Most Annoying Liberals in the U.S. Urban Dictionary had one post claiming that extreme liberals were selfish crazies that brainwash people. This was posted anonymously. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=liberal

What is a Liberal exactly? New York Times Columnist, Paul Krugman said, “I believe in a relatively equal society, supported by institutions that limit extremes of wealth and poverty. I believe in democracy, civil liberties, and the rule of law. That makes me a liberal, and I’m proud of it.” That sums it up for me too. So why are liberals and even the word under attack?

Aside from other issues, Liberal Media reports on corrupt business practices and corruption in politics. Liberals tend to be whistleblowers. Would we have had a Woodward and Bernstein working at F.O.X. News? Conservative media tends to gloss over uncomfortable truths about certain things because of their sponsors while liberal media exposes the facts.

Unfortunately when a term such as Liberal is disparaged, the folks who do not burrow into definitions will begin to disconnect themselves from the label for fear of becoming unpopular. In our attention-starved, insecure society, people fear being unpopular more than anything else. This makes it easy for the spinners, the propaganda artists.

The vilification of the word Liberal reminds me of when neo-conservative, Rush Limbaugh went after feminists. His infamous moniker for us was, Femi-nazi. Some began saying we were men-haters. As a result, some people became hesitant to call themselves Feminist (because they feared losing their popularity). Feminists don’t hate men and in fact many men consider themselves to be feminist. Do you think everyone should have equal rights? Then you are a Feminist as well as a Liberal.

I am a liberal, but I’m nobody. So, let’s take a look at the prominent liberals of the U.S. Bruce Springsteen, Michael Moore and Bill Maher are liberals. Alec Baldwin, Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Keith Olbermann, Reverend Al Sharpton, President Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Al Gore are all known liberals. Many of these same people were also listed in the following article, 10 Liberals, Conservatives Love to Hate http://www.listosaur.com/politics/10-liberals-that-conservatives-love-to-hate/ Why the hatred? These are good people.

Here are some prominent conservatives: G.W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, the Koch Brothers, Sarah Palin, Paul Ryan, Scott Wilson, and Ann Coulter. Now here’s a conundrum. My guess is that these people would say they believe in equal rights for everyone. Therefore, shouldn’t they be calling themselves Liberals and Feminists? (They should, unless of course they do not, “practice what they preach.”)

There are many liberals from U.S. History as well, both Republican and Democrat. Interestingly, these historical figures are not targets of hatred. George Washington, John Adams, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., John Quincy Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Jane Addams, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Florence Kelly, and Theodore Roosevelt were all liberals. So, if America is supposed to be a conservative republic and Liberal is such a dirty word, then why were the framers of the Constitution and defenders of Democracy primarily liberals?

Remember back in Junior High, when one group decided to go after someone with ridicule and slander? As a result of the ridicule, others would either pack up against the person or just shun them for fear of becoming unpopular. The same type of schoolyard behavior seems to be taking place at a grander level in this country. Some people can be manipulated into believing that liberals are evil and that the world is only 10,000 years old.

It’s all about Spin. It’s all about vilifying one thing to gain popularity for the opposite. Those who fear losing their popularity because of the label of Liberal bend to the whims of the spinners. Be careful. I hear that popularity is the gateway drug to acquiescence.

Shoot the Messenger: Blame the Victim

In Civil Rights, Education, Mobbing, Politics, World Relations on June 15, 2017 at 22:14

By Seana Sperling

An article in The Nation by Jessica Valenti, In Rape Tragedies, The Shame is Ours May 6, 2013, addresses victim blaming and how some rape victims are even punished by a judgmental public. According to Valenti, a woman can be labeled a slut for being a victim.

An indifferent society asks: “Why were you wearing that? Why were you at that party? What did you expect when you joined the Military with a bunch of guys? Were you drinking or high?” They do not ask these questions of someone who was robbed, stabbed, beaten, or any other types of assault. This is all about the endemic misogyny that has been percolating in this country for well over two decades.

I believe this attitude evolved from the Moral Majority take-over of mainstream media in the late 1980s, which allowed the bullies to take shots at Feminists and all strong women. The term Femi-Nazi, was popularized and used to put the “girls,” in their place by the Far Right. Dial up to the new millennium: The 2013 Academy Awards was a shaming of strong and talented women in the Industry. Seth McFarlane’s all male chorus line, danced to the self-righteous refrain of, “We saw your boobs.” It is evident that the upcoming generation is being taught that being sexist is the American way. This type of discrimination can lead to more serious issues.

There has been an upswing in violence against women. Recently there was a report on NPR about rape on college campuses and the percentage of male college students who had date-raped or raped. The percentage of sex offenders was astounding. Also, most of the assaults had gone unreported. http://www.wbur.org/2014/07/11/sexual-assault-campus-roundtable

It is very hard for a victim to report rape because there is such a lack of support for the victim and some in the community even turn on them. http://www.npr.org/2014/04/06/299521814/students-stories-of-sexual-assault-puts-schools-to-blame-too Some people will even go so far as to deny that this happened to the female making the report. Some may shun the victim or even persecute them further.

The summer of 2006, I would come home and find my door unlocked to my Capitol Hill apartment in Seattle. Nothing had been stolen, but my file cabinet had been gone through and things were moved around a bit. All of my passwords had been accessed as well. The locksmith said it sounded like stalking when he changed the locks for me.

In late September, I was drugged in my home and later assaulted while unconscious during a night break-in. I believe they put something in the open bottle of wine that was on the kitchen counter during the day. Later, when I came home from work, I drank a glass and a half from it. (I think the criminal/s took pictures during the crime and posted them on the Internet because after that, something went viral. It was as if the entire community had turned against me. They were treating me as if I were some kind of crazy pervert that they were trying to drive from the community. I remember the hideous smile of satisfaction on my upstairs neighbor’s face after that night.)

I was in shock and didn’t tell friends until a month after it happened. I had so much to deal with. I had just transitioned from part time to a permanent position at my college in our insanely busy office and I had to move from the apartment as soon as I could. I needed to get to a safer environment and deal with my own denial of the assault and the emotional upheaval that accompanies such a crisis. I reported the break-in, but not the assault. The lone Police officer that showed up did not even take prints and there were obvious signs of the break-in.

I finally told a woman who I thought was a close friend. Her first reaction was, “You weren’t raped. If you say you were raped, I can’t be your friend.” I was astonished. Why would anyone say that to a friend? It was as if she did not want me to report the assault. I spoke to the Police right after that. I cut ties with this person and within a year I’d heard she had moved back to the East Coast. I’m not sure what she was afraid of. The Police never followed up after the second interview.

After I began telling friends, my emotions got the best of me, and one day at work I broke down in tears. I had just moved again and I was exhausted from lack of sleep caused by my hyper vigilant state. I was also dealing with organized bullying from the community, which I can only assume was triggered by whatever the criminal/s had posted online. One Neo-conservative Christian woman in my office glared at me for being upset that day. I wonder how she would have reacted under the same conditions. This is an example of people going after the victim and Law Enforcement not doing their duty. It is no wonder that so many assaults go unreported.

About one year later in 2007, I saw a young male student from China at our college with a truck driver cap that had RAPE in rainbow mylar printed across the front. I wondered if he would still wear this cap if he became a victim of rape. His cavalier attitude towards this type of assault showed his maturity level and his sexism. I wanted to say something to him about the cap, but I didn’t. Evidently no one said anything because he continued to wear it all quarter. Would he have worn a cap that said GAY BASHING or WOMAN BEATER or CHILD MOLESTOR? Somehow a cap that said RAPE was perfectly acceptable to him as well as the community.

Rape is the type of assault that you do not heal from quickly. It does not make you become crazy, paranoid, etc. but it does make you very aware of your surroundings. You become hyper vigilant. In my case, I pulled away from people that were not supportive and that I felt I could not trust any more. This was much more about self-preservation than paranoia. If people are not supportive when you have suffered such trauma, then you need to leave them. You are better off alone than being with abusive people.

If someone claims they were raped, don’t think, “That’s impossible. Bad things like that don’t happen here.” Unfortunately, bad things do happen everywhere and even to good people. No one deserves to be raped. No one is looking for it. The same thing can be said about bullying. No one, “Asks for it.”

The Rent Control Quandary

In Bullying, Civil Rights, Economy, Mobbing, Politics on June 15, 2017 at 22:07

By Seana Sperling

When I moved back to Seattle in 1993, rent for a basic one bedroom was around $500.00 and studios were $300.00 to $400.00. A nice one bedroom in a secured building was around $700.00 per month. Rents have soared over the last twenty years, while wages have not. In Seattle you pay around $1000.00 or more for a basic one bedroom with no amenities. Either the wages need to rise to meet inflation or homes need to be affordable.

In the late 1970s, I rented a studio apartment for $80.00 a month. It was not fancy and the laundry was a coin-op down the street. At the time I earned $500.00 a month (after taxes) as a bookkeeping clerk, so my rent was less than a fifth of my take-home salary. Now my rent is nearly half of my take-home pay and I am an Adviser at a college. Granted the 1970s was a long time ago, however, the disparity between the percentage of rent paid, compared to money earned in the 1970s when compared to today’s percentages is huge.

According to www.rentjungle.com one bedroom apartments in Seattle are $1381 a month on average and two bedroom apartments average $1846 per month. These rent.com sites generally feature higher-end apartment buildings that may be in popular locations like Capitol Hill, Queen Anne and downtown. Most buildings also have many amenities such as a pool or a gym. I believe sites like these are contributing to the rise in prices of regular apartments for property managers and landowners may see this as market value, thus prompting them to increase rents on less well-appointed apartments.

I asked one property manager why a small apartment that was lacking amenities, was so expensive and she told me that was the market rate. Is it the market rate for an apartment in a newly built building with a dishwasher and washer and dryer in every unit, and a gym, or is it the market rate for a basic apartment with no amenities?

There has been much talk about raising the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour because of the high cost of living in Seattle. Either the cost of living has to be met by the employers or the landowners/property management companies need to make abodes more cost-friendly. Do we need Rent Control like they have in many major cities or do we need an increase in the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour?

Although I think a raise in the minimum wage is reasonable, I vote first for Rent Control. All the arguments I have heard for why the landowners have to raise rents seem flimsy (market rate, rise in property taxes). In fact it seems that some are just pushing for whatever they can get away with. Without Rent Control management companies or landowners can charge whatever they want for any type of apartment. This has priced many out of the Seattle area and they have half to one-hour commutes each day for work. The high costs have also contributed to homelessness. I have seen many apartment advertisements on craigslist that demand $1050.00 rent, first and last as well as an additional deposit. If it costs someone approximately $2600.00 to move in, many prospective tenants will be eliminated. (Also, I believe charging first, last and a deposit is in direct violation of Tenant/Landlord Laws.)

Another issue with the hikes in rent is that many property management companies follow a corporate model, so some are very disconnected from the needs of the tenants. Being a corporation creates a divide between the company’s goals (profit margin) and the needs of people. It is easier to distance oneself from a “complaining,” tenant by saying that this is our corporate policy. Sorry. “You aren’t a team player.” Many property management companies (not all) seem more concerned about their commissions and the happiness of their “clients,” (the landowners), than the tenants trying to pay for their home.

With the growing number of property management companies, there is no longer a connection with landlord and tenant, but only corporate property manager and tenant. Many times you do not even know who owns your building unless you check the Tax Assessor’s page and look for the parcel by address. (It turns out some rich landowners do not like to be tracked down, but sometimes tenants need to contact them.)

In many cases there is not even an onsite manager (a Super) as property managers often stretch their Supers between two or three buildings. This is hard on the Super as well as the tenant.

Housing is a basic need, so when rents are unaffordable, this does direct harm to the citizenry. I have rented from a lot of different people throughout my life and the best situations, for the most part, were when the owners ran their own buildings. They cared more about their tenants, made repairs in a timely manner and did not jack up the rents arbitrarily. I lived in one building for six years and moved back for two more years after a three-year absence just because the landlord was such a good and trust-worthy person.

The fault is ours. People have become too passive and do not question the landowners or management companies. Of course some fear retaliation. It is difficult to stand up to the person that has the keys to your home and many fear retaliation.

I have been retaliated against for standing up to property managers. I confronted some about false advertising (advertising a studio as a one bedroom), not keeping promises made at the lease signing (refusing to let the tenant paint or even put up a small shelf, 2004), and raising rent without appropriate notice, 2007. From 2004 to 2006, it seems that a neo-conservative property manager may have been stalking me through my credit report. Her property management company had been listed as one of my creditors, and every time I moved or changed jobs and a search was done on my credit history, she must have been alerted and I had no idea.

I had break-ins and stolen mail in 2006, so I set up a fraud alert at my bank. When I received the initial fraud alert report, I saw her company name, slightly modified, in the section that listed just my creditors, thus she would have been contacted any time someone did a credit check on me. Her property management company should have only been listed in the history of companies doing a credit inquiry. I had her removed from my creditors list immediately.

At this point so much damage had been done to my on and offline reputation, which was causing problems everywhere I moved and at the new job I had just started. Another onsite manager connected to the same agency told me that this property manager went after me initially because she did not like my Impeach Bush sign (which was not in the window of that apartment, but had been in my previous apartment). I also heard that she had become even more furious after I tracked down the landowner to get out of my lease, so I could move away from the abuse that was taking place in that building.

Not long after that in 2005, another neo-conservative property manager and his onsite manager on top of Queen Anne hill, played all sorts of games starting when I moved in that October, such as breaking promises that had been made at the lease signing. Later that December, I found a particularly nasty mold on the wall behind my bed. It was not evident when I initially looked at the place and the onsite manager did not alert me to it. (A former tenant told me that management was already aware of it. That tenant had had the same problem with mold growing on the walls and the property management company had charged him for it when he moved. He was not happy.)

Even though I bleached the walls, the mold grew back and was making me ill, so I called the city about it and an inspector came out. This so enraged the property manager that he sent one of his henchmen over to saw off the bottom of my bathroom door that connected to my bedroom, claiming this must be the source of the mold and blamed me for not ventilating properly. The onsite manager was inferring that I had deliberately caused the mold and inferred that I was trying to run some sort of scam. Then the property manager’s lawyer sent me a strange letter demanding I fill out a form and send it back to them. I signed nothing and contacted Tenants Union about the mold. I was released from my lease in January 2006 after weeks of emails from the property manager telling me, I was a “complainer,” and that if it was so bad, then I should hurry and “flee.” I suppose he worried that other tenants might find out about the mold because it was likely happening to others in the building.

Later, in 2008, I found multiple postings on www.rottenneighbor.com accusing me of being a child molester, redneck, dishonest person, and more terrible libel. There was one funny one however. The post read, “She will steal your husband!” (I believe the more serious libel has triggered organized bullying, e-personation and stalking from the community. Some self-righteous people love mobbing and love to punish others even if they have no proof that the person has done anything wrong.)

Yes, I have been retaliated against, and yes, it is painful and has cost me friends, horrible damage to my reputation and caused terrible mobbing by the community, but we cannot be fearful of tyrants. Not all property managers or landlords are tyrants, but unfortunately, the tyrants make the good people look bad. So, don’t blame the tenant or the worker for standing up. Don’t blame Tenant’s Union or SeaSol or any other person or group that is standing up for the rights of others. Go to the source of the problem and demand your rights.

The Culture of Sameness Lament

In Civil Rights, Education, World Relations on June 15, 2017 at 22:05

By Seana Sperling

I returned to Seattle in 1993, and Broadway on Capital Hill had lots of charming little coffee places, book stores, thrift stores, and a Lock and Key store with a live cat in the window (most of the time). Q Patrol was out on Friday and Saturday nights and made the entire community (both LGBT and straight) feel safer. Grunge Rockers paraded down Broadway in torn jeans and plaid lumberjack shirts, with assorted chains dangling from pocket wallets, while alternators with magenta, green or blue hair raided thrift stores for 50’s and 60’s clothing. Drag Queens were not confined to Pride and small venues, but strolled freely on Broadway any time they felt like it. Now an Office Max and a Bank of America has replaced the thrift shop and bagel place, and the Language school where I worked for eight years.

There seems to be a growing social trend in Seattle to be linked up, grouped up, dressed-up: cookie-cutter-style and it seems that few people want to think independently any more. Everyone wears skinny jeans and hoodies (including myself). It reminds me of a toy store shelf filled with Barbies that all have the same shapes and faces.

A scarier reality is that very few are looking to be different in action, thought and deed as well. The creation of the Flash Mob exemplifies this. If everyone else is doing it, it isn’t scary. Most like to follow rather than lead. This is the popular trend in behavior.

It seems that the culture of sameness has even filtered into our lexicon. Have you noticed how “Thank you so much,” has become prevalent in the media and also fashionable for many that work in customer service? I first heard this phrase from an adult student from Japan in 1994. When he said the words, it sounded very sincere and I started using the phrase. Then in the new millennium, everyone and their hamster began saying, “Thank you so much.” Due to overuse, the phrase lost its’ charm for me, so I stopped using it. When I hear some people say it now, it sounds snarky.

The attitude of sameness is reflected in the profusion of boxes, I mean buildings, that are being erected in the city. There are cranes everywhere, erecting boxes of housing, boxes of offices, boxes of retail and garage space and boxes of who knows what else. Even though some have kept the historic façade, what lay within is still a box. It is interesting how a town’s architecture can reflect a pervasive attitude.

There were so many distinctive spots in Seattle in the early 1990s, like The Cyclops (the old one), Septieme (Belltown), and the Blob in lower Queen Anne. (The Blob was not the real name as it had many incarnations). There were many more, but now all are specters buried beneath the glittering condominiums that replaced them.

Art culture has also been affected. Just recently I heard that both The Varsity and The Harvard Exit theaters are shuttering and who knows what cineplex or condominium will replace them. We have lost other resources for independent art as well. Consolidated Works in South Lake Union was among the many innovative venues lost. Con Works had multiple forms of art: theater, film, a gallery featuring local artists, etc. Then it was stolen from its’ creator and a few years later shut down. I wonder what the developers have turned it into. Pacific Northwest Ballet will stop using Maurice Sendak’s set designs for the Nut Cracker in 2015. I wonder what they will be replaced with. Perhaps it will be Disney characters?

Once in a while I will see one of my neighbors decked out in glorious purple from his beard to his boots. I wave to him and recall the earlier years of Seattle when independent thinking in style of dress, mannerism, etc. was not the exception, but the rule. I applaud his independent spirit.

Sarswati Help Us

In Civil Rights, Education, Peace, Politics, Surveillance, World Relations on June 15, 2017 at 22:03

By Seana Sperling

It seems that more and more we are hearing female scribes and filmmakers speak of coming under some kind of attack, whether it is cyber attack or other types of attack in the physical world. Naomi Wolf speaks of tampered and intercepted mail in her YouTube presentation of her book The End of America. Gloria Naylor speaks of stalking, monitoring and defamation of character in her fictionalized memoir, 1996. At a 2008 Town Hall presentation in Seattle, Amy Goodman spoke about being detained at the U.S. Canadian border. She also spoke of having to guard her dying mother while her mother was in the hospital. What do these women have in common? They are all talented, outspoken liberals and all have come under attack in the “Land of the Free.”

The antipathy towards women with opinions becomes even more evident when you go online. From anonymous posts on the Internet to bigoted articles dressed up as jest, female writers are prominent targets. The excerpt below is from a letter to The Stranger Newspaper posted on their SLOG. “When you publish articles condemning misogyny and then organize social events for people telling your female writers to go kill themselves, it’s tough to believe your job is not just to cash in on human misery while pretending to care.” http://slog.thestranger.com/categories/teh_internets/page3.html Some female writers have even received death threats on SLOG.

So why now, in this enlightened age, are these attacks tolerated? Why is it that some old Neo-Nazi can say any inflammatory thing he wishes and does not get Trolled to Death, yet many will go on attack if a woman stands up for her rights or the rights of others?

A female filmmaker for Hollaback recently created a video of a woman walking through the streets of New York. She was constantly catcalled, and a couple of times followed while being catcalled and no bystander said a word to the bullies. When has this ever been acceptable behavior?

Later, much discussion and criticism of the woman filmmaker followed online and even on some soft-News programs. In a civil and equal society, verbal abuse should not be tolerated against anyone. Why in the new millennium are women still being targeted for this type of bullying? Also, why would there be such a backlash against the woman filmmaker for merely outing the bullies? Can’t people handle the truth?

There was a video of women catcalling men that was circulating on Facebook. Yes. It is funny, but only because it is ironic. Women are taught from youth to be kind, respectful and above all quiet. Society allows the boys to be obnoxious, loud, extroverts. If a man is commanding, loud, etc., he is a leader. Yet, if a woman exhibits these characteristics, then she is called a b%^*&h.

I recall driving to the mall with a couple of gay male friends in 2005. There was little parking, but I spotted a space in another aisle. I jumped out and ran over to hold it for the driver to park. I suppose I must have made some kind of driving faux pas because my friends seemed irritated and one said, “You are such a Lesbian.” Since I’m straight and he knows it, I suppose this was meant as a put down, but I certainly did not take it that way. It is interesting to see how this word was used to put me in my place, as if calling me a lesbian was some kind of punishment. Frankly, I know, and have known some really brilliant and funny lesbians, so I just took that as a compliment. It did show his antipathy towards women however, which was a little shocking. How dare I, a mere woman, do anything out of the ordinary.

The disrespect shown to women on the street, the backlash against women who call the bullies out, the attacks on women who are public figures all point to a dangerous rise in discrimination against women. It also points to society’s rising tolerance of the behavior.

Hopefully, this is the apex of the cycle of discrimination against women, people of color and all minorities. Hopefully the bullies will back off and the hatred will soon wane. There is that hope, but we cannot just wait. All of us must bring awareness by writing, filming, speaking, etc. about the injustices and discriminatory treatment some are experiencing. Don’t let the rightwing trolls drive women and people of color from the Internet. Don’t let the bullies harass either on the street.

A woman should be able to walk down a street without so much negative attention directed at her. A woman should be able to exercise her first amendment right without fear of retaliation by Internet Trolls. We should all have our constitutional rights, women, people of color, the poor and other minorities. Otherwise, The Constitution and Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Women’s Movement and all the other work that went into making the U.S. a free land, has been squandered.

Simon Says

In Bullying, Civil Rights, Education, Mobbing, Politics, Surveillance on June 15, 2017 at 22:02

By Seana Sperling

In the new millennium, we have seen trends in group behavior: Flash mobs, Smart mobs, Zombie races, Zombie this, that and whatever. (One has to wonder about the popularity of the Zombie, a creature who cannot think, but only destroy.) These trends appeal to people’s desire to be accepted and have fun as a group, but also show their desire to conform. We have seen many follow group behavior in a fun and entertaining way, however, a very negative form of group behavior has evolved over the last ten years.

Take for example the students in Newfane, NY who organized a day to annoy one of their classmates on a newly created Facebook page. The title of the page was Day to Annoy (student’s name). http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/10/28/Students-organized-day-of-bullying/UPI-60891288285612/ . The plan was to stalk the student throughout the school all day and bait him/harass him. (Many involved in cyberbaiting will film the reaction, so they can later post it online. Was Facebook to be their forum for such an act?) Fortunately, a few independent thinkers blew the whistle on the bullies and they were stopped before they could do more damage to the student.

On my campus, where I am an Advisor, much the same is happening to some of our students, to Instructors in their classrooms and it has been happening to me. Who are the players? Some are colleagues, some are students and some are their neo-conservative host families or just random Neighborhood Watch/InfraGard snitches from the community.

If you have a very skilled gossip (Troll), this person can manipulate a group to stalk and harass/bait an innocent person. For example one of my students was stalked and bullied all over campus by a group of students who were manipulated by one young woman who had a grudge against the student. The group would wait outside of the student’s classrooms and then bait her constantly all over campus (group stalking) trying to get her to fight back and thus get her into trouble (set-ups). This is called mobbing and my student had been made into a scapegoat by the gossip. Be careful whose lead you follow.

In another instance an Instructor said something condemning military action in a certain country during class one day. One of the students went on attack verbally in the classroom and later rallied many others to issue death threats anonymously via the Internet as well as post other anonymous threats on the Instructor’s office door.

It is amazing how people can be manipulated into violating others rights so easily. Not only was the first amendment violated, but death threats are beyond even civil law. When a mob gathers and they can do something anonymously, they abandon their integrity and common sense. Simon Says, “Everyone, stand on your head.”

Take this Community Alert System that demands that if you see a person, don’t approach them, but call into a number and report your location. The local News has even promoted this program of organized snitches. Why don’t people question this obvious abuse of civil rights? The Fourth and Sixth amendments among others are being violated, let alone stalking laws. This type reporting is monitoring, but also organized stalking.

If the police do not like your No War sign or did not your Impeach Bush sign or an article that you wrote about them, they can tell the community that you are a criminal, crazy or some other threat to society and without your knowledge, you can appear on the Community Alert List.

People that don’t question anything can be manipulated into tracking your every move as well as baiting you or setting you up to try to get you into trouble. In both Target and Office Max some clerks deliberately did not remove the security tags on my purchases, so that they would ring when I tried to exit. Thus I would be under the surveillance cameras at the door with the clerk checking my bags. In the Office Max incident, it was the manager who rang up my purchase, an inkjet refill and neglected to take off the large security box it was encased in. I had no idea that it wasn’t just packaging. Then as it rang at the door, he and two of his clerks stood there under the surveillance camera. As a result of this, I have been called “Thief,” on the street (along with much other slander). This is part of the Community Alert/Community TIPS/snitch debacle.

One woman that lived in my building in 2007 was one of these community snitches. Empowered by her role as an elementary school Teacher, she was there to serve and protect, she thought. I asked her about the community program and shouldn’t the snitches at least ask the person if it were true. She said, “They (sic-the accused) would just deny it anyway.” So, what the Sixth Amendment was meant to protect against (silent slander, whisper campaigns) has been completely thrown down the chute because some corrupt individuals in authority positions are able to manipulate the community.

It reminds me of the film, Compliance. Synopsis: A busy restaurant manager receives a call from someone identifying himself as a police officer and claims an employee has robbed a customer. The manager is manipulated into holding and searching the employee for hours. This was based on a true story. Simon says, “Accuse and search the employee.”

Even real Law Enforcement can be manipulated by an angry mob who constantly call in to report on someone they have been manipulated into hating. The Tip Submit Program to anonymously report on someone can be used against innocent people by the unscrupulous or even by an overzealous Neighborhood Watch. In 2005 a female colleague (a very bad bully) bragged to me that she had reported on me to some high-ranking security official, but refused to tell me what she had said. I never saw her again after that and have no idea about the accusation.

This organized snitch system is horribly wrong. Also, the snitches appear to be hounding innocent people. They don’t question anything. They do not ask the person if whatever has been said, is true. Instead, they merely follow. Simon says, “Don’t ask questions.”

Don’t be manipulated by what you see on the Internet or what someone tells you, no matter who they are. Check the facts. Remember. That one Internet Troll can create false websites, false police reports, false dating ads, etc. to vilify an innocent person. Then the troll’s followers can sidle up to some random people on the street, show them the report (or whatever has been posted online) on their phone along with the person’s picture and turn a complete stranger against the target. For example, Saturday afternoon 1/10/15 one older white woman got out of her minivan and screamed at me about “violating parole.” I thought, “Huh?,” and looked around, but, I was the only other person on this residential block. There is no parole or criminal record, etc. In the past when I have asked these bullies why they would say such things to me, they generally just skitter off or say they were talking to someone else. It could be baiting or she could actually have believed the slander.

The Zombie is a symbol of a controlled figure; A figure that cannot think independently. It is only driven for one thing, to destroy. Shouldn’t we have a better symbol? Wake up Zombies! Ask questions. Definitely question anyone who is vilifying another or tells you to do physical or psychological harm to another. It may seem like a small thing to you, but it is detrimental to the person being bullied.

Sitting

In Civil Rights, Politics, Religion, World Relations on June 15, 2017 at 21:58

By Seana Sperling

Amidst the attacks, I sit.
A glaring absence in the space between,
Multiple missives of abnormality.
Just the facts Ma’am. Just the facts.
Piecing together all those broken images,
Of broken lives and broken stories,
And I sit.

The first news reports came in sound bytes,
While bits of flesh and bone,
Were splintered by bombs and assault rifles.
Sorrow on the page, on the photo,
On the black letters that filled out the stories.
And I sat and read and watched.

Here I sit,
Seeing the beauty of flaming deciduous,
Cozying up to verdant conifers.
Robins, woodpeckers and wrens grace the branches.
Vigilant cats patrol the balcony,
Where I sit.

How, amid such beauty, can the human being,
Be, so ugly?
How can destruction, war, bias, prejudice,
Be such a large part of our lexicon,
And even the vernacular?
Is it because I just sit here?

Friends and Family

In African American, Civil Rights, Education, Mobbing, Native American, Roma on June 15, 2017 at 21:56

Late last night, after having dinner with a group of old and new friends, I watched a re-run of Sex in the City. As I watched the characters Carrie, Samantha and the others interact, I realized that the show was popular not because of the sex, or even the city, but because of the friendship between these four women. They had this wonderful bond that spanned years and they knew everything about each other, just like a family.

In the 1990s shows like Friends and Seinfeld shared much of this same charm. These shows were about groups of friends whose bond, spanned years. In the new millennium, That 70s Show became popular for the same reason. We liked watching Fez, Donna and the others interact and support each other over the years.

From the 1960s to the late 1980s family bonds dominated the sit-com world with Leave it to Beaver, Good Times, Family Ties, Eight is Enough and many others. The media’s transition from family bonds to the bonds between friends became evident in the 1990s. This reflects much about our society in the United States. As more family members traveled, moved about and relocated, friends became the new families. My own family has been stretched over many states and even countries and my friends were often my only support group.

As social animals, we need that pack support and if we live too far from family, or do not have much family support, we create a new one. Many of my LGBT friends have built their own families through groups of friends and/or more traditional ways such as marriage. In the past, many bigots tried to isolate LGBT from friends and family by ridiculing them, vilifying them and shaming people who supported them. In the 1990s, the bullies would use hate speech such as Fag Hag, if a straight woman dared to hang out with her gay friends. If a straight woman hung out with her lesbian friends, the bigots would spread rumors to punish her. The same thing would happen to a straight man, if he dared support his gay friends.

Since these social groups, whether they are friends or family, are so important to us, we need to build and strengthen these bonds. We must be more inclusive and nurture the relationships. It is not always easy, granted. We all have our quirks and temperaments and egos and cannot agree all of the time, or even get along all of the time, but if you have already built a real friendship, and if the person has not harmed the friendship beyond repair, then hang on to them. Don’t let the bullies and bigots socially isolate you or anyone from friends and family. We can’t just watch television.