gaslighting

I attempted to send this as a comment to another post, but it really needs to be its own post as it strikes at the heart of what this group is supposed to be about.

The very essence of this group is to support those who have experienced harm within Shambhala. For that very reason, one is not allowed to gaslight others. Gaslighting means that you tell someone they do not feel what they do in fact feel. This is done to me repeatedly here. Every time you pretend that you are not reflexively downvoting virtually every comment of mine, no matter what it says, you are gaslighting. Because that is precisely what you are doing. I'd be very happy to give a selection of, say, 100 comments of mine, along with 100 comments from the regulars, to an impartial observer, and ask them to try and figure out where those assessments are coming from. But everyone knows this is the case.

I mean, I really could give 100 examples, and probably many more, in fact. I could start with literally the first comment that appeared below the original (attempted) comment (the post was simply a video I have found uplifting in our current very dark moment, Patti Smith and the group called Choir! Choir! Choir! singing "People Have the Power"):

"This is from 5 years ago, FYI." -- Glass_Perspective_16: this has received +7 votes. "Yes. She's still on the case though. :)" -- daiginjo3: this has received -4 votes. Is there any rhyme or reason there? One person replies to a video I posted precisely as a gesture of positivity and uplift by implying it is outdated, by raining on the parade, so to speak. +7 votes. I reply by acknowledging this, and acclaiming its continued relevance. I even add a smile emoji, because bald text is hideously prone to projection -- as we can see every single minute on social media. -4 votes. Again, I'm happy to present that example, and a hundred more, to an impartial observer, and ask them what is going on there.

It's actually gaslighting squared. Because not only have people been denying this forever, but they then continuously mock me for saying that it actually does affect my life extremely negatively. I'm sorry to have to insist on this, but it is the fullest truth.

It affects me in an additional way too, one which is just as damaging, and in a way even more so. Reflexive, continuous downvoting means that at a certain point my comments don't get posted. It's the Reddit algorithm. So then it means that I am literally silenced, and that is precisely about the most damaging thing anyone could do to me. It's also, as it happens, directly related to how I was treated within Shambhala. So I scarcely have words for how this feels. When a person is attacked, and they are not allowed to reply, this for me is straightforwardly insane-making. I feel like throwing myself through the window. I'm not planning on doing that just at the moment, but that's how it feels, and terrible accidents can occur when someone feels utterly dehumanized like that. Yes, dehumanized.

All you can do is mock this, endlessly. Mock, and psychoanalyze -- in the form of character assassination! Someone you have never even met! Thus causing even more harm. It is absolutely unbelievable. You simply cannot stop, take a deep breath, and look at what you are doing.