Gas lighting: Gaslighting or gas-lighting is a form of mental abuse in which a victim is manipulated into doubting their own memory, perception, and sanity.
Fart lighting: A form of gasligthting when someone does something really offensive, e.g., farting, pretends that the offensive act did not occur, and tries to manipulate the memory of others who witnessed it.
I was dismayed to hear that Speaker Paul Ryan endorsed Donald Trump today. Given the Speaker's past interracial romantic relationship with a black woman, I thought he might be cooler than that.
He isn't.
What troubles me most about the GOP now rallying around Donald Trump is that they either want the rest of us to forget the racist, sexist and xenophobic comments he's made and continues to make, or they just don't care if we're offended. They're not a deal breaker for the GOP as long as Trump beats Clinton.
The GOP's willingness to rally around Trump because of commonality on other issues, such as abortion rights (and since when did Donald Trump become the standard bearer for the pro-life movement? Like, uh, yesterday?) means that, to their mind and the minds of their party members, unmitigated and unrepentant racism, sexism and xenophobia are not disqualifiers for holding the highest office in the Free World. This is despite the fact that the very nation the GOP wants to lead is increasingly diverse, so much so that states like California are made up of a majority of people of color. As Bob Scheiffer of CBS news put it, there aren't enough white people to make up for the minority votes the GOP will lose with Trump.
Where the fart lighting comes in, and you can thank me for the new turn of phrase, is in the GOP's not even acknowledging that these comments were made. It's like when someone farts in a room such that everyone heard it and smelled it, but the farting party continues to pretend like it never happened. What's worse -- they will deny that it happened if you call them on it and blame it on you instead. Kinda like the way Donald Trump turns the table on the press and insults them when they seek to hold him accountable for his words or his record.
Even more insulting to the increasingly diverse American electorate is that the GOP has in no way tried to explain away or apologize for the offensive remarks Trump has made. It's as if the remarks don't matter, the people offended by the remarks don't matter, or both.
As one of my cousins often writes on Facebook, GTFOOH.
I am a member of a predominantly African-American sorority whose founders marched for the equal rights of women of all races to vote. I am a member of a race whose people marched, sat in and died for the equality and dignity of all races. I am an affirmative action baby whose potential was realized because of the sacrifices of generations who came before me. I am highly educated.
I will not be fart lighted or gas lighted. I will not forget Trump calling Mexicans rapists, denigrating women, and painting all Muslims as terrorists. The more the GOP wants to fart light me and pretend those words were never spoken by Trump or that they don't matter, the more I will speak up and put my money where my mouth is by donating to the DNC. If the GOP is determined to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a racist, sexist and xenophobic candidate, I will not remain mute. I will call them out on their choice. To my mind, standing with Trump is no better than standing with David Duke.
I will be neither fart lighted or gas lighted when it comes to Donald Trump. My ancestors and all who sacrificed for my freedom and equality under the law deserve more from me.
Showing posts with label gaslighting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gaslighting. Show all posts
GOP "Gaslighting" the American Electorate
To hear ol' Mittens Romney and Paul Ryan tell it, President Obama has plunged the American economy over the cliff, and only they -- the GOP -- are in a position to rescue America. Even Mrs. Romney has bought into and perpetuated the narrative of Mittens as "Superman" saving America.
WTF?
This is what could best be described as the GOP "gaslighting" the American public.
The term "gaslighting" comes from the movie "Gas Light," in which a husband tries to make his wife think she is crazy so that others will, too. According to Wikipedia:
Gaslighting is a form of psychological abuse in which false information is presented with the intent of making a victim doubt his or her own memory and perception. It may simply be the denial by an abuser that previous abusive incidents ever occurred, or it could be the staging of bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disorienting the victim.
So when I hear Paul Ryan say that President Obama made our economy worse, I know for damn sure I'm being gaslighted. What President Obama did, consistent with what President George Bush did before him, was to keep the American economy from going off the cliff by keeping the banks AND the Detroit auto industry in business. And I really feel like I'm being gaslighted when the press reports that Paul Ryan voted for TARP.
Like my doctor says, just as no one ever gives a doctor credit for the heart attack her patient didn't have, no one ever gives a politician credit for the crisis he averted.
What's even more "gaslighty" about this is that they want to revert to the policies that almost pushed the country off the economic cliff and roll back the limited protections put in place by President Obama under their rubric that less regulation is good for all of America, not just their corporate cronies. NOT.
Let's face it -- if a white man of EITHER political party had kept the banks afloat, kept Detroit in business, passed a stimulus package that not only augmented the budgets of several states in recessionary times but also kept many teachers and public safety officers on the job, ended a war, created a consumer protection agency focused on reigning in financial institutions' wretched excess, passed health care reform that allowed people to get coverage DESPITE pre-existing conditions and put their 23 year-old kids back on their health care insurance, ended "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," signed the Lily Ledbetter law, AND freakin' killed Osama bin Laden, we wouldn't even be talking about a re-election. We'd be talking about a coronation.
What the GOP won't cop to is that they've been trying to derail this president from day one.
Well I, for one, refuse to be gaslighted. And I think the American public will refuse to be, too, in November.
WTF?
This is what could best be described as the GOP "gaslighting" the American public.
The term "gaslighting" comes from the movie "Gas Light," in which a husband tries to make his wife think she is crazy so that others will, too. According to Wikipedia:
Gaslighting is a form of psychological abuse in which false information is presented with the intent of making a victim doubt his or her own memory and perception. It may simply be the denial by an abuser that previous abusive incidents ever occurred, or it could be the staging of bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disorienting the victim.
So when I hear Paul Ryan say that President Obama made our economy worse, I know for damn sure I'm being gaslighted. What President Obama did, consistent with what President George Bush did before him, was to keep the American economy from going off the cliff by keeping the banks AND the Detroit auto industry in business. And I really feel like I'm being gaslighted when the press reports that Paul Ryan voted for TARP.
Like my doctor says, just as no one ever gives a doctor credit for the heart attack her patient didn't have, no one ever gives a politician credit for the crisis he averted.
What's even more "gaslighty" about this is that they want to revert to the policies that almost pushed the country off the economic cliff and roll back the limited protections put in place by President Obama under their rubric that less regulation is good for all of America, not just their corporate cronies. NOT.
Let's face it -- if a white man of EITHER political party had kept the banks afloat, kept Detroit in business, passed a stimulus package that not only augmented the budgets of several states in recessionary times but also kept many teachers and public safety officers on the job, ended a war, created a consumer protection agency focused on reigning in financial institutions' wretched excess, passed health care reform that allowed people to get coverage DESPITE pre-existing conditions and put their 23 year-old kids back on their health care insurance, ended "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," signed the Lily Ledbetter law, AND freakin' killed Osama bin Laden, we wouldn't even be talking about a re-election. We'd be talking about a coronation.
What the GOP won't cop to is that they've been trying to derail this president from day one.
Well I, for one, refuse to be gaslighted. And I think the American public will refuse to be, too, in November.
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