For students of official propaganda, mind control, emotional coercion, and other insidious manipulation techniques, the rollout of the New Normal has been a bonanza. Never before have we been able to observe the application and effects of these powerful technologies in real-time on such a massive scale.
Although my abusive (domestic violence) relationship was over 25 years ago and I have healed from it completely, I have new gratitude for having gone through the experience, because all of the self-education/therapy I did to overcome the effects of the abuse opened my eyes to the techniques of manipulation (whether of abusive intent or even benign or beneficial intent "for the greater good of everyone").
This knowledge of the machinations has been the most valuable tool in my toolbox to resist the attempts of the manipulators, and I have been amazed at how blind and gullible so many of my loved ones have been. But they had not gone through the fire like I did.
I find myself wishing I could just convey my lessons learned to everyone, but unfortunately it seems, for many, that you have to actually go through it to learn the lesson.
I was astonished by a friend recently --as she looked at me with her eyes bugging-- that she was going to get another "booster shot" because she does not want to get sick. As I tried to tell her that even recently a Pfizer exec openly said that the shot was never tested for stopping transmission, my friend laughed and said no vaccine is able to stop 100% transmission. So I asked: then why would you take a dangerous, experimental poison that may not keep you from getting "Covid" (whatever the hell that is). Answer: I don't want to get sick. And she refuses to believe the shots are killing people, much less injuring many others for life. "It's gotta be something else."
If I had to add one thing, it’s that what’s lacking right now is a vision for Western civilization. The problems are many and there is much darkness, but as once said by one of the chief pioneers of early psychological warfare, Tavistock’s Brigadier John Rawlings Rees, “winning wars is not about killing, it’s about destroying the enemy’s morale while maintaining one’s own.”
If people have a clear vision of what they’re fighting for, and aren’t just stuck in some kind of endless trench warfare, having that clear sense of victory becomes decisive in whether people cave or not. Take the vision away, they’ll go into survival mode quite quickly.
As the proverb says, “where there is no vision, the people perish.” However, it requires going beyond the common platitudes about freedom, free speech, etc… There needs to be some actual plan and vision for our civilization.
That’s when the bad guys will get really scared. As long as this remains simply a war of attrition, the bad guys win.
Many members of the public are quite happy to be gaslighted. Let's not kid ourselves that the poor dears are Ingrid Bergman being tormented by Charles Boyer! Most people really don't care about the bigger picture, about freedom, integrity, morality. They merely want to be left alone to hang out with friends, eat crap food, drink booze, smoke stuff, go on holiday, buy crap. If they need to go along with wearing masks, testing for colds, taking time off work with no cold but a positive test, being jabbed with dodgy stuff then they will. Because they really don't care about the future - they can't imagine it will change and probably it won't, not down at the lowest level. The masses will still do all the stuff they do now, maybe it will be cheaper and nastier and not quite so enjoyable but it will be recognisable. Most people are already unhealthy so the jabs don't register as being killers - so many other things are already killing them. Most people don't have much money or financial security - they live on debt. You can't be gaslighted if your head is already empty.
Gaslighting is a crucial arrow in the quiver of mind-control strategies used to psychologically manipulate us and mold our perceptions.
The more ridiculous the statement, the more fervently the believers cling to it as a testament to their faithfulness—and perhaps humiliation plays a role as well. If they admit how silly the belief is, they will feel humiliated for having accepted it and thus must adamantly remain in denial to fend off this excruciating humiliation.
Neil Morton writes of the Repetition and Ridicule Fallacy:
“If you hear something enough times, you will believe it. No matter how ridiculous, if you are presented with ‘facts’ in a certain way, you are hardwired to believe them. This is known as the appeal to ridicule fallacy. Mocking an idea makes it less relevant. If you associate an idea, a person, or behavior with ridicule and shame, you will dismiss it. Alternatively, if a ridiculous idea is given gravitas and treated with reverence, it will seem more viable. Repetition is a powerful tool, and when teamed with a shaming technique, it can be effective.”
—“Psychological Warfare and Deception: What You Need to Know about Human Behavior, Dark Psychology, Propaganda, Negotiation, Manipulation, & Persuasion”
That's the best essay and explanation on gaslighting I've read. Insightful and helpful. Thank you much. I will share it like the very good deviant, I am.
Once again, a thoughtful piece on the insanity the majority are accepting. I don't take time to read much online, these days, but I have learned your thoughts are worthy of my time.
As a child of an angry, violent, control-freak father, I know gaslighting. My father's attempts didn't work just as the global system's attempts never work on me.
Interesting, I have found many others who knew to question the 2020 gaslighting are also people who stood up to abusers. We're a strong bunch.
Once we found the people who are supposed to love and protect us (parents, partners, etc.,) are capable of abusive manipulation, we have learned we have to protect ourselves.
As goes micro abuse, so goes macro abuse.
Nearly three years into this mind manipulation, I absorb the energy of masked people out in Los Angeles. They feel, look, and act and like whipped, naive souls who are incapable of protecting themselves and obediently try to be the good child to Mommy Dearest (the system).
Maybe I should thank my prick father for giving me the ability to protect myself from abuse.
While the mind control we are being subjected to does not include direct, personal torture in the MK ULTRA sense, such as was reported by (I know, how can you confirm it?) Cathy O'Brien in The Trance-formation of America, there certainly are high levels of both direct and indirect physical abuse, which in some cases is tantamount to torture, that are part and parcel of this PsyOp.
These forms of physical abuse include physical isolation, separation from loved ones in nursing homes and hospitals and school systems; masking, invasive testing up the nose, etc. Lost jobs and businesses closing create physical stress as a result of financial losses. Denial of proper early medical care and forced methods of treatment such as intubation and now the lethal Remdezevir (Run! Death is Near)--which is another form of gaslighting as it is becoming the standard of care--is physical abuse as well. The actual physical assaults by police on a number of those who dared protest are very direct physical abuse. On the whole, it's like we are trapped in a bad relationship with the power structure.
The MSM brainwashing with highly exaggerated case counts taken from an inappropriate PCR test, baseless projection models like Ferguson's, inflated COVID death counts were also forms of mental and emotional abuse, as all of them led to incredible levels of fear and anxiety. The confusion caused by Fraudci and his ilk with constantly changing advice was a form of mental and emotional abuse, and gaslighting, as you said, as it led to people giving up trying to understand (if they relied on the MSM for info) and simply surrender and comply with numerous unproven and often harmful measures as if it were a (real) pandemic. And then they were directed to attack those who did not comply. The way people attacked each other is a measure of their traumatization: they were easily directed against "the other."
When the vaccine was offered as a "way out," and all you had to do was obey and get the shot and then you would be free, all that gaslighted fear was used to drive us into yet another form of physical abuse: lining up to get the shots. Then that was revealed as gaslighting as well: you still need to wear your mask; you need to get another shot and then another, the shots don't actually prevent infection/don't work/have negative efficacy, but many still are required to get them or lose their jobs, etc. etc.
The ultimate insult was that these shots turn out to be bioweapons, which as Sherry Tenpenny, MD laid out, are being found to include at least forty (and counting) mechanisms of Injury (MOI). Some immediate, some delayed. And we are now trained to line up and get more shots for the upcoming flu/COVID/Moneypox season...led like cattle to sacrifice our own health and lives through behaviors they designed in advance for us and led us into all along. The ultimate gaslighting.
Yet, on the other hand, many people are choosing NOT to get second, third, or fourth shots. Not a lot of parents are getting these shots for their children. Perhaps this is a sign of hope. Perhaps more and more people are shaking off the trance and thinking for themselves.
"[They] could not care less whether it is actually true, or even if it makes the slightest sense."
Thank you for pointing this out. I try over and over to get people to understand this. The actual matter under debate is almost irrelevant. It is the exercise of and submission to authority that matters to them. The 'fact' could be literally reversed the next day and the official narrative guardians would not even bat an eye before they explained how it was perfectly normal for something to be the exact opposite of what they said yesterday. This has happened over and over with the 'scientific facts' surrounding the injections. While we may point out the flaws and lies to people who are already skeptical, trying to convince the actual purveyors of propaganda is a huge waste of time and effort that may also be counterproductive.
In many cases, engaging the fact checker / authoritarians / gaslighters fuels them. The mere fact that you've given them enough credence to argue with them buoys their reputation as an authority. You are saying that they must be acknowledged and debated or --your own argument cannot be perceived as having merit--.
Personally, I no longer read anything from any mainstream news except secondhand. No clicks, not even outrage clicks. No ads served. No view metrics to report back to the marketing firms that fund them. I don't go on twitter to retweet the narrative programming messages with my hot take attached, etc.
What I want to be part of is an alternative community. We can talk to each other and others outside the censorship and narrative control apparatus. We can just pull a judo type move and simply drop all of the narrative control out of our perception. It will wither and die on it's own. Certainly, they will come to infiltrate and poison and debank alternative forums but they can't stop free inquiry entirely. It is also a lot easier to spot the well poisoning, derailments, character assassination, etc. when it is out of it's element.
In the United States, it’s not clear we are a small minority. Conservative and religious folks seem to have seen through this. There are speakers making the rural church circuits discussing medical freedom and the WEF. In the cities, and among my “liberal” friends things are very different of course. They are being actively trained to fear those labeled as “Trumpers” or “fascists”. Not only to fear the people themselves, but to fear agreeing with any of their positions.
The globalist neocons have lost the support the American conservatives, full stop. The political and cultural pushback is growing against covid policies, woke-ism, CRT based social engineering, and US imperialism. It’s the conservatives who are now the anti-imperialists. Military recruitment is way down, as it was traditionally the conservative peoples who enlisted. I’m sure its much different in Germany, but the US is headed somewhere else I believe.
Although my abusive (domestic violence) relationship was over 25 years ago and I have healed from it completely, I have new gratitude for having gone through the experience, because all of the self-education/therapy I did to overcome the effects of the abuse opened my eyes to the techniques of manipulation (whether of abusive intent or even benign or beneficial intent "for the greater good of everyone").
This knowledge of the machinations has been the most valuable tool in my toolbox to resist the attempts of the manipulators, and I have been amazed at how blind and gullible so many of my loved ones have been. But they had not gone through the fire like I did.
I find myself wishing I could just convey my lessons learned to everyone, but unfortunately it seems, for many, that you have to actually go through it to learn the lesson.
An example of the BBC gaslighting department - you were never told to get vaccinated to protect others, you made it up in your head.
https://nakedemperor.substack.com/p/fact-checking-the-bbc-fact-checkers
I was astonished by a friend recently --as she looked at me with her eyes bugging-- that she was going to get another "booster shot" because she does not want to get sick. As I tried to tell her that even recently a Pfizer exec openly said that the shot was never tested for stopping transmission, my friend laughed and said no vaccine is able to stop 100% transmission. So I asked: then why would you take a dangerous, experimental poison that may not keep you from getting "Covid" (whatever the hell that is). Answer: I don't want to get sick. And she refuses to believe the shots are killing people, much less injuring many others for life. "It's gotta be something else."
You had me at "Stay Frosty"
its a pity gaslighting wont keep us warm this winter cos theres an endless supply
i was raised by a narcissist and experienced gaslighting all my life, i suspect thats why i was immune. i wonder if thats a common denominator here
Thanks for keeping up the good fight.
If I had to add one thing, it’s that what’s lacking right now is a vision for Western civilization. The problems are many and there is much darkness, but as once said by one of the chief pioneers of early psychological warfare, Tavistock’s Brigadier John Rawlings Rees, “winning wars is not about killing, it’s about destroying the enemy’s morale while maintaining one’s own.”
If people have a clear vision of what they’re fighting for, and aren’t just stuck in some kind of endless trench warfare, having that clear sense of victory becomes decisive in whether people cave or not. Take the vision away, they’ll go into survival mode quite quickly.
As the proverb says, “where there is no vision, the people perish.” However, it requires going beyond the common platitudes about freedom, free speech, etc… There needs to be some actual plan and vision for our civilization.
That’s when the bad guys will get really scared. As long as this remains simply a war of attrition, the bad guys win.
Many members of the public are quite happy to be gaslighted. Let's not kid ourselves that the poor dears are Ingrid Bergman being tormented by Charles Boyer! Most people really don't care about the bigger picture, about freedom, integrity, morality. They merely want to be left alone to hang out with friends, eat crap food, drink booze, smoke stuff, go on holiday, buy crap. If they need to go along with wearing masks, testing for colds, taking time off work with no cold but a positive test, being jabbed with dodgy stuff then they will. Because they really don't care about the future - they can't imagine it will change and probably it won't, not down at the lowest level. The masses will still do all the stuff they do now, maybe it will be cheaper and nastier and not quite so enjoyable but it will be recognisable. Most people are already unhealthy so the jabs don't register as being killers - so many other things are already killing them. Most people don't have much money or financial security - they live on debt. You can't be gaslighted if your head is already empty.
This is a beautiful complement to the chicken-or-egg conversation Sage and I were just having over here:
• https://sagehana.substack.com/p/which-came-first-the-cult-or-the/comments
Gaslighting is a crucial arrow in the quiver of mind-control strategies used to psychologically manipulate us and mold our perceptions.
The more ridiculous the statement, the more fervently the believers cling to it as a testament to their faithfulness—and perhaps humiliation plays a role as well. If they admit how silly the belief is, they will feel humiliated for having accepted it and thus must adamantly remain in denial to fend off this excruciating humiliation.
Neil Morton writes of the Repetition and Ridicule Fallacy:
“If you hear something enough times, you will believe it. No matter how ridiculous, if you are presented with ‘facts’ in a certain way, you are hardwired to believe them. This is known as the appeal to ridicule fallacy. Mocking an idea makes it less relevant. If you associate an idea, a person, or behavior with ridicule and shame, you will dismiss it. Alternatively, if a ridiculous idea is given gravitas and treated with reverence, it will seem more viable. Repetition is a powerful tool, and when teamed with a shaming technique, it can be effective.”
—“Psychological Warfare and Deception: What You Need to Know about Human Behavior, Dark Psychology, Propaganda, Negotiation, Manipulation, & Persuasion”
P.S. “fact-checkers”—I call them “fact-chokers.”
It turns out nothing except my dogs is important to me. And as rescues they know it’s crucial for me to avoid the clot shot 😉
That's the best essay and explanation on gaslighting I've read. Insightful and helpful. Thank you much. I will share it like the very good deviant, I am.
Once again, a thoughtful piece on the insanity the majority are accepting. I don't take time to read much online, these days, but I have learned your thoughts are worthy of my time.
As a child of an angry, violent, control-freak father, I know gaslighting. My father's attempts didn't work just as the global system's attempts never work on me.
Interesting, I have found many others who knew to question the 2020 gaslighting are also people who stood up to abusers. We're a strong bunch.
Once we found the people who are supposed to love and protect us (parents, partners, etc.,) are capable of abusive manipulation, we have learned we have to protect ourselves.
As goes micro abuse, so goes macro abuse.
Nearly three years into this mind manipulation, I absorb the energy of masked people out in Los Angeles. They feel, look, and act and like whipped, naive souls who are incapable of protecting themselves and obediently try to be the good child to Mommy Dearest (the system).
Maybe I should thank my prick father for giving me the ability to protect myself from abuse.
I’m making skater punk style stickers to put on your cars, and anywhere you can legally put a sticker.
Counter their gaslighting with street propaganda.
My gaslighting bills have doubled.
While the mind control we are being subjected to does not include direct, personal torture in the MK ULTRA sense, such as was reported by (I know, how can you confirm it?) Cathy O'Brien in The Trance-formation of America, there certainly are high levels of both direct and indirect physical abuse, which in some cases is tantamount to torture, that are part and parcel of this PsyOp.
These forms of physical abuse include physical isolation, separation from loved ones in nursing homes and hospitals and school systems; masking, invasive testing up the nose, etc. Lost jobs and businesses closing create physical stress as a result of financial losses. Denial of proper early medical care and forced methods of treatment such as intubation and now the lethal Remdezevir (Run! Death is Near)--which is another form of gaslighting as it is becoming the standard of care--is physical abuse as well. The actual physical assaults by police on a number of those who dared protest are very direct physical abuse. On the whole, it's like we are trapped in a bad relationship with the power structure.
The MSM brainwashing with highly exaggerated case counts taken from an inappropriate PCR test, baseless projection models like Ferguson's, inflated COVID death counts were also forms of mental and emotional abuse, as all of them led to incredible levels of fear and anxiety. The confusion caused by Fraudci and his ilk with constantly changing advice was a form of mental and emotional abuse, and gaslighting, as you said, as it led to people giving up trying to understand (if they relied on the MSM for info) and simply surrender and comply with numerous unproven and often harmful measures as if it were a (real) pandemic. And then they were directed to attack those who did not comply. The way people attacked each other is a measure of their traumatization: they were easily directed against "the other."
When the vaccine was offered as a "way out," and all you had to do was obey and get the shot and then you would be free, all that gaslighted fear was used to drive us into yet another form of physical abuse: lining up to get the shots. Then that was revealed as gaslighting as well: you still need to wear your mask; you need to get another shot and then another, the shots don't actually prevent infection/don't work/have negative efficacy, but many still are required to get them or lose their jobs, etc. etc.
The ultimate insult was that these shots turn out to be bioweapons, which as Sherry Tenpenny, MD laid out, are being found to include at least forty (and counting) mechanisms of Injury (MOI). Some immediate, some delayed. And we are now trained to line up and get more shots for the upcoming flu/COVID/Moneypox season...led like cattle to sacrifice our own health and lives through behaviors they designed in advance for us and led us into all along. The ultimate gaslighting.
Yet, on the other hand, many people are choosing NOT to get second, third, or fourth shots. Not a lot of parents are getting these shots for their children. Perhaps this is a sign of hope. Perhaps more and more people are shaking off the trance and thinking for themselves.
"[They] could not care less whether it is actually true, or even if it makes the slightest sense."
Thank you for pointing this out. I try over and over to get people to understand this. The actual matter under debate is almost irrelevant. It is the exercise of and submission to authority that matters to them. The 'fact' could be literally reversed the next day and the official narrative guardians would not even bat an eye before they explained how it was perfectly normal for something to be the exact opposite of what they said yesterday. This has happened over and over with the 'scientific facts' surrounding the injections. While we may point out the flaws and lies to people who are already skeptical, trying to convince the actual purveyors of propaganda is a huge waste of time and effort that may also be counterproductive.
In many cases, engaging the fact checker / authoritarians / gaslighters fuels them. The mere fact that you've given them enough credence to argue with them buoys their reputation as an authority. You are saying that they must be acknowledged and debated or --your own argument cannot be perceived as having merit--.
Personally, I no longer read anything from any mainstream news except secondhand. No clicks, not even outrage clicks. No ads served. No view metrics to report back to the marketing firms that fund them. I don't go on twitter to retweet the narrative programming messages with my hot take attached, etc.
What I want to be part of is an alternative community. We can talk to each other and others outside the censorship and narrative control apparatus. We can just pull a judo type move and simply drop all of the narrative control out of our perception. It will wither and die on it's own. Certainly, they will come to infiltrate and poison and debank alternative forums but they can't stop free inquiry entirely. It is also a lot easier to spot the well poisoning, derailments, character assassination, etc. when it is out of it's element.
In the United States, it’s not clear we are a small minority. Conservative and religious folks seem to have seen through this. There are speakers making the rural church circuits discussing medical freedom and the WEF. In the cities, and among my “liberal” friends things are very different of course. They are being actively trained to fear those labeled as “Trumpers” or “fascists”. Not only to fear the people themselves, but to fear agreeing with any of their positions.
The globalist neocons have lost the support the American conservatives, full stop. The political and cultural pushback is growing against covid policies, woke-ism, CRT based social engineering, and US imperialism. It’s the conservatives who are now the anti-imperialists. Military recruitment is way down, as it was traditionally the conservative peoples who enlisted. I’m sure its much different in Germany, but the US is headed somewhere else I believe.