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Nightmare on Elm Street


by Judi McLeod
November 11, 2002

It’s been well over a year now since some curious interlopers got themselves booted out of our office. The one thing proven during these past 12 months is that there is a lot to be said about maintaining a high state of paranoia.

Paranoia is well documented in the tomes of psychiatrists. In my terms, paranoia is the unshakeable sneaky suspicion that there is "something wrong with this picture". Everytime something comes along to ignite this mental state, there have always been those around trying to send me back to sleep. It is not that those closest to me in the life and times of Toronto Free Press mean any harm by their ambivalence, it is more that having been there so many times, they are hoping against hope that by ignoring the problem it will simply go away.

Friends always tell me that it is the reporter in me that makes me suspicious. My favourite true crime writer, Ann Rule describes nagging police suspicion when superficially everything seems all right as "that hinky feeling." I can tell you for a fact that whenever I choose to ignore my suspicions, the situation only gets worse.

The most recent and hopefully last misadventure at the offices of 49 Elm Street starred two `proponents’ whose takedown tactics had been successfully employed on others.

Their passing taught me a lot and if I had the time, I would do a little how-to book about learning how to quickly recognize the danger when someone intends you malice.

Their tactics, superbly Machiavellian, are ever so subtle.

Case in point, while the enemy pretends to be on your side, he will speak one way with you; use his sidekick to heap on the flattery, "So and so is a big fan of yours because you’re so feisty", while at the same time sow the seeds of doubt among those on whom you depend most.

In times of trouble, the first two rules are tough ones. Never let a busy schedule allow your guard to slip; keep your vulnerabilities and your valuables hidden. Hindsight is always more accurate than the pressure of the moment, so the most valuable maxim to which to cling is the one that goes, "If something sounds too good to be true, then it most likely is."

The enemy in the house is not always direct in his or her strategies. The really clever ones don’t want to leave obvious tracks. So when you reach out for help from someone who is capable of helping, you will always find it difficult to explain precisely what is happening.

The aim of the latest pair of saboteurs was to first demoralize then destabilize TFP. Promises of advertising that somehow never materialized. They would present at least one signed, short-term advertising contract. Given our eagerness for promised advertising, this gave them a cover and time, time to rifle through our files when we weren’t there, time to discover where our strongest support lay.

Somehow a nagging feeling that something wasn’t right early in the game had me making a late-night visit to the office to remove files and documents.

Mercifully, this expedited the pace of the gameplan. The proponents, who could find no information, became more and more frustrated and their veils started to slip.

Giving into confrontation before you have any actual proof only makes it easier for the proponents to poison the environment.

They can then tell those people still hoping for the best, "Maybe the workload has finally got to her and that’s why she’s getting so paranoid."

Case in point: I was having a difficult time explaining to one of my main supporters that these people were up to no good. When he asked why, I mentioned the habit of one of the proponents to resort to lies. In my anger and anxiety, I exaggerated it to "He lies like a rug." But the proponent had been very careful to show a candid image to the supporter. Yet my guy was blown right over when I finally managed to tape a telephone conversation with the proponent. "My God, he’s so evasive. This guy is not straight, he’s lying to you!"

The proponents scored high in maintaining a high state of confusion in the office. They always had an excuse to lure us into a nearby bar after work.…"Just for an innocent beer and we can talk about vision without the constant interruption of the office telephones." Somehow they were always slow about pulling out their wallets. The bills began mounting.

Under the guise of marketing improvements, they order new letterhead and business cards that are there to mock you long after their departure.

By this time, others around me were becoming uneasy. Adding to the confusion was that the fact that the deadly duo were being sustained by a local politician with whom we thought we had no quarrel.

The politician who we would have thought would have had more valuable things to do with his time, kept cropping up in the neighbourhood as if by chance. Yet, the duo that claimed to be at odds with him, said they were never in touch.

So sure of ultimate victory, they had their tete a tetes with the politician in the bars closest to our office. Once when their timing was off but favoured us, we were elated to catch them in action.

In the end, we were thanking our lucky stars for the savvy of the private eyes who actually taped the closing chapter when the duo was asked to leave the office.

There were some valuable lessons from all of this. At the very beginning, one member of the deadly duo was in his cups and actually boasted that the politician in question would "bring you down". When he was asked directly about it, he pretended we had misunderstood. I had recorded his words in my diary. Looking back on it after his departure, I berated myself for letting those around me second-guess the situation.

For me, the most valuable lesson was believing in myself.

They’re gone now. Away from the office, they would be imprudent to carry the game any further. The oddity of their relationship, their propensity for drink and their on-again-off-again relationship with the employer to whom they have returned would have Frank Magazine in raptures. TFP lost a lot of time and money in this six-month long exercise. Any feelings of bitterness were soon replaced with knowing that we made it. After all has been said and done, duplicity notwithstanding, we’re still here.

Meanwhile, a little paranoia goes a long way.

Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com


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