He’s the Puppet Master
It’s something we’ve all thought about recently. How can a powerful man control everything around him without anyone standing up to defy his outrageous behavior? I call him the Puppet Master because that’s what he is. He has all the control, and his warped sense of right and wrong slowly changes us.
We were taught from an early age to be courteous and to show respect to those in power. The heartbreaking truth is that the very things that make us respectful are the things that set us up for mind control. I learned through the years that true Puppet Masters can have diverse backgrounds. Race, Sex, and religious conviction don’t allow you to identify them quickly. The Puppet Master knows who he/she is, but you don’t see the ugliness under their clean exterior.
Toxic Behavior
The control he has over our lives knows no boundaries.
His arsenal of tools to show dominance over our lives can be so subtle that we sometimes wonder if we’re not the problem. His greatest weapon is to isolate you from those who regularly support you. Once your support network disappears, it compromises the strength you need to stand up to the Puppet Master’s demands.
You see, winning is his primary objective. The Puppet Master will persist until you have lost all ability to resist. It is when you become his puppet that you lose all ability to control your life.
One of the most telling clues that the Puppet Master is influencing you is the realization that he consistently degrades those of the opposite sex. He makes crude and rude comments about those who don’t live up to his high expectations while he either criticizes you for being like them or praises you for being so much better
He’s quick to make sexual comments about under-age girls. He will even wistfully wish aloud that they were older. When he talks to an under-age girl, he typically talks like he would to an adult friend or lover. The Puppet Master will consistently stress that he hasn’t changed all that much from the time he was a child to make himself appear non-threatening.
The Puppet Master is the King of Manipulation
The Puppet Master has a whole bag of tricks, or perhaps we should refer to them as games because that’s what they are to him. He will first gain your trust then expect you to keep his secrets.
Perhaps the most telling trait of the Puppet Master is that he keeps track of everything. In a healthy relationship, we expect reciprocity will come naturally. Surely our feelings for each other will encourage us to be kind.
Unfortunately, the Puppet Master thinks only of his personal gratification. Your needs will never be recognized, much less, met.
He will use guilt as one of his sharpest-edged weapons. Don’t be fooled. His power over you escalates when you are made to feel responsible for anything wrong that happens in his relationship with you.
One of the clues to recognizing his behavior is your sense of indebtedness. He will go to great lengths to make you feel you owe him. Whether it’s a sense of being beholden for gifts or favors or the threat he holds over your head, you will do whatever pleases him.
Privacy Issues
He also expects you to keep your mouth shut about the relationship when you’re talking to others. You will constantly be under his scrutiny. Don’t be surprised if he spies on you when you’re not with him. He’ll check your phone and internet history. His control is a blatant violation of your privacy.
Don’t expect any time to yourself to recharge. The Puppet Master will suck every ounce of strength out of you by never allowing you time to yourself.
You Don’t Have a Right to your Feelings
The Puppet Master will consistently make you feel guilty for things you wouldn’t even consider wrong in a healthy relationship. (Like going to lunch with a co-worker.)
He will belittle you if you object to his condemnation, saying that he was teasing you. It’s one of the ways he holds control over you each and every day.
Not only will he deny your feelings, but he will make certain you doubt your worth and accomplishments. I remember being called “Little Miss ‘I Don’t Know.'” That title indicated that I was stupid on a repetitive basis.
Who is the Puppet Master?
He’s the
- Pedophile who hurt you as a child.
- Leader who puts his own needs above those of everyone else.
- Priest who strips the childhood from too many children.
- Neighbor who watches over you when your parents need to run an errand.
- Teacher or scout leader who forever imprints your child.
- Father who never did anything to earn the name “Dad.”
- Uncle who hangs around all the time.
We need to stop the Puppet Master. You can find hope for the future and help to escape the person who tries to control you and everything in your environment.
Is This Abuse?
The National Domestic Violence Hotline
The Best Way to Deal With Controlling People – Psychology Today
