Sue Scheff enjoys portraying herself as an expert in cyber bullying. She’s written books upon books about her status as a victim of an unfair internet harassment campaign out to get her. In recent memory there have certainly been many examples of that, from the misogynistic GamerGate to the state sponsored racist trolls that have overtaken social media. Sue Scheff, however, is not a cyber victim like in any of those examples.
On the contrary, she is a cyber victimizer. Before she decided it was fashionable to write books about cyber bullying, Sue Scheff was perfectly fine with attacking people on the basis of sexual orientation, religion, and mental health issues. But don’t take my word for it. You need only read her own words:
The above blog was written about me back in 2008. Sue Scheff made a concerted effort to put it everywhere she could and was largely successful. In her blog, she called me a sociopath, revealed my location, my school at the time, and made fun of my sexual orientation. I’m not the only one she did this to. Joyce Harris, a former client of Sue Scheff who’s daughter was sent to Whitmore Academy, was also a victim of Sue Scheff’s cyber bullying.
In her blog about Joyce Harris, she made fun of Joyce, posting a reference to her dating profile, calling her “Honker Girl” and making insinuations that Joyce was a swinger (not that it would matter if she was). But wait, there’s more. Anybody who ever criticized her got an attack blog, with the clear intent being to harass and interfere with one’s ability to make a living.
She made fun of victims of abusive programs, making light of where they were sent and her views of why. She had no respect for patient privacy and still doesn’t. The only reason why some of her attack blogs about others are now private is that her past attacks are no longer fashionable, especially with her current purported crusade against cyber bullying. Homophobia that once was acceptable back in 2008 hasn’t aged well. Cyber stalking hasn’t ether — or doxing — or making light of institutionalization.
Thanks in large part to archive.org, the internet never forgets, and these sorts of cyber attacks haven’t aged well. This is what cyber bullying and harassment looks like, not efforts to expose Sue Scheff’s complicity in sending teens to abusive programs for profit. Unfortunately, as Maia Szalavitz noted on the Huffington Post, Sue Scheff has a talent for deception.
Recently, she’s even managed to fool Monica Lewinsky into writing a book forward for her. But even with all her deception, it won’t change the truth Sue Scheff is not a victim of internet bullying. She’s the architect of a successful bullying campaign, using private information, doxing, and a dodgy reputation management company to suppress criticism.