# Gaslighting in a post-Covid World?



## NbleSavage (Apr 11, 2020)

This read caused me to reflect a bit. Might do the same for ye too. Its a long one, put the kettle on and have a think.


*Prepare for the Ultimate Gaslighting**
Julio Vincent Gambuto
Apr 10 · 9 min read


_*Gaslighting, if you don’t know the word, is defined as: manipulation into doubting your own sanity. As in, Carl made Mary think she was crazy, even though she clearly caught him cheating. He gaslit her._


Pretty soon, as the country begins to figure out how we “open back up” and move forward, very powerful forces will try to convince us all to get back to normal. That never happened. What are you talking about? Billions of dollars will be spent in advertising, messaging, and television and media content to make you feel comfortable again. It will come in the traditional forms — a billboard here, a hundred commercials there — and in new-media forms — a 2020–2021 generation of memes to remind you that what you want again is normalcy. In truth, you want the feeling of normalcy, and we all want it. We want desperately to feel good again, to get back to the routines of life, to not lay in bed at night wondering how we’re going to afford our rent and bills, to not wake to an endless scroll of human tragedy on our phones, to have a cup of perfectly brewed coffee and simply leave the house for work. The need for comfort will be real, and it will be strong. And every brand in America will come to your rescue, dear consumer, to help take away that darkness and get life back to the way it was before the crisis. I urge you to be well aware of what is coming.


For the last hundred years, the multi-billion-dollar advertising business has operated based on this cardinal principle: find the consumer’s problem and fix it with your product. When the problem is practical and tactical, the solution is “as seen on TV” and available at Home Depot. Command strips will save me from having to re-paint. So will Mr. Clean’s Magic Eraser. Elfa shelving will get rid of the mess in my closet. The Ring doorbell will let me see who’s on the porch if I can’t take my eyes off Netflix. But when the problem is emotional, the fix becomes a new staple in your life, and you become a lifelong loyalist. Coca-Cola makes you: happy. A Mercedes makes you: successful. Taking your kids to Disneyland makes you: proud. Smart marketers know how to highlight what brands can do for you to make your life easier. But brilliant marketers know how to re-wire your heart. And, make no mistake, the heart is what has been most traumatized this last month. We are, as a society, now vulnerable in a whole new way.


What the trauma has shown us, though, cannot be unseen. A carless Los Angeles has clear blue skies as pollution has simply stopped. In a quiet New York, you can hear the birds chirp in the middle of Madison Avenue. Coyotes have been spotted on the Golden Gate Bridge. These are the postcard images of what the world might be like if we could find a way to have a less deadly daily effect on the planet. What’s not fit for a postcard are the other scenes we have witnessed: a healthcare system that cannot provide basic protective equipment for its front line; small businesses — and very large ones — that do not have enough cash to pay their rent or workers, sending over 16 million people to seek unemployment benefits; a government that has so severely damaged the credibility of our media that 300 million people don’t know who to listen to for basic facts that can save their own lives.


The cat is out of the bag. We, as a nation, have deeply disturbing problems. You’re right. That’s not news. They are problems we ignore every day, not because we’re terrible people or because we don’t care about fixing them, but because we don’t have time. Sorry, we have other shit to do. The plain truth is that no matter our ethnicity, religion, gender, political party (the list goes on), nor even our socio-economic status, as Americans we share this: we are busy. We’re out and about hustling to make our own lives work. We have goals to meet and meetings to attend and mortgages to pay — all while the phone is ringing and the laptop is pinging. And when we get home, Crate and Barrel and 3M and Andy Cohen make us feel just good enough to get up the next day and do it all over again. It is very easy to close your eyes to a problem when you barely have enough time to close them to sleep. The greatest misconception among us, which causes deep and painful social and political tension every day in this country, is that we somehow don’t care about each other. White people don’t care about the problems of black America. Men don’t care about women’s rights. Cops don’t care about the communities they serve. Humans don’t care about the environment. These couldn’t be further from the truth. We do care. We just don’t have the time to do anything about it. Maybe that’s just me. But maybe it’s you, too.


Well, the treadmill you’ve been on for decades just stopped. Bam! And that feeling you have right now is the same as if you’d been thrown off your Peloton bike and onto the ground: what in the holy **** just happened? I hope you might consider this: what happened is inexplicably incredible. It’s the greatest gift ever unwrapped. Not the deaths, not the virus, but the Great Pause. It is, in a word, profound. Please don’t recoil from the bright light beaming through the window. I know it hurts your eyes. It hurts mine, too. But the curtain is wide open. What the crisis has given us is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see ourselves and our country in the plainest of views. At no other time, ever in our lives, have we gotten the opportunity to see what would happen if the world simply stopped. Here it is. We’re in it. Stores are closed. Restaurants are empty. Streets and six-lane highways are barren. Even the planet itself is rattling less (true story). And because it is rarer than rare, it has brought to light all of the beautiful and painful truths of how we live. And that feels weird. Really weird. Because it has…never…happened…before. If we want to create a better country and a better world for our kids, and if we want to make sure we are even sustainable as a nation and as a democracy, we have to pay attention to how we feel right now. I cannot speak for you, but I imagine you feel like I do: devastated, depressed, and heartbroken.


And what a perfect time for Best Buy and J. Crew and Gwyneth Paltrow to help me feel normal again. If I could just have the new iPhone in my hand, if I could rest my feet on a pillow of new Nikes, if I could drink a venti blonde vanilla latte with two pumps of syrup, then this very dark feeling would go away. You think I’m kidding, that I’m being cute, that I’m denying the very obvious benefits of having a roaring economy. You’re right. Our way of life is not ruinous. The economy is not, at its core, evil. Brands and their products create millions of jobs. They make up a system that keeps us living long and strong. We have lifted more humans out of poverty through the power of economics than any other civilization in history. Yes, without a doubt, Americanism is a force for good. It is not some villainous plot to wreak havoc and destroy the planet and all our souls along with it. I get it. But its flaws have been laid bare for all to see. It doesn’t work for everyone. It’s responsible for great destruction. It is so unevenly distributed in its benefit that three men own more wealth than 150 million people. Its intentions have been perverted and the protection it offers has disappeared. In fact, it’s been brought to its knees by one pangolin.


And so the onslaught is coming. Get ready, my friends. What is about to be unleashed on American society will be the greatest campaign ever created to get you to feel normal again. It will come from brands, it will come from government, it will even come from each other, and it will come from the left and from the right. We will do anything, spend anything, believe anything, just so we can take away how horribly uncomfortable all of this feels. And on top of that, just to turn the screw that much more, will be the only effort even greater: the all-out blitz to make you believe you never saw what you saw. The air wasn’t really cleaner; those images were fake. The hospitals weren’t really a war zone; those stories were hyperbole. The numbers were not that high; the press is lying. You didn’t see people in masks standing in the rain risking their lives to vote. Not in America. You didn’t see the leader of the free world push an unproven miracle drug like a late-night infomercial salesman. That was a crisis update. You didn’t see homeless people dead on the street. You didn’t see inequality. You didn’t see indifference. You didn’t see utter failure of leadership and systems. But you did. And so we are about to be gaslit in a truly unprecedented way. It starts with a check for $1,200 — don’t say I never gave you anything — and then it will be so big that it will be bigly. And it will be a one-two punch from both big business and the big white house — inextricably intertwined now more than ever and being led by, as our luck would have it, a Marketer-in-Chief. Business and government are about to band together to knock us unconscious again. It will be funded like no other operation in our lifetimes. It will be fast. It will be furious. And it will be overwhelming. The Great American Return to Normal is coming.


From one citizen to another, I beg of you: take a deep breath, ignore the deafening noise, and think deeply about what you want to put back into your life. This is our chance to define a new version of normal, a rare and truly sacred (yes, sacred) opportunity to get rid of the bullshit and to only bring back what works for us, what makes our lives richer, what makes our kids happier, what makes us truly proud. We get to Marie Kondo the shit out of it all. We care deeply about one another. That is clear. That can be seen in every supportive Facebook post, in every meal dropped off for a neighbor, in every Zoom birthday party. We are a good people. And as a good people, we want to define — on our own terms — what this country looks like in five, ten, fifty years. This is our chance to do that, the biggest one we have ever gotten. And the best one we’ll ever get. We can do that on a personal scale in our homes, in how we choose to spend our family time on nights and weekends, what we watch, what we listen to, what we eat, and what we choose to spend our dollars on and where. We can do it locally in our communities, in what organizations we support, what truths we tell, and what events we attend. And we can do it nationally in our government, in which leaders we vote in and to whom we give power. If we want cleaner air, we can make it happen. If we want to protect our doctors and nurses from the next virus — and protect all Americans — we can make it happen. If we want our neighbors and friends to earn a dignified income, we can make that happen. If we want millions of kids to be able to eat if suddenly their school is closed, we can make that happen. And, yes, if we just want to live a simpler life, we can make that happen, too. But only if we resist the massive gaslighting that is about to come. It’s on its way. Look out.


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## Bro Bundy (Apr 11, 2020)

good post savage...Damn luciferians got us by the balls


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## Texan69 (Apr 11, 2020)

I agree, great post brother. Worth the time to read it.


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## Sicwun88 (Apr 11, 2020)

Great post,you really put alot of thought into it! Me on the other hand keep it real simple, prepared for whatever my come, but still living my life, without stress & worries of what could happen? Which is basically out of our hands,the majority of people have never experienced anything like this,and don't take it seriously,it seems Walmarts are the new hangouts? waiting for them to add an outside tiki bar on the side of Wal Mart, people just can't stay home & most will buy into whatever the media & government are selling! I believe in what I believe and that's not changing!


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## German89 (Apr 11, 2020)

Just subbing so I can read this before bed...


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## Jin (Apr 12, 2020)

Best article or opinion piece I’ve read since following this thing mid January. 

Agree with all he says about society and it’s Illnesses. I too see The World wide sabbatical as a true gift. 

I have none of the angst this guy has; I’ve never been more at peace. But I think calling for much bigger actions is necessary. 

Revolution should not be off the table.

We cannot allow liars and incompetent leaders to rule this country/world. Specifically the CDC, Surgeon General and past and present administrations need to be held accountable for not listening to experts and Preparing for this inevitability instead of doing what would garner them more votes for re-election. 

Whether you are Right or Left, you have to admit the system is broken. It should be discarded or reformed. 

This is a profound non pharmaceutical “trip” for the world: the blinders have been ripped off. You are temporarily enlightened. The illusion of “proper society” is a myth. Don’t lose the lessons once those who are fat from the former status quo attempt to return us to base line. 

contemplate all the good that is coming out of SLOWING DOWN. Integrate the lessons so you don’t go mindlessly back to being busy doing nothing of worth (I’m as guilty or more than the average for living a meaningless life most waking hours). 

I already lead a pretty simple life. I see great benefit in simplifying it further. 

Great find Savage!


“*Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need, and the things you own, end up owning you. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives.”

-Tyler Durden. *


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## Beserker (Apr 12, 2020)

I can appreciate a lot of what was said there... though I can sense an underlying disdain thinly veiled here.  

I’m more concerned with a push to make this “the new norm”.  An onslaught of fear and misinformation aimed at keeping people docile and subdued while dark forces make sinister moves to usurp the Constitution and grab our dwindling freedom.  

Think about this... our country was founded specifically for freedom of religion... people are being forced to stay home from church on the holiest of days.  Pandemic or not, that’s a cause for revolution.


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## NbleSavage (Apr 12, 2020)

Beserker said:


> I can appreciate a lot of what was said there... though I can sense an underlying disdain thinly veiled here.
> 
> I’m more concerned with a push to make this “the new norm”.  An onslaught of fear and misinformation aimed at keeping people docile and subdued while dark forces make sinister moves to usurp the Constitution and grab our dwindling freedom.
> 
> Think about this... our country was founded specifically for freedom of religion... people are being forced to stay home from church on the holiest of days.  Pandemic or not, that’s a cause for revolution.



I see the self-isolation guidelines as supporting the immediate threat of the pandemic, not as an attempt to disparage Christianity on Easter. If the pandemic had happened a touch later, it would have impacted Ramadan - likely still will, and there are almost as many Muslims as there are Christians in the world 

Point being, the separation of church and state is also a part of our system of government in the US. The quarantine is a 'State' matter, how Christians celebrate Easter during the pandemic while still applying common sense principles about virus contagion is a 'Church' matter.

Additionally, I'm not a Christian, but I've studied the Christian Bible and I might expect Christians to celebrate their holiday in small groups or even privately as a way of expressing their beliefs today. For example, Matthew 6:5 tells us:

"_And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues andin the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward_."

IMO, thats yer God giving ye a pass to respect the quarantine while still professing your faith.

No judgment in this comment, btw - I respect everyone's right to their own system of religious beliefs so long as they don't run contrary to my own personal freedoms / that their beliefs aren't forced upon me. Its why that 'separation' is so critical, IMO. I have love for Christians and non-Christians alike. I just don't want to see them become ill and then spread that illness to all whom they come in contact with due to a religious tradition.


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## dk8594 (Apr 13, 2020)

We are always being influenced.  I remember about a year ago I was asked what has changed for me directly based on which party is in office.   It took a little coaxing to get me beyond all the things I “knew” had changed, but once I got past it and really thought about it the answer was nothing. I still love each day the same and still find the same pleasures in life.   I still wake up at the same time, I still do the same things. The only difference has been what has been in the news and what I should be angry about now.

How many people really buy a car because they need one? How many people’s lives have been made phenomenal by the purchase of an Apple Watch? My guess is not many.   Propaganda takes many forms and often the toughest challenge we face is in forming our own opinions.


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## Beserker (Apr 14, 2020)

NbleSavage said:


> I see the self-isolation guidelines as supporting the immediate threat of the pandemic, not as an attempt to disparage Christianity on Easter. If the pandemic had happened a touch later, it would have impacted Ramadan - likely still will, and there are almost as many Muslims as there are Christians in the world
> 
> Point being, the separation of church and state is also a part of our system of government in the US. The quarantine is a 'State' matter, how Christians celebrate Easter during the pandemic while still applying common sense principles about virus contagion is a 'Church' matter.
> 
> ...



I agree whole heartedly that you don’t need church to honor a holy occasion,
I was just using Easter as a counter point to the author’s view. While I agree with the bulk of his diatribe, he omitted the big push from the other end of the spectrum... the never ending mission creep to erode our freedoms a little at a time until one day America wakes up and ponders wtf were we thinking... we had a truly good thing once.  It is a slow motion train wreck over the last century, the theft of our rights.

I’m not a fan of organized religion, but I respect everyone’s right to believe in whatever Gods or lack of them that they choose. When you look at where we’re headed, it’s grim.  We’re only a few generations away from a Chinese like destroy all religion type of government. A regime that will one day seize the last of our freedoms to “save us from ourselves”.  Even Orwell couldn’t imagine the world we’re headed for.


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## German89 (Jul 27, 2020)

Well, let the gas lighting beginning.

Google has started.  With USA TODAY posting a article that AGENDA 21 is FAKE!!

If you punch into google, or in my case, I used duckduckgo.  First article to come up is a usatoday article on how it's not real.  They're even modifying a Wikipedia post as well.

If you indeed keep scrolling, even going to the second page.  You can download the PDF from 1992 about agenda 21. 

I'm not trying to spew any of my bullshit... I am just showing that this article is absolutely correct.  

Let the war beginning.


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## The Phoenix (Jul 27, 2020)

German89 said:


> Well, let the gas lighting beginning.
> 
> Google has started.  With USA TODAY posting a article that AGENDA 21 is FAKE!!
> 
> ...



There’s a book by Rosa Korie call Behind the Green Mask: A look at agenda for the 21 century on sustainable development (1992).


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## Janoy Cresva (Feb 20, 2021)

Stopped reading at "White people don't care about the problems of black Americans." Everyone has problems. Really gay article you shared bro. And by bro I mean never my bro.


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## NbleSavage (Feb 21, 2021)

Janoy Cresva said:


> Stopped reading at "White people don't care about the problems of black Americans." Everyone has problems. Really gay article you shared bro. And by bro I mean never my bro.



Read the gay article again, "Bro". That wooshing sound you hear going over yer head is the point that, in fact, people do actually care about one another.

"_*The greatest misconception among us*_, which causes deep and painful social and political tension every day in this country, is that we somehow don’t care about each other. White people don’t care about the problems of black America."


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## German89 (Feb 21, 2021)

The Phoenix said:


> There’s a book by Rosa Korie call Behind the Green Mask: A look at agenda for the 21 century on sustainable development (1992).



Hey, we are almost 1 year into 2 weeks to flatten the curve.

I'll have to look it up.

ETA: Agenda 21 to Agenda 2030.


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