How should you respond when someone attacks, vilifies, lies about you in public? What should you do if they're trying to smear your name?
In 2021, Lighthouse International Group, now known as Lighthouse Global, was trolled as an organisation. Our head mentor Paul S. Waugh was personally attacked online through illegal smear campaigns. A number of Associate Partners were personally targeted with defamatory comments, including racist slurs against myself and my brother.
With the guidance of our legal team, we have responded to these trolls with respect, consideration, patience and firm accountability. We did not react, but respond. Personally, this has been a learning curve I never thought I would experience. I have lived by "fight or flight" in the past, but being trolled is tragically a par for the course if you really want to succeed and build anything that is meaningful, positive, progressive and principle-centred.
So how should you respond? There is a lot you can read on how we as an organisation have done so. Here are four simple steps to follow from Dr. Ramani, Russell Brand and Jordan Peterson.
Step 1: Respond, don't react - Dr. Ramani
Step 2: Make sure you are surrounded by positive, upbuilding, progressive people - Russell Brand
Step 3: Know where you stand and what you are standing for - Jordan Peterson
Step 4: Do your research, gather as much information as you can and record everything down - How Lighthouse Global has responded.
To learn more about the pathology of trolls, please read this thorough and informative article by Mel Francis. It is an education we all need. Trolling is criminal and must not be tolerated. It can come from anywhere - the social media sites, the workplace and - most horrifyingly - from inside our own homes. In fact, the most common form of trolling comes from our so-called friends and family.
To find out more about our other projects and how we help parents, businesses and children stand up to trolling as one of the major causes of suicide, please visit Parents Against Trolls.
Thank you Sukh, what really stood out for me, was Dr Ramani say block trolls air supply. Feed them with your comments, you feed that fire, don't comment, block them, you cut off that air supply and their feeding. Very influential in how to treat those online trolls.
What I have taken most from this post is how courageous we can be against trolls, to stand up for ourselves, to respond and not retaliate, but the first port of call is to ignore them, and for good reason. People are taking their lives because of this lying poison these trolls spew out and trolls need to be brought to justice. Thank you for bringing this collection of shorts together Sukh, it's very impactful to have different perspectives in one place.
Incredibly powerful guidance. Troll behaviour is cowardly, but as someone who's more passive and neurotic, I have found that it's been intimidating. Knowing where I stand in myself and seeing the pathology of this behaviour has been so valuable in learning how to deal with trolls.
Thank you Sukh for these steps and the short videos. It highlights that I have choice, I don’t have to act like a victim but I can proactively respond to trolls and surround myself with positive, upbuilding and progressive people in my life. What an important message and so crucial and vital to know and learn as a child growing up.
Thanks for keeping it short and simple with these four steps to follow. The wisdom is out there if we seek it - thank you for bringing it together in one place x