Stripping Cyberbullies of Power

"Rhetoric does not get you anywhere, because Hitler
and Mussolini are just as good at rhetoric.
But if you can bring these people down with comedy,
they stand no chance." ~ Mel Brooks

Lisa Bloom is once again repping a high-profile client, which gets them both in front of news cameras. But what happened to me six years ago was/is infinitely worse than what just happened to Kathy Griffin; she's claiming her career is destroyed. 

Griffin has fame and wealth, millions of fans, and hundreds of friends. Even if Kathy never worked again, she has so much money, she’d be just fine. Please note I'm not discounting the fact that she's been injured emotionally and psychologically.

In contrast, what I endured (and still deal with) was due to something not even remotely as controversial. I had started a cause to raise awareness for animal abuse. I had 50k followers on Facebook in the first week. Quickly, a few followers branched off to start tangential pages without asking. My followers were confused, wondering if the new pages were sanctioned by me, associated with mine. They didn't know which was now the primary page, and which page to follow.

I politely asked the creators of the new pages to take them down temporarily, until I could schedule a conference call since things were happening so fast. My plan was to form a nonprofit organization and have my page as the hub, coordinating with 50 state pages.

Responses to my request were nasty. One said, "Fuck you. Who put you in charge?" (I was the Founder of the cause!) Another said I was a control freak who wanted all the glory for myself.

I then implored them publicly (on my page) to comply. My followers also urged them to cooperate. They refused. Finally I asked Facebook to intervene and review the situation. Facebook agreed that these women had violated my trademark rights, and so Facebook took those offending pages down.

The minute I started using the name of the cause publicly, it became mine, protected under trademark law, even though I hadn't yet filed paperwork. News outlets had done stories, all identifying me as the Founder. Being proud of my accomplishment was an excusable crime according to the haters.

How did these women respond to Facebook taking their pages down? By coming after me personally to ruin my life and reputation. They made it their mission to get revenge simply over a Facebook page! These were adult women, not teenagers, not children. Most of them were over the age of 40.

The cyberbullying, mob mentality, and attacks to my reputation almost destroyed me. I contemplated suicide. That's how bad it was. And sadly, still is. The people who defamed and stalked me did so, by their own admission, because it was fun and amused them. Because I was an 'easy target."

I connected with one of the leaders by phone. By the end of our first call, she was sobbing and apologizing for what they had done to me. She then started sending me emails with evidence, identifying each of them (they'd been hiding behind fake screen names). She outed each one of them to me, and her emails confirmed that even though they were publicly calling me a cyberbully, it was classic projection. My inside source admitted they were the bullies and I'd done nothing wrong.

Every so often I Google their names to see if Karma has caught up to them yet. Interestingly, one of them drowned in her daughter’s swimming pool in 2013. That woman had tweeted to me “Bring it on, bitch” after she got a Cease & Desist letter from my attorney related to the stalking, harassment, and defamation. 

One of the leaders who used her blog and keywords to vilify me with libelous lies, had mocked me on her blog when she heard a rumor that I was homeless. (I wasn’t.) She wrote that Karma had bit me in the butt and I got what I deserved. Well, it turns out she is now homeless! So Karma is coming to each of them, one by one. Just not fast enough for me.

In the midst of all that turmoil, I had reached out to Lisa's mom, Gloria Allred, begging for help and representation. I hoped that, if my voice were heard nationally, I could clear my name and undo the damage. Allred's office ignored me. You see, I wasn't a famous D-list comedian worth millions of dollars with a big house in the hills. I was just a person. 

I tried to get Dr. Phil to have me on his show, so I could tell my story. His staff said  they'd only consider it if I could get all the cyberbullies to also come on the show (as if that would ever happen).

Now Kathy Griffin is all over the news, getting the chance to defend herself and respond to the massive cyberbullying. Did she go too far with her visual satire? Honestly, if the recipient hadn't been POTUS, the answer would be, "No." Had Kathy parodied trump when he was just a reality TV star, it wouldn't have blown up like this. Her video apology should've sufficed. But when comedians can't skewer a public figure, we're in trouble. However, I do think the gag would've been less of a problem had she done it right after the Megyn Kelly incident, not 10 months later.

Anyway, it would be nice if I could get a chance to clear my name. But Lisa Bloom would never represent someone who’s not famous and/or wealthy. I have fantasies of going coast-to-coast, to the house of each woman who terrorized me, demand she apologize and publicly retract her lies online. I'd like to see that now-homeless blogger simply delete the posts.

But people like that can't be reasoned with. To read the full story of what happened to me, go here: https://thinkwolf.blogspot.com/2015/07/i-am-rachel-wolf.html

And to read what happened afterward, as one of them continued to stalk, bully, and harass me for an additional year, go here: http://facingbullies.blogspot.com/2012/08/an-allergy-to-nuts.html

No one should ever be stalked, harassed, or threatened. I didn't deserve it and am still dealing with it years later. Kathy Griffin doesn’t deserve the hate being thrown her way. But she should remember that Rosie O’Donnell has endured much worse from trump for a decade. And to keep it in perspective, all of us should remember that our situations pale in comparison to the vitriol dumped on Monica Lewinsky, Chelsea Clinton, and Hillary Clinton a daily basis.

So what do we do? We commit to ending cyberbullying. Melania Trump had promised to make that her focus, but it appears those were empty words, particularly since her husband is the king of cyberbullies. As such, the task of exposing, condemning, and ending cyberbullying is up to us. Will you pledge to be part of the solution and speak out when you see it happen?