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.