It's a form of gaslighting, IMO. Sociopaths and the mentally unbalanced have rewritten the rules so that people who are reacting normally to their abusive behavior can be portrayed as sick, crazy, etc. but themselves as the cool and rational ones.
For example, I've seen and experienced some really sickening vindictive crap in which people were willing to cause some major grief over a petty slight that most people would shrug off. Naturally, if a person is the victim of a smear campaign that could lose friends, a beloved spouse, property, custody of children, job, a golden opportunity of a lifetime, etc., he or she is going to be upset. Back in the day, it would've been understood why they were so angry or upset, but nowadays the reaction is often played off as, "Haha, wow, what is the big deal, haha? Look at how hysterical that person is being, hahaha. Wow! What a nut! Get on your meds! It's not that serious." Meanwhile, it is that serious because the person might be losing a job with only $10 to his name or is being sabotaged in the middle of a strained marriage on the verge of healing.
A real life example of what I mean happened in NYC a few years ago. A crazy cat lady who was hoarding and dumping cats in a public park tried claiming one when two volunteers rescued it and sent it to a vet. The vet refused to hand it back. The crazy cat lady contacted an "activist group" on Facebook, who cyber stalked the vet, picketed her practice, took her photos and wrote defamatory captions, then when that wasn't enough, wrote fake one star reviews all over the internet, destroying her business. When the vet killed herself, the FB group celebrated her death and then demonized her as mentally ill.
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[deleted]
5 years ago
"A real life example of what I mean happened in NYC a few years ago. A crazy cat lady who was hoarding and dumping cats in a public park tried claiming one when two volunteers rescued it and sent it to a vet. The vet refused to hand it back. The crazy cat lady contacted an "activist group" on Facebook, who cyber stalked the vet, picketed her practice, took her photos and wrote defamatory captions, then when that wasn't enough, wrote fake one star reviews all over the internet, destroying her business. When the vet killed herself, the FB group celebrated her death and then demonized her as mentally ill."
Good god!
For once, words fail me.
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[deleted]
5 years ago
If you'd like to read further: https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-veterinarian-driven-suicide-cat-custody-fight-article-1.1701820
When I first saw that story, I thought, "Oh, that's sensationalized bullshit." But then people in the comments section posted a link to the Facebook group that was responsible, and all the members were openly celebrating her passing and repeating the same slander that had caused the vet's business to crash and commit suicide.
Later, it turned out that the manager of the group is a nutjob who started an "activist page" against "evil vets", because an "evil vet" had killed her dying 19-20 year old cat by failing to give it the proper medical treatment. Keep in mind that the average lifespan is 18 years old, so the cat had outlived most by at least two years. But the manager of the FB group was convinced that her cat would've lived another 10 years were it not for gross medical incompetence by an "evil vet" so has now been going on crusades singling out anyone to destroy. The vet from NYC, who killed herself, was one of her targets.
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[deleted]
5 years ago
Thanks, atomicgirl, I read it.
It's difficult to pinpoint the exact thing that's lacking in society, that creates the circumstance for that sort of insanity to occur. There have been times in society's history when mass hysteria was a common and frequent phenomenon, so it's not so very surprising that it can still happen.
But surely, in an allegedly enlightened, modern world.....!
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[deleted]
5 years ago
I agree that is exactly what has happened.
The company I work for calls it "resilience" to me that translates to "We are going to treat you like shit and if you don't take it or fight back, we will brand you weak".
Same thing happens on forums a lot too. You tend to get a clique of members who think the site belongs to them and they will often gang up on members they don't like. The Mods and Admin are often part of that clique or supportive of it and so good members are hounded off just because a select group aren't happy with what that member has written.
Everything has a consequence though and soon those members start fighting among themselves and many of the non clique members stop posting. Soon the forum dies altogether.
In regards to the cat lady incident, it seems another case of group mentality and disease where everyone gets excited and sees an opportunity to vent their anger with some kind of validation. Society is sick.
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