Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Gaslighting

Jay Carney said, "Time and time again we've heard these stories trotted out and time and time again they've been proven not true." He was backing up the effrontery delivered by Harry Reid earlier. Jay Carney is spokesman for the administration, no? Then the administration follows Reid's lead and proclaims their reality at odds with reported reality, that their version is the real one.

Not so.

Bozo. I feel abused. Abused by government. Disputes about basic things like Constitutionally protected rights, enumerated powers, misappropriation of resources, Departments run amok, racism kept alive and fanned, borders, federalism and the like, truth, reality.

I don't care to be an expert on psychological disorders, nor misled with bad information, but what does wikipedia say about gaslighting? It's different from limelight isn't it? Neon is a gas. Maybe gaslight is neon.

Gaslighting is a form of mental abuse. False information presented to make victim doubt thier memory, perception and sanity. Ranges from simple denial to staging bizarre events to disorient.

... the term was further popularized in Victor Santoro's 1994 book Gaslighting: How to Drive Your Enemies Crazy, which outlines ostensibly legal tactics the reader might use to annoy others.

Clinical examples

Sociopaths frequently use gaslighting tactics.
Sociopaths consistently transgress social mores, break laws, exploit others but are typically charming convincing liars who consistently deny wrongdoing.

Gaslighting involves the projection and introjection of psychic conflicts from the perpetrator to the victim. This imposition is based on a very special kind of transfer of painful and potentially painful mental conflicts.

Projection and Introjection, not just rivers in Egypt. So there you go. I have come to understand more clearly now with this little dip into how the disturbed mind operates, yes, wikipedia has helped this time.

11 comments:

Shouting Thomas said...

New term to me... this gaslighting. In fact, spell check rejects it.

Wikipedia def:

Gaslighting is a form of mental abuse in which false information is presented with the intent of making a victim doubt his or her own memory, perception and sanity.

Yes, Obama and his Despicable Minions are masters of this tactic.

KCFleming said...

Thanks Chip.
Shit, never heard of it before, but it's the perfect description.

Akin to Soviet disinformation.

edutcher said...

Willie Whitewater also engaged in it.

Who ya gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?

The Dude said...

Watch the movie Gaslight. It'll drive you crazy!

virgil xenophon said...

Sixty Grit is phunny, but on tgt. I guess it takes someone of a certain age (i.e., geezers like us who have seen the original movie :) ) to be instantly familiar with the term..

Michael Haz said...

Thanks, Chip. That term is now residing in my vocabulary.

When I see Jay Carney on television, in my mind he well be surrounded by gas lights. And maybe a bunsen burner on the lectern.

deborah said...

"Gaslighting: How to Drive Your Enemies Crazy"

Fabulous.

Leland said...

Going along with others. New term to me (some vague memory of it before, but perhaps it was implanted as a false memory or I'm implanting it now...) Certainly have seen a trend that suggests a disinformation campaign is ongoing.

deborah said...

Leland, I'm familiar with the term because of the movie 'Gaslight.' It's about a husband trying to drive his wife crazy. It's from the '40s, I'd say. Never watched it, myself, but it's a classic.

ken in tx said...

My ex-wife did Gaslighting naturally and possibly sub-consciously. She would lie when the truth would have served her better. She tried to convince me of stuff that was impossible to believe. I thought she did it just to stay in practice. She was a drama queen and created drama out of thin air if there was nothing new to be upset about. Reality was just too boring for her.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Oh I'm pretty sure you've been abused, all right.