Smear Campaigns

Are you in an emotionally abusive relationship, and now no one will give you the time of day?  Does it seem that your co-workers, friends, and even your bank teller suddenly regard you with thinly-veiled contempt? It’s not you…it’s him.You've been smeared.

When it comes to being smeared by a Narcissist, it’s important to understand their strategy in order to lessen the confusion and humiliation of being emotionally rejected by people you’ve known for years.  Kim Saed shares an insider’s view of this ordeal from A-Z…

Shade 1 – Your relationship was over before it was over…
The reason that everyone now runs in the opposite direction from you is because the Narcissist has been smearing your reputation since before the relationship even ended.  The two main reasons for this are:

1) All relationships are doomed in the Narcissist’s mind and he wants to get a running start on assassinating your character.

2) He assumes you will vent to people in your shared social circle, and he wants to ensure he cuts you off at the pass so you will look unstable when you muster the courage to seek support.  These actions are to preserve the false image of himself he’s portrayed all along. He will only want you to talk to him or the people in his shared social circle who he has already recruited as his flying monkey.

Shade 2 – Stealth-mode assassination
Undoubtedly, you’ve been thinking about leaving for a while; or perhaps you did leave a few times only to be lured back into the Narcissist’s lair. You fell for the empty promises. Everything seemed peachy and you dared to dream of a renewed marriage/relationship with your partner.  Until you discovered that while he was smiling in your face and pretending to be Tom Cruise in Jerry McGuire, he was assassinating your character to everyone within a 50–mile radius.  It’s enough to cause a rash of spontaneous peptic ulcers.

Shade 3 – The In-laws and cold shoulder galore
This phase is pretty much the dead zone.  Even his family members now believe you are an alcoholic, drug-addicted prostitute who’s been sleeping in dark alleys and digging through dumpsters for your meals. But he will always say, “I didn’t say anything to them while we were still together because I was trying to protect your image”.

Shade 4 – The dream of being at Target with no pants on
From time to time, people dream of finding themselves half-naked while performing common tasks.  Sometimes they dream of checking the mail, and realizing they are nude from the waist down.  Or maybe they dream of being in a conference with their colleagues and suddenly realize they are the only one in the board room with no clothes on.

That’s what the smear campaign feels like to the victim…only, this time it’s real.  The Narcissist has collected all your intimate fears and disappointments over the years and is now using them to fuel your public downfall.  Did you suffer from anxiety? Do you have a prescription? You’re addicted to drugs and obviously unfit as a mother.  (Never mind HE is the reason you’re on the medication).  Did you share that you felt your family didn’t love you enough?  By God, see how even your own family doesn’t want you?  He will leave no stone unturned…or perhaps “no ear” would be more appropriate.

Shade 5 – Your Are Legend…
Remember the 2007 movie starring Will Smith who finds himself the last man alive in a town of mutants? Welcome to Hollywood.  As you step out of your house or apartment, the loneliness is so overwhelming that you wonder if an asteroid touched down overnight.  You finally make your way over to Kroger in search of sustenance, and the cashier who used to give you high-fives on the way out now looks at you as if wishing you would spontaneously explode.  You almost detect a high-pitched, ultrasonic screech as you scurry by with your meager bag of chow.

When it comes to the smear campaign, no one is off limits to the Narcissist’s virtual mega-phone.  They’ll remember people you once met at a restaurant two states over, and will casually show up in that locality just to make sure no one still thinks of you in a positive light.

How to Cope
There’s really no telling what the Narcissist is saying about you.  It’s better to not think about it.
If you reach out to someone and they try to chomp your hand off down to the wrist, just write them off.  They have shown that the relationship is over.  No point in trying to defend yourself because it’s likely to make you look guilty, even though you haven’t done anything.

It’s painful, it’s humiliating…but there really isn’t much more you can do than keep on being yourself.  And that’s all that you should focus on.  If someone you’ve been “friends” with sides with the Narcissist, just know that they, too, will likely walk in your shoes one day (and they will suffer a similar fate).  It never fails. 

As for you, the comrades you have remaining are true friends. Nurture those connections, as well as yourself.  Live in spite of what the Narcissist is doing.  People will eventually see their true colors…but don’t waste your life waiting around for the Karma bus to show up.