Beating the Algorithms - Thank you for supporting Healing the Scapegoat Wound
A note of thanks from me to you.
From Rebecca C. Mandeville, LMFT, CCTP (Founder of FSA Education)
Dear Community,
I want to thank each and every one of my subscribers and followers for being a part of the Healing the Scapegoat Wound community. We’re celebrating 4000 subscribers and 4500 followers today. This is significant because, as evidenced by my Substack ‘stats’, not one of my posts or notes has been shared beyond my subscriber base in the 18 months I have been here.
This has happened to me on every platform I’ve been on. Why? Because my research-based term ‘Family Scapegoating Abuse’ (FSA) is considered to be not algorithm-friendly. The idea of ‘family’ is still a sacred cow in society globally. The fact that family can psycho-emotionally abuse one of their own via pathological scapegoating processes is a dirty secret that even the algorithms shy away from.
I know this for a fact, by the way, because both Amazon AND YouTube (where I am one of their licensed Health Partners) told me this directly. Amazon will not let me advertise my introductory book on FSA (Rejected, Shamed, and Blamed), for example, as it is “not family friendly”.
At YouTube, I had to appeal every video I made to get them monetized, which is why I finally shut the shop down there and moved over to Substack - only to find myself in the same situation, ironically.
So thank you for the social media shares and the Substack restacks, because my Substack’s growth is nearly 100% dependent on your kindly sharing my FSA content.
Before Substack, your book gave me words for my experience. I wasn’t crazy; my family was beating me up. Constantly. I told a friend recently, “I’ve excelled at work for years while enduring trauma. What if I showed up everyday with bruises?” But we don’t, so our experience is minimized. I tried to explain FSA to my boss and she waved her hand and said, “My husband isn’t close to his family,” as if that is the same thing. Really, she isn’t ready to acknowledge this form of abuse. I agree 100% that there is a societal inability to accept that some families are intent on destroying one of their members. Not for a day or a week, but forever. It’s beyond belief. ~ There was a really old Law & Order rerun recently about a Golden Child and Scapegoat, two brothers, and the latter is willing to take the rap for a crime committed by the former, who got killed running from police. At a jailhouse visit, the Scapegoat says to his mother, “I didn’t do the crime, but whether I did or not, you’re still going to punish me, so I might as well plead guilty. It’s safer in here.” He pleads for her to the point of screaming to acknowledge that she hasn’t protected him since childhood and there’s a long pause when you think maybe she might just finally give him what every child needs — will she? won’t she? And of course she doesn’t. This was written a good 20 years ago, and it’s gripping drama because the viewer simply can’t believe that a parent could be so unfeeling. Except for 8500 persons who follow your Substack. That weird fiction is our reality. I’m not glad that you have to jump through so many hoops to do your life-saving work, but I know that every single follower here is a believer, and that means this is a true community of healing. Wow!
Wow I can't believe all of those platforms are doing this just like the individuals and smaller systems we've all dealt with. You're really fighting for this and there's no words to describe how appreciated and supported you are Rebecca