People have asked me from time to time why it is that I do not give interviews to news stations or interest groups. The reason is simple. I hate it when someone misquotes something that I have said. And, unfortunately, the media is notorious for that. It all started way back in about 1989. I was interviewed by a reporter regarding an old building that was “haunted”. What I had said was that there were many imprints on the energy field, which most uneducated folks would view as “ghosts”. Suddenly the article comes out and I am quoted as saying that the building is mostly haunted, as well as a bunch of other stuff that the reporter just made up, essentially making me look like a raving lunatic. Not cool. I would NEVER do another interview for that paper. Unfortunately that was just the first of a few times that misquotation has plagued me. During interviews my words were purposely twisted into something I never said but that matched the agenda of the person interviewing me. And when I would go to correct them I was cut off and the interview would be ended as soon as they cut to a commercial. Not cool. This is something that has led me to the conclusion that I can NEVER trust the media to get ANYTHING right. So I no longer give interviews. Someone asked me, “But what if it was Oprah wanting to interview you?” My answer is the same. “Screw that, screw media, screw them all.” I am under NO OBLIGATION to entertain their myopic curiosities.
Public presentations are another story. Sometimes I do those in order to educate the general pupulous on issues pertaining to Shamanism. That is okay. I get up there, give the talk, take a moment for Q&A and then I am done. What people take home with them is totally on them, not on me. I have done my best to be as clear as possible and as inspiring as possible. Beyond that, it is up to them.
What really bugs me, however, is when someone in the community decides that I said something completely different to what I actually said and then starts throwing my name around with their made-up theories and putting my name to it, or at least dropping my name to support said theories. I suppose that I should find this flattering, because it is as sign that they somehow view me as an authority or something, but I actually find that I resent this sort of thing because they are putting my name to something that I never said or never did.
There are also those who just like to gossip about someone that they either don’t like or who doesn’t have much to do with them for various reasons. The latter is one category into which I often found myself falling. You see, I am very selective in who I bring into my inner circle. Sometimes people think that they are in my inner circle, but that is because they are associated with someone who actually is in my inner circle, and they are not. I give people a lot of time to show me who they are before bringing them into my inner circle. When they start the thing of gossiping about me it does not take very long for me to hear about it. And so they get bumped even further outside of the inner circle. I prefer to have people who are of excellent character in my inner circle. And those who back bite or gossip are not of very good character at all. I have been made aware that a lot of people don’t know what the term “back bite” means. This means that when you are with a person everything is all cool and calm. But when that person is not with you, you tend to complain about that person to others around them. It is one of many steps in gaslighting someone…turning others against them or making others view them as you do, which is a manipulative form of cowardice. They will often, in their attempt to gaslight you, say that you said one thing or another that you never did say. Again, vast misquotation…lies, really. This is totally despicable behaviour.
I find it interesting that no other species in nature back bites or gossips. That is completely a human ego thing. It falls into a category of “evil acts” that I reserve for things like sexual assault and murder. The reason for that is that it can destroy a person’s reputation, harming them on very deep levels in a community, and destroying their lives on a multitude of levels. People who commit this evil act rarely suffer any consequences. That is a problem for me. So when I find someone gossiping or back biting, I allow my inner superhero to emerge and call them on it immediately. I feel no obligation to be quiet about crappy behavior like that. Staying quiet about it is something that enables that behavior. So yes, my voice can get rather loud when that sort of thing comes up. I don’t care if we are in a busy restaurant or in a church. People will HEAR what I say to the gossiper. On numerous occasions I have done this, completely embarrassing the gossiper and have actually had others join in on the conversation, letting them know just how bad what they are doing is. All it takes is one voice, one person who has the guts to speak up, and suddenly, instead of mob mentality ganging up on a person who is being targeted by gossip, they become a mass consciousness of higher vibration.
The interviews that I mentioned earlier led to people in the community gossiping about me. There were, fortunately, a number of people who backed me up and helped to do damage control. After that it was a matter of building myself a better reputation by simply continuing to do good work and saying “no” to all interview requests. It takes sometimes years to rebuild after something like that. This is why I know how bad it can get. I have also had some friends through the years who were targeted by gossip who ended up committing suicide under the pressure of all of that. To me, those who were spreading gossip should have been charged, but they never were.
People often don’t learn about this until it is too late. This is why I am bringing it up here. The more that people understand the ramifications of their actions, the less likely it is that they will let their egos get the better of them. But I think that we, as a society, need to also put an end to this. Shutting it down on social media by speaking out is important. Shutting it down in person is even better. Shutting it down, even if it is happening within your own family is ultimately important. After all, if we cannot begin at home it becomes more difficult to begin anywhere else.
People often cower away from confrontation when they have been the target of gossip. I say stand in your truth and cast shade on the one doing the gossiping! How else will they ever learn?
Notes:
1. Although trees, plants, animals, birds and fish communicate, NONE of them gossip. I think that this says a lot about who is actually more enlightened.
2. I think our human species could stand to learn a lot about proper conduct from nature.
3. The more I experience this kind of wretched behavior from humans, the more I love my dogs, even if they do occasionally leave me a gift on the floor.
4. I suppose that, having been misquoted so often, I should feel honoured. After all, I now am with very good company, seeing as how Jesus himself has been misquoted and had all sorts of crap made up about him for over 2000 years.