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What is Gaslighting?

Posted on 09/09/2020 6:32:02 AM PDT by MNDude

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.

We are living in a perpetual state of gaslighting. The reality that 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 hman rights, dictate every aspect of their lives, treat their citizens like 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.

~~unknown author


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: chat; definition; gaslighting
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1 posted on 09/09/2020 6:32:02 AM PDT by MNDude
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To: MNDude

Feeding someone false information to drive them crazy or make them paranoid.


2 posted on 09/09/2020 6:33:09 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie (All I know is The I read in the papers.)
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To: MNDude

Post of the Day.


3 posted on 09/09/2020 6:35:04 AM PDT by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: MNDude

Throwing ‘fuel’ on a fire.....


4 posted on 09/09/2020 6:35:13 AM PDT by cranked
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

Growing up, my alcoholic father would gaslight my mother. “You’re crazy, I never said that” and on and on. Us kids would tell Ma he was lying.


5 posted on 09/09/2020 6:38:27 AM PDT by olepap
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To: MNDude

Excellent post.


6 posted on 09/09/2020 6:40:33 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: MNDude

The United States of America accepts more immigrants than any other country in the world. “

But why are most of them from nonEuropean countries? We’re not allowed to ask that.

We’re not allowed to ask about what seems to be the deliberate demographic transformation of the United States. While the left and the cheap-labor businessis establishment go about engineering that transformation , the rest of us are not allow to challenge it , or are called racists for suggesting a different mix of immigrants. Even though the advocates of the current mix have a racially related goal of their own - a goal were not allowed to discuss


7 posted on 09/09/2020 6:45:15 AM PDT by rintintin
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To: MNDude

Send your essay to Townhall or a similar venue. It needs wider distribution.


8 posted on 09/09/2020 6:45:36 AM PDT by Ge0ffrey
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To: MNDude

“The reality that we are being told by the media is at complete odds with what we are seeing with our own two eyes.”

The Democrats mantra is “Tell a lie often enough and the low information voters will accept it as gospel”.


9 posted on 09/09/2020 6:45:52 AM PDT by antidemoncrat (Biden's)
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To: MNDude

Bkmk


10 posted on 09/09/2020 6:46:46 AM PDT by Lurkina.n.Learnin (With age comes wisdom or well practiced ignorance)
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To: olepap

Nothing like an Alk in the family.


11 posted on 09/09/2020 6:46:52 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie (All I know is The I read in the papers.)
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To: MNDude

That was good. Too bad the author is unknown.


12 posted on 09/09/2020 6:48:55 AM PDT by be-baw
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To: MNDude
TL;DR: Biden now says Trump budget from February was "only" attemp to defund police."

Here's an on-going example:

Yesterday, Biden said, "Trump supports defunding the police."

The democrats are trying to wiggle away from a proposal by the far Left they were--up until recently--Biden and Harris among them--supporting.

It's based on Trump's 2021 budget proposal. He released it back in February when cutting unnecessary spending was more popular than funding the police. As it stands now, Trump's released budget proposal calls for $280m in cuts to where the police get their funding from the states. This is part of a move to reduce the federal deficit. The money going to local police should be a local/state matter. It is THIS--local police money--not federal funds, the democrats want to cut. Nothing like Trump's budget.

Yet the want to muddy the political waters so much that moderates and people who don't follow the news are confused because now they're hearing "Both sides do it."

That is 100% gaslighting because both sides DON'T do it.

Only one side is proposing cutting the police, especially in the cities with no-go ghettos that are crime-ridden hell holes that without police, will descend into madness.

Now, from Breitbart about the so-called Trump defunding:

On Tuesday, Biden repeated the claim in an interview with a local television news station, telling an anchor that Trump’s most recent budget (in February) “calls for cutting local funding for police nationally.” But Biden’s claims are false.

President Trump has never suggested that he wants to “defund the police” or undercut local law enforcement functions.

It is not clear how Biden arrived at his figure of “half a billion dollars.” On Tuesday, he said it was closer to $447 billion. It would appear that Biden is referring to several cuts to federal programs in the White House Fiscal Year 2021 budget proposal, which the administration says are obsolete.

The budget was produced before the coronavirus pandemic, and long before the recent nationwide unrest.

The White House proposed the following cuts:

$46 million in Transportation and Safety Administration (TSA) grants reimbursing state and local law enforcement for posting officers at airports. The administration argues that state and local governments have largely taken over that role.

$59 million in funding for the TSA Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) Teams, which the White House wants to eliminate because it says the program duplicates state and local law enforcement functions for no real reason.

$136 million from the Bill Clinton-era COPS Hiring Program, which was originally designed to help state and local law enforcement agencies hire new officers, but which now subsidizes entry-level salaries and benefits. The White House says the program is not “well targeted to achieve public safety outcomes,” and that it only funds one or two officers per agency. The money is to be reallocated to “higher priority” federal law enforcement functions, such as stopping human trafficking.

Together, those cuts are only $241 million. There is another cut of $244 million to the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), which helps state and local agencies incarcerate illegal aliens who commit crimes. The White House wants to eliminate that program and to use the money for border enforcement instead, stopping the problem at its source.

Those cuts add up to just under $500 million. They hardly represent major cuts; most of the money will still be spent on law enforcement.

Moreover, the White House budget proposal actually increases funding for other law enforcement functions, such as a $544 million increase to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Overall, the White House proposes that the Department of Justice budget be decreased 2.3%, focusing more resources on higher priority law enforcement functions, given the drop in violent crime in recent years.

The recent unrest has shifted the Trump administration’s focus toward finding ways for federal law enforcement to assist local law enforcement efforts (or compensate for the lack thereof). On Tuesday, as part of Operation Legend, the President announced a surge of federal law enforcement officers to Chicago, Albuquerque, and other cities struggling with a surge in violent crime in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests and efforts by local politicians to defund or restrain the police.

Biden and the Democrats have responded to the unrest by criticizing police and calling for their functions to be replaced.

The movement to “defund the police,” which Biden’s “redirected” funding reflects, argues that there is something inherently bad about police work that needs to be replaced.

Biden appears to share that view: last month, he blamed police for “escalat[ing] tension” in communities, appearing to blame them for the unrest erupting nationwide.

So there ya go. The media and democrats want you to just agree with them while they wink, node, and nudge.

13 posted on 09/09/2020 6:52:45 AM PDT by Alas Babylon! (The prisons do not fill themselves. Get moving, Barr!)
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To: MNDude

It worked on my sister, but not my brother. She’s all upset about George dying with a cop’s knee on his neck, and was oblivious to the autopsy report that came out later.

Gaslighting is accomplished by leaving a detail out, but referring to it indirectly and inaccurately, with the thought the target might question it and supply a ‘correct’ thought that makes the statement less wrong. This adds up over time. “I can’t breathe” becomes a plea for relief instead of a drug user’s last words from having more than a lethal dose of fentanyl in him.


14 posted on 09/09/2020 7:00:01 AM PDT by RideForever (We were born to be tested)
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To: MNDude

Bfl


15 posted on 09/09/2020 7:00:29 AM PDT by Oshkalaboomboom
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To: MNDude

Yep.

Once again the question becomes... What are we going to do about it? What can we do? What are we prepared to do?

I am firmly in the camp that believes violence alone will solve this. The other side has abandoned reason and is openly using violence already. They use the non-sense in their “arguments” to further gaslight the Right in their
MSM supported agitprop.

I hope I’m wrong. History says I’m not.


16 posted on 09/09/2020 7:01:42 AM PDT by Dead Corpse (A Psalm in napalm...)
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To: MNDude

Very relevant post, thanks for sharing! Interesting to know the origin of the term.


17 posted on 09/09/2020 7:05:27 AM PDT by angelrod
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To: MNDude

Charles Boyer is the MSM/Democrat machine

Ingrid Bergman is US!!!

Joseph Cotton is Rush Limbaugh

18 posted on 09/09/2020 7:14:26 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: MNDude

Know this: if you are being gaslighted the person gas lighting you has no respect for you and thinks you are a imbecile.


19 posted on 09/09/2020 7:15:48 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: MNDude

Bergman, Boyer.
Gaslight, 1944, one of my favorite flicks!


20 posted on 09/09/2020 7:23:23 AM PDT by Buttons12
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