Posted on 01/25/2021 2:39:33 AM PST by sodpoodle
WHAT IS GASLIGHTING?
The term originates in the systematic psychological manipulation of a victim by her husband in Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 stage play Gas Light, and the film adaptations released in 1940 and 1944.
In the story, the husband attempts to convince his wife and others that she is insane by manipulating small elements of their environment and insisting that she is mistaken, remembering things incorrectly, or delusional when she points out these changes. The play's title alludes to how the abusive husband slowly dims the gas lights in their home, while pretending nothing has changed, in an effort to make his wife doubt her own perceptions. The wife repeatedly asks her husband to confirm her perceptions about the dimming lights, but in defiance of reality, he keeps insisting that the lights are the same and instead it is she who is going insane.
Today, we are living in a perpetual state of gaslighting. The reality that what we are being told by the media is at complete odds with what we are seeing with our own two eyes. And when we question the false reality that we are being presented, or we claim that what we see is that actual reality, we are vilified as racist or bigots or just plain crazy. You’re not racist. You’re not crazy. You’re being gaslighted.
New York State has twice as many deaths from Covid-19 than any other state, and New York has accounted for one fifth of all Covid-19 deaths, but we are told that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has handled the pandemic better than any other governor. But if we support policies of Governors whose states had only a fraction of the infections and deaths as New York, we’re called anti-science and want people to die. So, we ask ourselves, am I crazy? No, you’re being gaslighted.
We see mobs of people looting stores, smashing windows, setting cars on fire and burning down buildings, but we are told that these demonstrations are peaceful protests, and when we call this destruction of our cities, riots, we are called racists. So, we ask ourselves, am I crazy? No, you’re being gaslighted.
We see the major problem destroying many inner-cities is crime; murder, gang violence, drug dealing, drive-by shootings, armed robbery, but we are told that it is not crime, but the police that are the problem in the inner-cities. We are told we must defund the police and remove law enforcement from crime-riddled cities to make them safer But if we advocate for more policing in cities overrun by crime, we are accused of being white supremacists and racists. So, we ask ourselves, am I crazy? No, you’re being gaslighted.
The United States of America accepts more immigrants than any other country in the world. The vast majority of the immigrants are “people of color”, and these immigrants are enjoying freedom and economic opportunity not available to them in their country of origin, but we are told that the United States is the most racist and oppressive country on the planet, and if we disagree, we are called racist and xenophobic So, we ask ourselves, am I crazy? No, you’re being gaslighted.
Capitalist countries are the most prosperous countries in the world. The standard of living is the highest in capitalist countries. We see more poor people move up the economic ladder to the middle and even the wealthy class through their effort and ability in capitalist countries than any other economic system in the world, but we are told capitalism is an oppressive system designed to keep people down. So, we ask ourselves, am I crazy? No, you’re being gaslighted.
Communist countries killed over 100 million people in the 20th century. Communist countries strip their citizens of basic human rights, dictate every aspect of their lives, treat their citizens as slaves, and drive their economies into the ground, but we are told that Communism is the fairest, most equitable, freest, and most prosperous economic system in the world. So, we ask ourselves, am I crazy? No, you’re being gaslighted.
The most egregious example of gaslighting is the concept of “white fragility”. You spend your life trying to be a good person, trying to treat people fairly and with respect. You disavow racism and bigotry in all its forms. You judge people solely on the content of their character and not by the color of their skin. You don’t discriminate based on race or ethnicity. But you are told you are a racist, not because of something you did or said, but solely because of the color of your skin. You know instinctively that charging someone with racism because of their skin color is itself racist. You know that you are not racist, so you defend yourself and your character, but you are told that your defense of yourself is proof of your racism. So, we ask ourselves, am I crazy? No, you’re being gaslighted.
Gaslighting has become one of the most pervasive and destructive tactics in American politics. It is the exact opposite of what our political system was meant to be. It deals in lies and psychological coercion, and not the truth and intellectual discourse. If you ever ask yourself if you’re crazy, you are not. Crazy people aren’t sane enough to ask themselves if they’re crazy. So, trust yourself, believe what’s in your heart. Trust your eyes over what you are told. Never listen to the people who tell you that you are crazy, because you are not, you’re being gaslighted.
Sophocles said: "What people believe prevails over the truth." And that's what the media are trying to exploit.
I've heard the term gaslighting before but didn't know what it meant..Now I know.
If you have read this far let me say one thing. I did not write the above and I am not sure who the author is.
I sent this to you because you are hopefully smart enough to understand what is being done to you on a daily basis from many directions. I do not care about your political party affiliation. Just think through what you are being told. Don't listen with a deaf ear, or see with a blind eye. Question everything -- even things from people who you think you can trust. Question why you are being told whatever, by whomever. Question their motives. Question who benefits. Question if there is a hidden agenda behind the propaganda. Question, Question, Question. Then do your own research, and use some of your own critical thinking skills to get to the truth. Listen with your heart and with your mind.
Sadly, 95% of the masses don't even know that they are being gaslighted. At least now you do.
If this makes sense to you, then forward to your friends who you think might "get it.”
To call it “gaslighting” is inadequate unless you understand all you would need to know in order to not have it go over your head or somebody else’s. Apparently, this oversimplification of how a seriously undesirable cultural phenomenon is perceived has caused enough confusion already and is not as benign as it sounds if all you use to identify it is a single word taken from the title of an old Hollywood movie.
Gotta watch the movie, “Gaslight”. No need for a thesis on the subject.
Thank you so much for posting this.
I hear the term frequently, but these examples solidified in my mind exactly what is going on.
I will now refer to the msm as “The Gaslighters”, or “The Gaslighting Media”. That’s exactly what they are doing.
I also shared it on my fb page.
The play's title alludes to how the abusive husband slowly dims the gas lights in their home, while pretending nothing has changed, in an effort to make his wife doubt her own perceptions.
The dimming of the gas lights was not because the husband was intentionally deluding the wife.
***SPOILER*** The dimming was caused by the husband going into the attic to search the belongings of his wife's deceased aunt for lost jewels, and when he turns up the gas light in the attic it dims the lights in the rest of the house. When she mentions the dimming lights when he's unexplainably away, he concocts the rest to convince her that she's going mad.
-PJ
I always learn something from my friend’s e-mails - and I thought I knew everything:)
God bless.
It’s an excellent read. Not too long, and the examples really resonate. I posted it over on the Trump Train thread.
It might be easy to call Walter Cronkite's labeling of the Tet Offensive as the point when America "lost" the Vietnam War gaslighting, but since there were tightly controlled images by only three networks that limited what the public saw, it's not the same to say they were ignoring their "lying eyes." The people were being propagandized, not gaslighted.
Move forward to the 2000s, and we have Chuck Schumer calling left-wing judges "mainstream" and mainstream judges "right wing," as an attempt to introduce ideology into the Senate confirmation process to block George W Bush's nominees. This was gaslighting, as the people could clearly see for themselves the judges, their writings, and their judicial history. However, Schumer's repeated calling the left-wing as "mainstream" was gaslighting people.
Today, we have the absurdity of the MSM denying things they wrote in their own newspapers that are still easily accessible on the internet. We have the MSM scrubbing videos and rewriting old stories to conform to today's "facts," and insisting that it was always so. That's gaslighting.
-PJ
Thank you sod. Excellent.
Bttt
Was talking to GOPSter about this recently. One of the tools in the lying Stalinazi Satanist media propagandists’ arsenal.
Thanks for the background. To remember the meaning I’ve found it helpful to call it the “you’re crazy” treatment.
An ongoing observation of mine since I was in my early 20s-...Some people “gaslight” themselves. They listen and hear something other than what is really being said and mistake the thoughts of the person they are conversing with for being less than well-meaning. I admit that it’s happened to me that way but only when I was really depressed and feeling down and out. I was ripe for the picking and I could have sworn that there were people were trying “gaslight” me but I didn’t know what to call it back then. Eventually, things got a whole lot better and once I had it figured out I could “gaslight” with the worst of them. However, I realized that my freedom of speech trumps any perceived notion of a right to not be confused by what other people say. I will not be held responsible for the wild assumptions made by people who might claim that gaslighting or attempted gaslighting was perpetrated against them.
We gaslight ourselves fretting over racism
By our interpretations the entire world is racist and it is to be honest
Once you deprogram that slavery and racism are the original sins of rhe white race.....then you are truly free
So many woods just can’t let go of that
It’s like they need the guiit ...or shame
Very well done,
Bmk for later
My wife asked if we were finally going to get round to watching Gaslight...
I had to remind her we’d already seen it and she loved it.
(I was missing the giggles from your post so, I just had to...)
“I had to remind her we’d already seen it and she loved it.”
LOL! You’re bad.
We all have some innate amount of bigotry.
It is a “survival” tactic.
Do you continue to walk toward a mother bear and her cubs?
Bigotry is not illegal but /protected/ by the 1st Amendment.
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