Not arguing, but is gaslighting really the right word?
Think of it as the society being the victim. The clearest example is when Trump started talking about Fake News. The goal is to devoid words of meaning, to reason based only on emotional attachment, to eliminate critical thinking. This guy follows the same strategy.
Below a definition of gaslighting, I think it applies pretty well to the kind of society these people are leaving behind:
Examples of gaslighting behaviors are denying something the other person knows is true, spreading rumors about them, and blaming the victim. The mental health impact of gaslighting includes feelings of powerlessness, confusion, isolation, disorientation, and low self-esteem
I think if people actually watched the movie they’d understand what it really is.
yes. that definition is great for folks that knows that something which is not true is true and therefor x is gaslighting them.
I thought the same thing. People are obsessed with the word gaslighting.
This seems more like textbook hypocrisy. Person doing thing talks about the harms of others doing that thing.
… What?
Is this some weird “victim mentality” thing?
People love to use it because it got popular and grew to mean more than the original definition to the point where it just got generic to encompass a wide range of things. It’s the same as cringe.
No, not at all. It’s one of the most incorrectly used words, usually just as a synonym for lying. This is especially egregious as it’s being used as a synonym for hypocrisy.
I just feel when words change to mean different things very rapidly in society, words no longer have meaning and communication is shut down.
This word isn’t even 100 years old, and its origin is quite documented. In fact, it’s a literal reference to the title of a play/movie.
Imagine changing the term “stepford wife” to mean something like powerful married woman who takes charge of her life.
It doesn’t bother me so much because I am pretty good at figuring out what people mean from context.
But, and this is quite judgey, it does lead me to believe the person is not much of a thinker and almost certainly not much concerned with researching to make sure what they’ve heard is actually the truth.