How Will You Handle the Village Gossip Under Technofascism?

Learning to spot the difference between malignancy and truth.

***Please take out a membership to support the light of truth.***

It is a certainty that you are going to receive messages that appear to come from me but do not.

People are receiving emails from heidicuda/proton.me. That is not my account, and I did not send them.

People on X are seeing memes of racist quotes that are attributed to me. I did not write the quotes and have nothing to do with the group paid to make them up.

Bluesky was supposed to be the kinder, gentler X, but when I arrived, there were already multiple fraudulent accounts in my name — one posting sexual content.

Even Substack has fake accounts designed to impersonate me and my various teams.

These are all attempts to make me radioactive and to discredit my work.

Anyone who follows my writing knows that content at Bette Dangerous, Byline, and my posts on my authorized Twitter account are the primary platforms where I speak for myself.

If anyone is unclear, just email me at bettedangerous/gmail.

Heather Cox Richardson had to explain this to her readers yesterday, as she wrote a post about the unauthorized use of her name.

Dave Troy also had to write to his readers to explain how his name was used without his authorization in a crypto scheme. As if he would have anything to do with such bullshit.

Independent investigative reporters are under Stasi style attacks, and you will need to learn the word Zersetzung, the psychological warfare waged on reporters and dissidents under Soviet rule that were designed to assassinate their souls. After the collapse of East Germany, it was revealed that 150,000 people were paid to destroy 10,000 truth tellers, with another estimated 350,000 affiliates also participating in the harms. Imagine the numbers of soul assassins already targeting American truth tellers.

And here’s the thing: we have nowhere to go for redress.

Proton, a company I support, has so far refused to take down the impersonator account.

Substack worked hard with me to tighten up the security vulnerabilities that allow fake accounts to proliferate but more keep coming. And rather than spend time playing whack-a-mole, I prefer dedicating that time to the deep investigative dives I’m currently working on.

So I write to you today because I want you all to think about how you handle the village gossip under technofascism.

Will you spread it, or will you recognize fraud and learn to spot the difference between malignancy and truth?

That will be the key to all our sanity.

There has never been a time when critical thinking wasn’t important, but it’s especially critical now.

If you know someone to be decent, and you know the heart of their work, you will know when something seems off.

The reporters under siege need your support.

I am doubling and tripling down on my support of independent reporters and historians. They are our last best hope on earth.

It will likely get more difficult as the impersonations are refined, but that is where we can each be an ally.

There will come a time when knowing people in real life will be all that truly matters, and the era where we lived our lives online will become a distant memory.

America is under foreign occupation.

The enemies of truth own most of the platforms.

And thanks to the tenacity of my very brave podcast partners and allies like the very brave Jackie Singh, I have learned to care less and less what people who don’t love me or don’t know me think about me.

My work speaks for me, and I am incredibly proud of it.

What matters to me is the bouquet of fresh cut flowers on my desk, as the colors fade from lavender to soft blush. The hand I hold as I’m strolling along a river bank.

The love of my family. The love of my friends.

The feel of the wind on my shoulders.

We were nourished by real life before the monsters came.

We could be again.

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Bette Dangerous is a reader-funded magazine. Thank you to all monthly, annual, and founding members.

I expose the corruption of billionaire fascists, while relying on memberships for support.

Thank you in advance for considering the following:

• Upgrade to Paid Member

• Upgrade to Founding Member

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• Buying my ebooks

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A private link to an annual membership discount for older adults, those on fixed incomes or drawing disability, as well as activists and members of the media is available upon request at bettedangerous/gmail. 🥹

More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter/producer, author, and veteran music and nightlife columnist. She is the cohost of RADICALIZED Truth Survives, an investigative show about disinformation and is part of the Byline Media team. Thank you for your support of independent investigative journalism.

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Begin each day with a grateful heart.

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