How did the American voters allow themselves to be seduced by a clinically ill cipher in 2016? We might think we have survived the worst presidency in our history—but not so fast! “Gone from the White House will be an administration whose gaslighting operation was matched only by its hostility and deadly incompetence. Gone will be the necessity for, and our stupid hope in, saviors: Robert Mueller, state attorneys general, Anonymous, ‘concerned’ Senators Susan Collins and Mitt Romney. Gone will be the Muslim bans, the human-rights violations at the southern border, the photo-op Bible shaken like a martini after federal police gassed nonviolent protestors. The parade of disheveled presidential associates under indictment, the Jared and Ivanka leaks, MSNBC’s nightly seminars on Russian oligarchs, the presidential retweets of literal white supremacists—gone.”[i]
Before we become too complacent let’s try to learn from our mistakes because we are still vulnerable to “gaslighting.” Gaslighting is a specific type of manipulation where the manipulator is trying to get someone or some group to question their own reality, memory of perceptions. A “gaslighter” personality is a highly manipulative personality. They could be charismatic and charming or mysterious and hard to read. A sneaky kind of emotional abuse.
The term originated from the 1938 play (and 1944 film adaptation) Gaslight where the protagonist’s husband slowly manipulated her into believing she’s going mad. The name comes from a part in the play where the husband is using the gas lights in an upstairs flat, causing them to dim. It makes you question your reality, it forces you to rely on their version of events and it makes you mistrust your own perceptions.
What is your version of reality?
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Supplemental Reading: Pairs of Opposites, The ABC’s of Simple Reality, Vol 2
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[i] Giridharadas, Anand. “Joe Biden’s America.” The New York Times. November 8, 2020, p. 4.
