I had to rebooot my computer, so this is a continuation of the prior blog. Now, where was I? Oh, yes, telling you about the things I learned on the Internet that I thought were solely my own experiences with stalking but were instead common to many vicitms. One of the most influential books I have read is Pedagogy of the Oppressed. It opened my mind to see the commonalities in all forms of oppression perpetrated by those who falsely believe they deserve more power than others. It inspired the following observations.
Oppressed groups are silenced by fear and by the denial of the right to name their world. They do not tell others like themselves what is happening in their lives because they believe the victimization is about them. They are being personally singled out. As different kinds of oppression emerge in our collective consciousness, there is the startling realization that we were not ignored or shamed because we are bad, crazy, stupid or wrong. We were ignored and shamed because that is what oppressors do to the oppressed in order to keep their power. One of my favorite quotes is, "It is a principle of truth that it requires only the right to appear."
The truth about racism, ethnic cleansing, sexism, tyrants, homophobia, battering, rape, and all other forms of oppression, emerge as we as a people progress in our emotional civilization. The silencing erodes. We claim the right to name our world and to shed the personal shame that victimization brings. Like every other past, present and future form oppression, the silence around organized stalking is starting to end. The world we thought was only our private hell is now shared and faced by others like us.
So all the strange phone calls, turning off and on off lights and appliances, bizarre noises, the hacked computers and phones, the discrediting reports that are filed, all of these things and others are known to other victims. Loss of friends, families, careers, and health are not our fault. They are not failures to cope or personal weaknesses. They are techniques and strategies developed by grown-up bullies and would-be tyrants to keep us scared and silent and ashamed. We can now give them names, and our world makes more sense.
Another issue that crystallized for me in my Web research was the fact that the people who first bring any form of vicitmization to the world's attention have to be a little crazy, aggressive, odd and extreme. Only those kinds of people are willing to take the first risks of ridicule, isolation and death that exposing violence brings down on pioneers. Carrie Nation wasn't a psycho with an ax trying to keep people from the demon rum; she was a crusader trying to bring God-given rights to women who lost their homes and children to alcoholic husbands. Sojourner Truth was not a cruel mother when her child laid down on the doorstep and told her mother that she would have to step over her body on order to leave to fight for women's rights. She was eccentric, bold and courageous, for that is the only kind of person brave enough to begin a true fight for power and change.
Now I must admit that I do not want to pay any of those kinds of costs. I want to be Minnesota nice. I already paid a horrendous price taking on the issues of preschool and infant sexual abuse, talking about the horrors of cult and ritual abuse and fighting for recognition and treatment for the most vulnerable and brutally abused. And I was in the second wave, not the front-line charge for change. The radicals always go first. A friend said yesterday that he felt better about his fight for equal education when he heard the quote, "It is lonely to arrived at the future first."
I don't want to be first, but this time I will not denigrate the "crazies" who speak without a precise, orderly knowledge base before they begin attacking an evil crime. For those academics, researchers, public policy makers and advocates with beautifully organized systems to assist survivors of stalking in the years to come, I want to be like a kid and say "That's easy for you to say--now." Let's not envy or judge pioneers just because they have the qualities to be pioneers and we don't. Let's start offering them respect, not hindsighted, supercilious judgments.
So to all those stalking advocates who dare to talk about government conspiracies, electronic assaults, mind control and CIA plots, I want to say this: you may or may not be right in your beliefs, but thank you for starting. Nothing would have never happened without you.
My next post will address why people engage in group stalking and why I was targeted. I hope that this will help expose the true nature of the elephant. (Am I torturing that metaphor?)
Fact of Interest: Check out the youtube video from ABC's "What Would You Do?" at http://gangstalkingworld.com/obedience-to-authority/. I wish I knew how to install a hyperlink.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
What I learned on the Web about organized stalking
Group stalking is also identified as gang stalking or organized stalking. These are basically interchangeable terms, and I will use them as such. Searching the Web revealed a wide range of views on group stalking. The most active websites seem to center on government and law enforcement conspiracies, often including electronic harassment and injuries from such things as laser beams and microwave frequencies. These sites refer to the stalking victims as "targeted individuals" or TIs. They seemed to have quite a narrow focus on conspiracies by those in powerful government positions. Of course, only the foolish would deny that there is no such thing as a conspiracy; history is rife with documented exposed examples. Just one word: Watergate.
While not denying that there are government conspiracies, the focus on this kind of organized stalking offers linited disclosure about the myriad forms of group stalking and the motives of a wide variety of stalkers. Reading the entries and viewing the youtube videos was a bit like the parable of the blind men examining an elephant, Whatever part they were touching was their only view of the elephant. Yes, there is a trunk, legs, ears, tail, and body, but the full picture of an elephant is not revealed by only describing one part. We are only beginning to understand what the total body of crimes and motivations are included under the rubric of group stalking.
Much of what I read and saw seemed at first outlandish, even delusional. Then slowly the bulk of the information became frightening. Embedded within stories and viewpoints tha I questioned were descriptions of nearly every single tactic used against me in 19 years of stalking. Most of the tactics I recognized, like gaslighting, property destruction, mail theft and fraud, vehicular assaults as a pedestrian, theft of credit cards and bank account information that were never used to committ felony theft, and on and on.
What was most frightening, however, were the descriptions and labeling of things that were done to me that I knew were odd but did not realize were commonly used group stalking strategies. One technique was labeled as "Indirect Conversation," in which two people begin talking about you and using information that is personal and private in their conversations. I was on a plane to Denver heading to speak at a conference when I heard a big, dark-haired woman in a glaring red blouse say on the plane, "Yes, Renee Fredrickson is on her way to the conference now." I shrugged it off, having learned a long time ago to let these kinds of things flow over me like water, ignoring or rationalizing the event. "Oh, someone else is going to the conference and recognized me." But during the layover in Denver the same woman came over to where I was sitting and reading and began talking about me into her cellphone. "She's here now, just reading." Again, I just let it wash over me, even though the big woman moved within two feet of where I was sitting while she was talking. Now I know that this is called "Crowding," deliberately invading the personal space of the victim to intimidate and control. I knew she was stalking me. I did not know that her behaviors were common-enough techniques to have names and to be experienced by many other stalking victims.
Other things became clear. I have been "mobbed," which is the strategy of surrounding the victim in places where the larger-than normal group of people had ample room to spread out. I was pickpocted once while being mobbed. I also experienced something called "Blocking." This is using a car or cars to block the victim from leaving or entering a specified area. Twice my car was Blocked while I was in my therapist's office. (Believe me, you need a REALLY good therapist if you are being gang stalked.) The second time My car was blocked in so tightly that I took pictures of the cars and called the police. The officer told me that this was just "normal city parking." The pictures I took were stolen within days of being developed. As in other forms of victimization, I was not aware that these were common activities in the lives of the targeted group. These are just two examples I learned about techniques that are commonly used in group stalking. I thought they demonstrated the incredible inventiveness and power of my stalkers.
While not denying that there are government conspiracies, the focus on this kind of organized stalking offers linited disclosure about the myriad forms of group stalking and the motives of a wide variety of stalkers. Reading the entries and viewing the youtube videos was a bit like the parable of the blind men examining an elephant, Whatever part they were touching was their only view of the elephant. Yes, there is a trunk, legs, ears, tail, and body, but the full picture of an elephant is not revealed by only describing one part. We are only beginning to understand what the total body of crimes and motivations are included under the rubric of group stalking.
Much of what I read and saw seemed at first outlandish, even delusional. Then slowly the bulk of the information became frightening. Embedded within stories and viewpoints tha I questioned were descriptions of nearly every single tactic used against me in 19 years of stalking. Most of the tactics I recognized, like gaslighting, property destruction, mail theft and fraud, vehicular assaults as a pedestrian, theft of credit cards and bank account information that were never used to committ felony theft, and on and on.
What was most frightening, however, were the descriptions and labeling of things that were done to me that I knew were odd but did not realize were commonly used group stalking strategies. One technique was labeled as "Indirect Conversation," in which two people begin talking about you and using information that is personal and private in their conversations. I was on a plane to Denver heading to speak at a conference when I heard a big, dark-haired woman in a glaring red blouse say on the plane, "Yes, Renee Fredrickson is on her way to the conference now." I shrugged it off, having learned a long time ago to let these kinds of things flow over me like water, ignoring or rationalizing the event. "Oh, someone else is going to the conference and recognized me." But during the layover in Denver the same woman came over to where I was sitting and reading and began talking about me into her cellphone. "She's here now, just reading." Again, I just let it wash over me, even though the big woman moved within two feet of where I was sitting while she was talking. Now I know that this is called "Crowding," deliberately invading the personal space of the victim to intimidate and control. I knew she was stalking me. I did not know that her behaviors were common-enough techniques to have names and to be experienced by many other stalking victims.
Other things became clear. I have been "mobbed," which is the strategy of surrounding the victim in places where the larger-than normal group of people had ample room to spread out. I was pickpocted once while being mobbed. I also experienced something called "Blocking." This is using a car or cars to block the victim from leaving or entering a specified area. Twice my car was Blocked while I was in my therapist's office. (Believe me, you need a REALLY good therapist if you are being gang stalked.) The second time My car was blocked in so tightly that I took pictures of the cars and called the police. The officer told me that this was just "normal city parking." The pictures I took were stolen within days of being developed. As in other forms of victimization, I was not aware that these were common activities in the lives of the targeted group. These are just two examples I learned about techniques that are commonly used in group stalking. I thought they demonstrated the incredible inventiveness and power of my stalkers.
stalking gaslighting renee fredrickson
stalking freedom: Stalking Freedom
Stalking is a known crime with a long and detailed history. With the advent of the Internet and expanding technology, stalking techniques have proliferated. The existence of electronic harassment and mind control stalking are new and controversial issues. This blog will not comment on electronic harassment or mind control stalking. Others will need to assess and address these issues.
Of course, all stalking is essentially an attempt to control the mind and the body of the victim. GASLIGHTING is one technique used by most stalkers to undermine the credibility of the victim. Gaslighting is a term that was originally the title of a play about the efforts of a man and his mistress to convince his wife and others that she was crazy. It can be an incredibly effective technique, much like the use of masks and simulated atrocities are used by ritualistic abusers to make young victims sound as if they are making up ridiculous stories or indulging in fantasy. An Italian study reported that approximately 70% of stalkers used gaslighting techniques. Uneducated people can then rationalize not believing the victim, and the seemingly absurd activities make the victims reluctant to tell family and friends about what is really happening to them for fear of not being believed. Gaslighting also makes reporting to already-beleaguered police nearly impossible. A stalking victim in New York whose stalker was eventually caught said, "How do you call the police and tell them you wore a white nightgown to bed and now there is a white one lying in its place? Or report that you were out of vitamins and now there is a full bottle on your kitchen counter?"
Gaslighting techniques range from small efforts to large scale attempts to control and silence victims. One example of small-scale gaslighting reported on the web and experienced by me is distributing small amounts of debris on the floors of the victim's home. I noticed this in my home and was savvy enough not to mention it to anyone. Then one day my cleaning person remarked while sweeping the floors, "Why is there all this dirt on your floors now?" I did not answer, but after that there was no more dirt and debris scattered on my floors. Other examples are taking silverware or dishes, moving pictures and furniture slightly but obviously, ripping holes in clothing in closets or drawers, scratching or damaging wood or painted surfaces in the victim"s home, leaving objects in the victim's home, car or place of business, stealing bills that need to be paid in the hopes that the victim will forget to pay them--the possibilities are endless. Of course, there is the ubiquitous car damage. A private detective who has worked with group stalking for 15 years told me that damage to cars was very common. I once drew circles with magic markers around all the scratches, dings, dents and damage to my car not done by me and then called the police. The officers were shocked at what they saw, took pictures and made the first (and last) case report of property damage. In the early days of being stalked I once spent over $3000 to repair the minor damages to the driver's side of the car, and three days later the side of the car looked exactly the same with the same placement and number of dings and dents and scratches. Car damage certainly cures stalking victims of attaching any status or self-image to their cars!
Larger gaslighting efforts are even more difficult to deal with. Identity theft, false crime reports, rumors spread to neighbors that you are a criminal are just a few examples. Stalkers have very low self esteem and have a poor sense of their masculinity or femininity, but they strive to repair their damaged egos by seeing themselves as clever and inventive instead of cruel and worthless.
After publishing this post, I will report back to you what has been done to "punish" me for disseminating this information. And I assure you there will be retaliation in the form of more frequent or more vicious stalking events. Not to do so would destroy the myth that the stalker is the ultimate "winner" in this evil crime. Not to be the "winner" exposes the vast emptiness of the stalkers interior lives.
Fact for the day: stalkers, like most criminals, are motivated in part by tremendous ENVY of their victims, so they try to cannibalize their victim’s lives. One of my now-deceased stalkers used to dress up so that he looked like me and go places pretending to be me. I first found out about it when he stole a skirt from a tall-woman's clothing store, and the manger tracked me down. I went in and she saw that I was only 5'2." Issue resolved.
Stalking is a known crime with a long and detailed history. With the advent of the Internet and expanding technology, stalking techniques have proliferated. The existence of electronic harassment and mind control stalking are new and controversial issues. This blog will not comment on electronic harassment or mind control stalking. Others will need to assess and address these issues.
Of course, all stalking is essentially an attempt to control the mind and the body of the victim. GASLIGHTING is one technique used by most stalkers to undermine the credibility of the victim. Gaslighting is a term that was originally the title of a play about the efforts of a man and his mistress to convince his wife and others that she was crazy. It can be an incredibly effective technique, much like the use of masks and simulated atrocities are used by ritualistic abusers to make young victims sound as if they are making up ridiculous stories or indulging in fantasy. An Italian study reported that approximately 70% of stalkers used gaslighting techniques. Uneducated people can then rationalize not believing the victim, and the seemingly absurd activities make the victims reluctant to tell family and friends about what is really happening to them for fear of not being believed. Gaslighting also makes reporting to already-beleaguered police nearly impossible. A stalking victim in New York whose stalker was eventually caught said, "How do you call the police and tell them you wore a white nightgown to bed and now there is a white one lying in its place? Or report that you were out of vitamins and now there is a full bottle on your kitchen counter?"
Gaslighting techniques range from small efforts to large scale attempts to control and silence victims. One example of small-scale gaslighting reported on the web and experienced by me is distributing small amounts of debris on the floors of the victim's home. I noticed this in my home and was savvy enough not to mention it to anyone. Then one day my cleaning person remarked while sweeping the floors, "Why is there all this dirt on your floors now?" I did not answer, but after that there was no more dirt and debris scattered on my floors. Other examples are taking silverware or dishes, moving pictures and furniture slightly but obviously, ripping holes in clothing in closets or drawers, scratching or damaging wood or painted surfaces in the victim"s home, leaving objects in the victim's home, car or place of business, stealing bills that need to be paid in the hopes that the victim will forget to pay them--the possibilities are endless. Of course, there is the ubiquitous car damage. A private detective who has worked with group stalking for 15 years told me that damage to cars was very common. I once drew circles with magic markers around all the scratches, dings, dents and damage to my car not done by me and then called the police. The officers were shocked at what they saw, took pictures and made the first (and last) case report of property damage. In the early days of being stalked I once spent over $3000 to repair the minor damages to the driver's side of the car, and three days later the side of the car looked exactly the same with the same placement and number of dings and dents and scratches. Car damage certainly cures stalking victims of attaching any status or self-image to their cars!
Larger gaslighting efforts are even more difficult to deal with. Identity theft, false crime reports, rumors spread to neighbors that you are a criminal are just a few examples. Stalkers have very low self esteem and have a poor sense of their masculinity or femininity, but they strive to repair their damaged egos by seeing themselves as clever and inventive instead of cruel and worthless.
After publishing this post, I will report back to you what has been done to "punish" me for disseminating this information. And I assure you there will be retaliation in the form of more frequent or more vicious stalking events. Not to do so would destroy the myth that the stalker is the ultimate "winner" in this evil crime. Not to be the "winner" exposes the vast emptiness of the stalkers interior lives.
Fact for the day: stalkers, like most criminals, are motivated in part by tremendous ENVY of their victims, so they try to cannibalize their victim’s lives. One of my now-deceased stalkers used to dress up so that he looked like me and go places pretending to be me. I first found out about it when he stole a skirt from a tall-woman's clothing store, and the manger tracked me down. I went in and she saw that I was only 5'2." Issue resolved.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Stalking Freedom
EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO ASK ABOUT STALKING BUT WERE AFRAID TO KNOW
This blog will feature information on stallking with a focus on group stalking and terroristic stalking. Like all good highschool papers, we will start with definitions. Stalking is usally done to establish or maintain an unwanted relationship with another person. The Department of Justice published research in 2005 saying that 1.4 million people were stalking victims. In 2009 the DOJ reported an estimated 3.4 million peole were victims of stalking. The 2009 report also stated that stalking was reported to the police in 37% of all female homicides and in 76% of murders of battered women. These are terribly disturbing statistics.
The issue of stalking of intimate partner violence is beginning to be addressed by domestic violence groups across the nation. Money is avalible for grants from the DOJ on stalking as part of the stimulus package, along sexual violence and the disabled. One result of this was a research study on the stalking of disabled citizens. Other grant money has been used to assist intimate partner violence victims who are being stalked.
Stalking of celebrities ias another common form of stalking. In Gavin de Beckers book, The Gift of Fear, he stated that when the public reads about someone stalking a celbrity, the stalker is only one of a list of stalkers for the celebrity. Gavin de Becker's company assesses the dangerousness of stalkers for individuals and companies, although the cost is prohibitive for the average person. Local law enforcement agencies are the available resources for those who cannot afford a private agency. Resources are limited for these agencies, so stalking victims usually have to rely on Orders of Protection and Restraining Orders before any investigation is done by the police and sheriffs' departments. It has been said that stalking is the only crime where the victims must gather their own evidence. Shelters for victims of intimate partner stalking are available in some communities and offer protection to these women.
Group and terroristic stalking are newer and less well-known forms of stalking, although just as life-destroying as any other form of stalking. Unlike the stalking most familiar to the public, group stalkers are not trying to have a relationship with the victim; they want to torment their victims anonymously. Group stalking is stalking by two or more people who join forces to stalk and harrass an individual or group for a personal agenda. Terroristic invloves stalking which has the goal of forcing someone to do something or prevent someone from doing something that does not fit with the agenda of the stalkers. A victim of terroristic stalking is covered by the Homeland Security Act, although this author does not know of any cases in which Homeland Security offered investigation and prosecution of terroristic stalkers.
Group stalking has been reported as a rapidly growing crime in in the U.S., the U.K and Australia, although other nations are undoubtedly seeing an increase of this crime. In a presention on Stalking: A Crime and a Precursor to Other Crimes at the International Violence, Abuse and Trauma conference in 2009, a member of the audience stated that Australia was seing an overwhelming growth of group stalking. The 2009 DOJ survey found that 28% of stalking victims had one or more stalkers, and 6% said they did not know how many stalkers they had. It is likely that the growth of the Internet has added to the rapid growth of group stalking. Statistics on the growth of terroristic stalking are unknown to the author.
This blog will feature information on stallking with a focus on group stalking and terroristic stalking. Like all good highschool papers, we will start with definitions. Stalking is usally done to establish or maintain an unwanted relationship with another person. The Department of Justice published research in 2005 saying that 1.4 million people were stalking victims. In 2009 the DOJ reported an estimated 3.4 million peole were victims of stalking. The 2009 report also stated that stalking was reported to the police in 37% of all female homicides and in 76% of murders of battered women. These are terribly disturbing statistics.
The issue of stalking of intimate partner violence is beginning to be addressed by domestic violence groups across the nation. Money is avalible for grants from the DOJ on stalking as part of the stimulus package, along sexual violence and the disabled. One result of this was a research study on the stalking of disabled citizens. Other grant money has been used to assist intimate partner violence victims who are being stalked.
Stalking of celebrities ias another common form of stalking. In Gavin de Beckers book, The Gift of Fear, he stated that when the public reads about someone stalking a celbrity, the stalker is only one of a list of stalkers for the celebrity. Gavin de Becker's company assesses the dangerousness of stalkers for individuals and companies, although the cost is prohibitive for the average person. Local law enforcement agencies are the available resources for those who cannot afford a private agency. Resources are limited for these agencies, so stalking victims usually have to rely on Orders of Protection and Restraining Orders before any investigation is done by the police and sheriffs' departments. It has been said that stalking is the only crime where the victims must gather their own evidence. Shelters for victims of intimate partner stalking are available in some communities and offer protection to these women.
Group and terroristic stalking are newer and less well-known forms of stalking, although just as life-destroying as any other form of stalking. Unlike the stalking most familiar to the public, group stalkers are not trying to have a relationship with the victim; they want to torment their victims anonymously. Group stalking is stalking by two or more people who join forces to stalk and harrass an individual or group for a personal agenda. Terroristic invloves stalking which has the goal of forcing someone to do something or prevent someone from doing something that does not fit with the agenda of the stalkers. A victim of terroristic stalking is covered by the Homeland Security Act, although this author does not know of any cases in which Homeland Security offered investigation and prosecution of terroristic stalkers.
Group stalking has been reported as a rapidly growing crime in in the U.S., the U.K and Australia, although other nations are undoubtedly seeing an increase of this crime. In a presention on Stalking: A Crime and a Precursor to Other Crimes at the International Violence, Abuse and Trauma conference in 2009, a member of the audience stated that Australia was seing an overwhelming growth of group stalking. The 2009 DOJ survey found that 28% of stalking victims had one or more stalkers, and 6% said they did not know how many stalkers they had. It is likely that the growth of the Internet has added to the rapid growth of group stalking. Statistics on the growth of terroristic stalking are unknown to the author.
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