Gaslighting for fun and profit

Not just a movie anymore

The Newport Institute defines “gaslighting” as a form of psychological abuse or manipulation in which the abuser attempts to sow self-doubt and confusion in their victim’s mind. They continue: Typically, gaslighters are seeking to gain power and control over the other person, by distorting reality and forcing them to question their own judgment and intuition.

The term is derived from the title of Gaslight (1944), a classic film based on an earlier British film and a 1938 stage play. In the movie, a man is trying to drive his wife crazy—using a series of deceptions—to allow him to take full charge of her estate, locate missing jewels, and escape a murder rap. The “gaslight” reference refers to flickering gaslights seen, and not imagined, by the wife. The flickering is the result of her husband sneaking into the attic snooping around, and its illumination causes the lights in the rest of the house to flicker.

According to Merriam-Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, “gaslight” was first used in this context in 1956. For you etymologists, the Oxford English Dictionary disagrees, and pegs it as 1961. Who’s gaslighting whom?

As to when we first realized that we were being gaslit, this becomes a little more complicated. In the halcyon days of the mainstream media, when they had a stranglehold on all information, we mere mortals might have gotten the feeling that we were being lied to. But, reliable sources of alternative information were hard to come by in that era. Thus, it was extremely difficult to prove that we were being misled.

Indeed, that’s why the powers-that-be have always hated inductive reasoning.

Many people would cite the COVID pandemic as the first time they knew they were being gaslit. “Sage” advice from the health authorities was changing on a weekly basis; lockdowns were enforced in a flagrantly inconsistent manner; and the destructive effects of the idiotic public health policies were plain to see, while being officially denied.

Worst of all, the highly touted vaccines did not prevent infection or transmission, even though they were falsely claimed at first to do just that. Never mind the catastrophic side effects.

Gaslighting also occurred when we were told by our betters that old Joe Biden was at the top of his game, even as we observed him fumble around, and have difficulty putting two sentences together. Of course, Biden was removed from the Democratic ticket, even if he currently is the “president.”

No word on how he can be too impaired to run, but be just peachy keen to remain the leader of the free world. Where are all those “investigative journalists” when you really need them?

In the movie, the heroine Paula ultimately realizes that she has been the victim of an elaborate con, and has learned to never listen to her husband anymore. Heck, she taunts him at the end, playing off her supposed insanity.

But what about us, here in the real world? How can so many of us recognize the gaslighting, but yet treat each instance as a “one-off”? That is, after been lied to by the mainstream media countless times, why do we believe a single word they say?

Too bad that in this case, life doesn’t imitate art.