We Are Being Gaslighted

“Gaslighting”is a manipulation tactic used to gain power.  The term derives from a 1944 movie Gaslight, in which a man manipulates or “gaslights” his wife to the point of her believing she is going crazy. (In the movie, the manipulation is in large part accomplished through the use of actual gas lights, hence the term and the movie title)  According to Psychology Today, “It [gaslighting] works much better than you may think. Anyone is susceptible to gaslighting, and it is a common technique of abusers, dictators, narcissists, and cult leaders. It is done slowly, so the victim doesn't realize how much they've been brainwashed.” Essentially, the gaslighter makes the victim question their reality so as to then accept the reality proffered by the gaslighter. 

Today we all need to realize that we are being manipulated by the information that we are being fed.  There is a coalition made up of Progressives, Democrats, much of the main stream media, as well as some establishment republicans and a miscellany of others, all of whom are attempting to manipulate our opinion of President Trump and his administration.  They do this by focusing on idiotic details (did Melania hold his hand?; how many scoops of ice cream does he eat? etc.), by magnifying every mistake or inconsistency (e.g. yesterday he said something is “great”  but today he said it is“good” so how can we possibly trust him?), by stating their opinion or wish as if it were factual truth (Trump colluded with the Russians; Trump has alienated our allies, if you don’t see this you are simply wrong), by refusing to acknowledge any positive accomplishment at all (keeping many campaign promises, retaining jobs in U.S.; successful  first trip abroad, to name only a few; the most recent Harvard study shows the extent of the anti-Trump bias of the news media), and by telling us that they and we have the duty to impose their opinions as rules upon us and to remove the duly elected president simply because he is not one of them (and in so doing essentially asserting that it is our duty to ignore our constitution and our representative form of government in favor of installing them as our “big brother” administrative state).

They are indeed gaslighting us.  Bit by bit they assert their opinions as facts.  They drill day upon day about the evils of Trump,  pushing us to accept their reality.  Slowly but persistently they move to brainwash us.  And  if successful they would have us relinquish our representative and democratic form of government to their power.

Psychology today tells us there are certain techniques used by gaslighters (11 Signs of Gaslighting in a Relationship by Stephanie Sarkis Ph.D., Psychology Today, Jan. 22, 2017).   First, they tell lies.  They know it is a lie, often a blatant lie, yet they tell it in order to set up a precedent. (Just think about their hyperbolic assertions about the Russia-Trump-Election connections) Even if you realize it is a lie, you will be kept off balance because you will not be sure what they say after that is true.  Also, they often deny they said something, even though there is proof that they did. (Think about their calls for Comey to be fired before Trump did so).   Gaslighters use what is near and dear to you as ammunition (consider the exaggerated and erroneous claims about children dying with Trump's tax and health plans). 

An important technique used by gaslighters is that they wear you down over time.  “This is one of the insidious things about gaslighting—it is done gradually, over time. A lie here, a lie there, a snide comment every so often...and then it starts ramping up. Even the brightest, most self-aware people can be sucked into gaslighting—it is that effective. It's the "frog in the frying pan" analogy: The heat is turned up slowly, so the frog never realizes what's happening to it.”  It is hard to deny that this technique is in full force by the anti-Trump brigade.

Related is that gaslighters know that confusion weakens people.  They try to make you question everything so that you will look to them to help you feel more stable.  Yet, “their actions do not match their words….What they are saying means nothing, it is just talk.  What they are doing is the issue.”  In looking at the words of the anti-Trump brigade, one would believe they are acting to protect America and its people, but if one looks to their actions one can clearly see that everything they do is an attempt to tear apart if not completely destroy our democracy. 

Gaslighters will also throw in positive reinforcement to confuse you.  If you begin to question their actions, they will throw in something that will make you think that they are not so bad.  So, too, the anti-Trumpers will from time to time find something good to say about the “deplorables” and will assert they have their best interests in mind.  Gaslighters will also project, accusing you of their faults, so that you are distracted from the gaslighter’s behavior as you instead focus on defending yourself.

In their continuing war of manipulation, gaslighters will try to align people against you.  They find people who will stand with them no matter what and use those people against you, asserting such things as “this person knows you aren’t right.”  Those people may never have said that, but, a “gaslighter is a constant liar. When the gaslighter uses this tactic it makes you feel like you don't know who to trust or turn to—and that leads you right back to the gaslighter.”  This is just another way of gaining power and we see it every day from the anti-Trumpers as they assert that anyone who knows anything knows those who support Trump are not right, not American, but are, racist, bigots, homophobes, islamaphopes, or even Nazis.  And, with this comes one of the more effective tools of the gaslighter – they will tell you or others that you are crazy and, as you or others begin to question the sanity of your world view, nothing you say will be believed.

Finally, gaslighters will tell you that everyone but them is a liar which makes you question your reality.  We hear a lot today about world views.  If you are persistently told that your view or the populist view or the conservative view is wrong and based on lies, then you will naturally question your view, falling for the gaslighter’s manipulation technique and ultimately turning to the gaslighter for the “correct” information, the “correct” world view, the “correct” reality.

The gaslighter who has mastered these techniques is a master of manipulation.  It causes the one being gaslighted to first question their reality, then to believe the gaslighter’s reality and ultimately to act accordingly with those beliefs, thus giving the gaslighter ultimate control over the life of the one being gaslighted.  Let me restate: “Anyone is susceptible to gaslighting, and it is a common technique of abusers, dictators, narcissists, and cult leaders. It is done slowly, so the victim doesn't realize how much they've been brainwashed.”

Yet, when one is aware of the techniques of the gaslighter outlined above, one can become less susceptible to the manipulation.  I don’t understand why everyone is not aware of the blatant use of these techniques by the anti-Trump brigade, yet the fact they are not simply shows what expert gaslighters the anti-Trumpers are.