Tornado Alley (PROG)

[blackhawks]

No, gaslighting is a tactic used to deceive and create uncertainty. Think of Kellyanne Conway talking about 'alternate facts' or any Trumpanzee talking about 1/6.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting

Gaslighting is a colloquialism, loosely defined as manipulating someone into questioning their own perception of reality.[1][2] The expression, which derives from the title of the 1944 film Gaslight, became popular in the mid-2010s. Merriam Webster cites deception of one's memory, perception of reality, or mental stability.[2] According to a 2022 Washington Post report, it had become a "trendy buzzword" frequently used to describe ordinary disagreements, rather than those situations that align with the word's historical definition.[3]

In politics

Gaslighting is more likely to be effective when the gaslighter has a position of power.[34]

In the 2008 book State of Confusion: Political Manipulation and the Assault on the American Mind, the authors contend that the prevalence of gaslighting in American politics began with the age of modern communications:[35]

To say gaslighting was started by... any extant group is not simply wrong, it also misses an important point. Gaslighting comes directly from blending modern communications, marketing, and advertising techniques with long-standing methods of propaganda. They were simply waiting to be discovered by those with sufficient ambition and psychological makeup to use them.

The term has been used to describe the behavior of politicians and media personalities on both the left and the right sides of the political spectrum.[35] Some examples include:

"Gaslighting" has been used to describe Russia's global relations. While Russian operatives were active in Crimea, Russian officials continually denied their presence and manipulated the distrust of political groups in their favor.
American journalists used the word "gaslighting" to describe the actions of Donald Trump during the 2016 US presidential election and his term as president.[36][37]

Columnist Maureen Dowd described the Bill Clinton administration's use of the technique in subjecting Newt Gingrich to small indignities intended to provoke him to make public complaints that "came across as hysterical" in 1995.[38]

"Gaslighting" has been used to describe state implemented psychological harassment techniques used in East Germany during the 1970s and 80s. The techniques were used as part of the Stasi's (the state security service's) decomposition methods, which were designed to paralyze the ability of hostile-negative (politically incorrect or rebellious) people to operate without unjustifiably imprisoning them, which would have resulted in international condemnation.[39]