Blackmail is a nasty thing. It is about exposing secrets. If you don’t give me what I want, I will expose your dirty little secret.
When you look at American traitors, spying for our advisories, you find that most, if not all of them, were bought off for dirt cheap.
What would happen is that the traitor would decide they needed something, generally money. They then tried to sell the information they had. They were offered very little for the information. Then they were blackmailed for having sold the information.
Blackmail is normally about hiding dirty little secrets.
Back when I had a security clearance, they were concerned about several things. Can you keep your mouth shut? Can you be blackmailed? Can you be bought?
When I was in debt, I explained that I was in debt and that my country was worth more to me than money ever could be. I showed that I had been paying my debt down and that I was not hurting financially. For that level of clearance, that was enough.
At another time, there was a personal issue. I went to my boss and told him the personal issue. I told my parents. When security asked about the personal issue, I could easily show that I couldn’t be blackmailed by it because I had told my boss, my parents, and them.
The gist of this is that if you can’t be embarrassed by your actions, you can’t be blackmailed by a dirty little secret.
History
My first wife was an expert in emotional blackmail. When we got married, I was informed that she had had her cat for longer than she had known me and that I would go before she would let go of the cat.
In other words, a cat was more important to her than the person she had just sworn to love.
I am allergic to most fur bearing critters. Cats in particular. My allergies started off bad, they are impossible now. Because we lived with a cat.
The most common refrain that still echos through my head was, “If you don’t do X, I’m going to leave.”
It was used over and over, again.
One night, I spent a long time talking to my father at a bar. This was unusual because mom was the emotional rock, not dad. Plus, we had never done it before, we didn’t do it again after.
I left that conversation and returned to the hotel room where my wife and kids were. I was more relaxed than I had been in years. I had come to the decision that I wasn’t going to be emotionally blackmailed anymore.
When we returned home, it was just about like normal. Until the day she said, “If you don’t do X, I’m going to leave.”
My reply rocked her to her soul and a bit further, “Ok, there’s the door.”
Our life became more of a partnership until her abuse became too much and I left.
Just what is “emotional blackmail”
It is anytime you attempt to control somebody with threats that engender strong emotional responses.
The person who is threatening to commit suicide is using emotional suicide. The person who withholds love unless you do your chores. The person who threatens to leave you if you don’t give them money.
All of these are emotional blackmail.
Peer pressure is a type of emotional blackmail. When you feel like you will be ostracized if you don’t go along with your peers.
Having that feeling of belonging is incredibly powerful. Loosing it is even more powerful.
This is how you get teenagers to submit to being “jumped in”. Being jumped in for males is generally allowing other peer members beat the shit out of you. For women, it is often submitting to being gang raped.
That desire for membership in a peer group, or gang, can be that strong.
The Left and Emotional Blackmail
We are seeing large numbers of leftists resorting to emotional blackmail.
- You are dead to me if you voted for Trump.
- The 4Bs. No sex with men, no children, no dating men, no marriage with men
- Withholding sex until Trump is out of office
- Divorce or threats of divorce
- Excommunicating people from the peer group.
- Dissolving friendships
- Blue “friendship” bracelet. If you don’t have it, you aren’t a friend.
Conclusion
The only way to deal with emotional blackmail is a strong “fuck off, I don’t care.” Yes, that might cost some friends. They might come to their sense later. For now, don’t let them blackmail you.
Comments
6 responses to “Emotional Blackmail”
Sigh… Ouch… I’m in this post and I don’t like it. 🙁
My observation, for what it’s worth, is that some people don’t even realize they’re doing it.
What’s more important, perhaps, is how they react and what they do after they recognize they did it. (Not, necessarily, the same thing as being told.)
if your “friends” resort to emotional blackmail because you voted for Trump, they never were your friend. my ex wife used to say things like “I want a divorce”… until I said be careful what you wish for… I divorced her .. friends don’t blackmail each other.. if moonbats don’t want to be friends with me Im fine with it. the kind compassionate caring liberals are the cause of division and hate. my uncle lives in England, he posted a sign that said- England can’t be all bad because the ones who hate it stay here…. the same can be said for America..
Agreed, good friends don’t pull crap like emotional blackmail, period. If they do, they’re not really your friends (even if you might be one to them)
I have much better things to do with my time than play stupid games for stupid prizes, which is what it comes down to.
if your “friends” resort to emotional blackmail because you voted for Trump, they never were your friend. my ex wife used to say things like “I want a divorce”… until I said be careful what you wish for… I divorced her .. friends don’t blackmail each other.. if moonbats don’t want to be friends with me Im fine with it. the kind compassionate caring liberals are the cause of division and hate. my uncle lives in England, he posted a sign that said- England can’t be all bad because the ones who hate it stay here…. the same can be said for America..
We have all been on both sides of this. No, do not deny it, you have.
It takes a very adult person to realize they are using emotion to control others, and to change their behavior. I know friends currently getting it, and I have suffered from it as well.
But, Chris has it 1,000% correct. The response has to be “go on. See you.”
As to the left, and their “I am withholding sex” crap. Fine. Didn’t want to bang you anyway.
Seriously. If you have nothing other than sex, you have nothing. End of story. Get on line, there is plenty of porn, and find someone you think is attractive. The relationship is no different.
Political compatibility with a partner is as important as physical, emotional, and entertainment compatibility. If you cannot agree, but it gets in the way of your relationship, you do not have a relationship. (I am not talking about an argument back and forth every once in a while. Those are actually healthy.) But, if you wife is so upset you voted Trump that she will refuse sex, what are you doing with her? Why are you even talking politics?
Besides, almost always, these are empty threats. See how Jimmy Kimmel reneged on his promise to leave the country. I bet 100% of the 4B movement women are having sex before the end of November. And, if they are not, they were never going to anyway.