Truth on Trial – How Narcissists Weaponize Silence in Court Reporting

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There’s a chilling moment that many truth-tellers eventually face: the instant they stop playing along with a narcissist’s carefully curated façade and speak honestly. What happens next is rarely proportional. It’s explosive. Vindictive. Calculated. And in the court reporting world, it can be professionally and personally devastating.

“The times I felt the most unsafe were when I told the truth.”

That sentence encapsulates what many stenographers, agency owners, and advocates have experienced in our field. When you expose unethical behavior, question power structures, or shine light on misconduct, you become the problem — not the person who committed the wrongdoing. And in communities where “image management” trumps accountability, the truth is treated like a threat.

Truth Is Kryptonite to the Narcissist

Narcissistic and psychopathic personalities thrive in environments where appearances matter more than integrity. Their power is built on denial, projection, and rewriting history. Their entire sense of control depends on the illusion that they are untouchable.

The moment the truth threatens that illusion, their reaction is swift and severe. They erupt — not because the truth is false, but because it’s true. Exposure is their greatest fear.

That’s why accusations that are entirely accurate often provoke the fiercest backlash. They can’t afford to let the truth stand uncontested, so they go into overdrive: rage, intimidation, gaslighting, smearing, triangulation, deflection. The goal isn’t to engage with facts; it’s to silence, discredit, or destroy the source of the truth.

In our profession, this dynamic is painfully visible. Certain individuals have repeatedly lashed out against anyone questioning their business practices or public conduct. Others have cultivated a benevolent image while using positional power within professional organizations to freeze out dissenting voices.

These are not isolated “personality clashes.” They are textbook examples of narcissistic abuse dynamics playing out in a professional arena.

How Organizations Enable the Abuse

Toxic individuals alone can’t maintain power indefinitely. What allows them to thrive is organizational complicity. When boards, associations, or influential networks choose to ignore credible allegations, minimize victims’ experiences, or prioritize optics over ethics, they become enablers.

This is precisely what we’ve seen in court reporting circles. Whether it’s overlooking conflicts of interest, brushing off volunteer exploitation, or refusing to investigate clear ethical violations, the result is the same: narcissistic personalities grow more emboldened.

When bullies publicly attack whistleblowers with personal smears — accusing them of “obsession,” threatening lawsuits, or rallying followers to dogpile online — and the organizations that partnered with them remain silent, they send a loud message: “We will protect power, not truth.”

Similarly, when insiders use their institutional roles to sideline critics, control narratives, or block reform efforts while smiling for the membership photo, they exploit their positions to maintain dominance. And when nobody in leadership is willing to say, “This is wrong,” the toxic pattern calcifies.

Victims are left isolated, gaslit, and often professionally punished for daring to speak.

The Targeting of Truth-Tellers

If you’ve ever been targeted by one of these personalities, the pattern will feel familiar:

  • Rage and Intimidation: Sudden outbursts, public attacks, veiled threats, or behind-the-scenes whisper campaigns.
  • Gaslighting: Denying conversations that took place, reframing events to make you doubt your own memory, or labeling you “crazy” or “obsessed.”
  • Smear Campaigns: Spreading half-truths, weaponizing private information, or framing themselves as the victim to rally others against you.
  • Triangulation: Pitting people against each other, recruiting “flying monkeys” to do their dirty work, and manipulating social circles to isolate you.

And because many court reporters are independent contractors, freelancers, or small business owners, the stakes are especially high. A successful smear can mean lost jobs, reputational damage, and emotional trauma — all for telling the truth about unethical conduct.

Understanding the Psychology = Reclaiming Power

Once you understand the psychology behind these reactions, you can stop internalizing their fury. Their rage is not proof that you did something wrong — it’s proof that you told the truth. Their panic isn’t your burden to carry.

Knowing this allows you to shift your response:

  • Don’t argue with the rage. You won’t get resolution from someone whose goal is to dominate, not understand.
  • Stay monotone. The “grey rock” method — becoming emotionally neutral and non-reactive — deprives them of the drama they feed on.
  • Keep your evidence. Maintain a clear timeline, screenshots, and contemporaneous notes. This protects you against gaslighting.
  • Lean on your support network. Narcissists isolate; community restores.
  • Write everything down. Documentation is your anchor when their tactics try to make you doubt your reality.
  • Step back. Boundaries and silence can be more powerful than engagement. You are not obligated to defend yourself in the court of their ego.

Sometimes the Only Way Out Is to Leave

In some cases, the healthiest — and safest — move is to step away entirely. When telling the truth in a community makes you the target, it’s a sign that the culture itself is broken. Remaining in a system that rewards abusers and punishes truth-tellers corrodes your mental health and professional integrity.

This is especially relevant in court reporting organizations that have allowed bullying personalities to dominate unchecked. Whether it’s state associations, national bodies, or grassroots groups, if leadership refuses to hold toxic individuals accountable, the structure itself becomes part of the problem.

Leaving doesn’t mean surrendering. It means withdrawing your energy from a rigged game. It means choosing your sanity and integrity over appeasing abusers. It’s how you reclaim power.

Truth-Telling Is Not the Problem. Silence Is.

The court reporting profession is at an inflection point. Between legislative threats, technological disruption, and internal division, the last thing we can afford is to let narcissistic bullies control the narrative. When individuals weaponize image management to crush dissent, they are not “just being difficult personalities” — they are actively weakening the profession’s ability to self-correct and uphold ethical standards.

The most dangerous thing is not their rage. It’s the silence of those who know better but stay quiet.

To the reporters, agency owners, and advocates who have been punished for telling the truth: you are not imagining it, and you are not alone. Understanding the dynamic is the first step toward neutralizing its power.

Truth doesn’t need to scream. It needs to stand firm. And when enough people stop enabling the façade, the façade crumbles.

StenoImperium
Court Reporting. Unfiltered. Unafraid.

Disclaimer

“This article includes analysis and commentary based on observed events, public records, and legal statutes.”

The content of this post is intended for informational and discussion purposes only. All opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are based on publicly available information, industry standards, and good-faith concerns about nonprofit governance and professional ethics. No part of this article is intended to defame, accuse, or misrepresent any individual or organization. Readers are encouraged to verify facts independently and to engage constructively in dialogue about leadership, transparency, and accountability in the court reporting profession.

  • The content on this blog represents the personal opinions, observations, and commentary of the author. It is intended for editorial and journalistic purposes and is protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
  • Nothing here constitutes legal advice. Readers are encouraged to review the facts and form independent conclusions.

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Published by stenoimperium

We exist to facilitate the fortifying of the Stenography profession and ensure its survival for the next hundred years! As court reporters, we've handed the relationship role with our customers, or attorneys, over to the agencies and their sales reps.  This has done a lot of damage to our industry.  It has taken away our ability to have those relationships, the ability to be humanized and valued.  We've become a replaceable commodity. Merely saying we are the “Gold Standard” tells them that we’re the best, but there are alternatives.  Who we are though, is much, much more powerful than that!  We are the Responsible Charge.  “Responsible Charge” means responsibility for the direction, control, supervision, and possession of stenographic & transcription work, as the case may be, to assure that the work product has been critically examined and evaluated for compliance with appropriate professional standards by a licensee in the profession, and by sealing and signing the documents, the professional stenographer accepts responsibility for the stenographic or transcription work, respectively, represented by the documents and that applicable stenographic and professional standards have been met.  This designation exists in other professions, such as engineering, land surveying, public water works, landscape architects, land surveyors, fire preventionists, geologists, architects, and more.  In the case of professional engineers, the engineering association adopted a Responsible Charge position statement that says, “A professional engineer is only considered to be in responsible charge of an engineering work if the professional engineer makes independent professional decisions regarding the engineering work without requiring instruction or approval from another authority and maintains control over those decisions by the professional engineer’s physical presence at the location where the engineering work is performed or by electronic communication with the individual executing the engineering work.” If we were to adopt a Responsible Charge position statement for our industry, we could start with a draft that looks something like this: "A professional court reporter, or stenographer, is only considered to be in responsible charge of court reporting work if the professional court reporter makes independent professional decisions regarding the court reporting work without requiring instruction or approval from another authority and maintains control over those decisions by the professional court reporter’s physical presence at the location where the court reporting work is performed or by electronic communication with the individual executing the court reporting work.” Shared purpose The cornerstone of a strategic narrative is a shared purpose. This shared purpose is the outcome that you and your customer are working toward together. It’s more than a value proposition of what you deliver to them. Or a mission of what you do for the world. It’s the journey that you are on with them. By having a shared purpose, the relationship shifts from consumer to co-creator. In court reporting, our mission is “to bring justice to every litigant in the U.S.”  That purpose is shared by all involved in the litigation process – judges, attorneys, everyone.  Who we are is the Responsible Charge.  How we do that is by Protecting the Record.

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