Forum/Discussions

Gaslighting, An Ongoing Process

Junious Ricardo Stanton

Back in 2022 I wrote a commentary about gaslighting, in it I wrote, “Gaslighting is a power play, a way for one person or group to gain and maintain power over others. In the United States we are gaslighted on a daily basis by individuals and institutions such as: religions, our education systems, the mass media and politicians. There are numerous ways, means and techniques devious people use to control, disorient and disarm people they want to have power over.

One technique is to tell blatant lies and then make you think you are insane for questioning or disbelieving them. The ruling glass and their minions lie to us daily. When the ruling class decides (they are not a monolithic group but they do cooperate to accomplish their goals) they want to bum rush a country and steal their natural resources they demonize that nation’s leader to gain public acquiescence and consent for their actions.”

Well, here we are in 2023 and the gaslighting continues even more so. The same forces, cabal and megalomaniacs are hard at work trying to pursue their nefarious agendas which include menticide, global depopulation and the intended reconfiguring of the current world order into a dystopian hellscape that makes the most gruesome science fiction horror stories look tame by comparison.

To get us to go for their okey-doke they use the media they own and control to tout their schemes as “progressive” and “beneficial” or they lie and tell us they are needed to confront and solve pressing problems like a “war on terror” public health crisis or climate change. It’s all lies and gaslighting.

Gaslighting is manipulation pure and simple, it is a form of menticide designed to control people’s perceptions of reality and to influence our behaviors, to get us to do what the plutocrats want us to do. “Gaslighting is a political strategy that utilizes deceptive and manipulative use of information, which destabilizes and disorients public opinion on political issues concerning the public. Several types of discourse and actions may constitute political gaslighting, such as lying, hypocrisy, misleading by mischaracterizing or rejecting facts, use of logical fallacies, and minimizing or deliberate silence on the seriousness of issues that are important to constituents of a politician…” Political Gaslighting In The Climate Change Discourse Surrounding the 2016 Election from the book President Trump’s First Term published by Purdue University Press https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/j.ctvh9w11h.8.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A74780ed04c85e071fedbe8410a4047c8

“Gaslighting involves manipulation of information. Information may comprise truth, half-truths, denial, minimization, lies, concealment, falsification, exaggerations, and dismissiveness. The manipulation of information by the gaslighter may be expressed as scorn, for example, expressing anger or sadness about information, which may compel the gaslightee to avoid accessing or sharing information; marginalization, for example, the gaslighter may put down the opinions that the gaslightee expresses or ignores their opinions that they find undesirable; and isolation, for example, the gaslighter may create physical conditions where the gaslightee finds themselves isolated from others and unable to seek information from sources other than the gaslighters’ opinions…” ibid

One objective of gaslighting is to literally drive the victims(s) crazy! From my perspective this is what is happening in the West now. Much of the partisanship, discord, emotional, physical and mental illness we are witnessing/experiencing especially in this country are the results both directly and indirectly of gaslighing by the powers that be.

“Why do people gaslight? The goal is always to weaken resistance, break spirits, appear blameless, and create chaos and confusion in the mind of the ‘gaslight-tee.’ Gaslighting isn’t an isolated or occasional event. It’s an insidious and persistent pattern of behavior that keeps you questioning yourself and those around you while slowly eroding your self-esteem and even your identity…Gaslighting causes chronic stress and severe emotional distress. The constant barrage of verbal (and sometimes physical) assaults eventually wears away your sense of identity, self-worth, and self-confidence while also eating away at your sanity. You may be more vulnerable to gaslighting if you suffer from any mental health issues that weaken your resistance, such as a history of abuse or trauma, low self-esteem or depression, for example.” Gaslighting What It Is and Why Do People Do It Jean Kim MD https://www.psycom.net/gaslighting-what-is-it

The pervasive gaslighting by the media, government and their minions about COVID, the War in Ukraine and the “climate crisis’ coupled with the propaganda already in the mass media, the degenerate values and immorality being promoted with the results of the COVID lock-downs, economic downturn and social isolation; are having a devastating impact on us. “Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, increases in anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder have been reported globally. A systematic, rapid review of the psychological impact of quarantine found that pandemic-related stressors might have long-lasting effects on well-being. Social isolation, as a result of recommended COVID-19 mitigation strategies, has been associated with exacerbation of mental health challenges and overdose deaths.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9566547/#:~:text=Behavioral%20health%20providers%20shared%20that,substance%20use%20and%20fatally%20overdose.

Yet the powers that be still cling to their narratives and refuse to even acknowledged the drawbacks and negative consequences of their policies. The gaslighting continues.

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