I have seen the behaviour before. The odd idea, that someone think they can manipulate words that are in plain view - sometimes to save face, sometimes to try and sway people, sometimes just because of basic insecurity - and always fall flat on their faces, because what they create, is a warped reality at best. They will defend the indefensible, they will act defiantly and they will come across as arrogant. What they really are, is hurt.
It presents itself as a snowball effect that will inevitably roll over friends and confidants. It will play itself out to such an extent, that you will invariably start to doubt if you ever knew this person, or if they have ever been straight with you. It is hard not to react, and your first instinct is to get angry and counter. But the more you look at it, it becomes apparent that this is not a battle you will want to engage in, because the basic premise for it is sheer madness.
The first sign is passive aggressiveness. Ire, vitriol, poison and snide remarks, disguised as engaging in the subject, but all the time pushing one agenda: havoc. If it is online the use of smileys to cover up the anger is especially telling. Another trait is that they will often talk things, projects, their politics or art up, when everyone else can see, that the correlation with actual reality, is strained if not outright broken. Most people are just too polite to tell the person or persons in question.
This site is about art, photography, literature, philosophy and critique. It is about being real - which is a tall order in this world. In science, we have the peer review. Paired with scientific method, it is, perhaps one of the finest ideas humanity ever had. Imagine introducing that in art or photography. It would never work. Never mind, not being able to take critique, but being decent to peers seems to be a problem too. In latter years, this phenom seems to have enlisted a Trump-esque way of being fact-resistant. I am rarely shocked, if ever. But I do get taken aback in extreme cases. But my anger subsided some time ago. Sadness fills my heart instead in these cases.
We have a duty, actually, to shut behavior like that down, as it pollutes the air for everyone. But way too often, we do what I did. We give people the benefit of the doubt in the few rare cases where we should not. We sometimes pay an outrageous price for that. Character assassination is an ugly thing, but thankfully, it only works if you can make your shit stick, and if you have sympathisers and supporters that will drive your twisted agenda. Trump does - you do not.
So treat humans the way you want to be treated, if they reward such honesty with lies and deceit - maybe even attempt to drag you through the mud? Then find the strength to rise above it, no matter how bad you want revenge, no matter how utterly you want to rip into the culprit, no matter how unfairly you have been treated, no matter how insanely you think others have acted. I know it is hard, but...