Poll of the Day > Ok, can someone smart explain what the fuck gas-lighting is?

(+) Yeah! (+)

It sounds like pure manipulation when I read about it but if it is manipulation, why does it need it's own special term?

Example:

Gaslighting is a tactic in which a person or entity, in order to gain more power, makes a victim question their reality. It works much better than you may think. Anyone is susceptible to gaslighting, and it is a common technique of abusers, dictators, narcissists, and cult leaders. It is done slowly, so the victim doesn't realize how much they've been brainwashed. For example, in the movie Gaslight (1944), a man manipulates his wife to the point where she thinks she is losing her mind.

If someone in a relationship says "my S/O gaslights me" does that just mean they know how to mentally fuck with you?
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AKA, social media.
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I think it's basically when you convince someone they're crazy for thinking a certain way about something

It sounds like instead of manipulating someone to gain something for yourself, this term is for people that want to make someone else go insane.
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You can manipulate somebody by only telling relevant truths.

When you gaslight, you can insist something did/didn't happen to the extent that they question what they remember.

For example: "I didn't post in your thread. Why don't you tell Erik_P to stop trolling?"
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Kyuubi4269 posted...

You can manipulate somebody by only telling relevant truths.

When you gaslight, you can insist something did/didn't happen to the extent that they question what they remember.

Gotcha, so in a way it's trying to convince someone that there wrong, even if there is evidence stating the opposite (especially when it comes to remembering past situations i.e getting caught cheating)

That makes sense when I re-read people using the term
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Loosely, it's manipulating somebody into believing that their legitimate grievances with you are actually their own fault, or imagined. It's a form of manipulation, but it's a specific one, which is why there's a specific term.
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adjl posted...

Loosely, it's manipulating somebody into believing that their legitimate grievances with you are actually their own fault, or imagined. It's a form of manipulation, but it's a specific one, which is why there's a specific term.

yea this makes sense

every example just made it look like blatant manipulation (not the specified form you posted), even the article I quoted that definition from
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Modern feminism in a nutshell
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Pretty sure the only reason it's called Gaslighting is because it's named after the play/movie. But other people have already described WHAT it is.
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Dikitain posted...

AKA, social media.

Lolwut
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjKQQpPVifY
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This

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXU6IjeLcdU

You made this same topic two weeks ago. Why are you making repeat topics?
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Firewood18 posted...

You made this same topic two weeks ago. Why are you making repeat topics?

How'd that happen when I just read about gas lighting today
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The concept kinda works better when applied under certain contexts.

mastermix3000 posted...

If someone in a relationship says "my S/O gaslights me" does that just mean they know how to mentally fuck with you?

Nobody who says that actually means it because they don't know what it entails. If you were being gaslit by a s/o, you wouldn't know it. You wouldn't even think of questioning their narrative to learn better.
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Pus_N_Pecans posted...

Pretty sure the only reason it's called Gaslighting is because it's named after the play/movie. But other people have already described WHAT it is.

Came in to point this out.

And to post this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslight_(1944_film)


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Hmm. I thought this would be about 1800s lighting.

mastermix3000 posted...

Firewood18 posted...

You made this same topic two weeks ago. Why are you making repeat topics?

How'd that happen when I just read about gas lighting today

I remember that topic, I posted in it
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mastermix3000 posted...

Firewood18 posted...

You made this same topic two weeks ago. Why are you making repeat topics?

How'd that happen when I just read about gas lighting today

See, I'm not the only one that notices that every few weeks you make the exact same or similar topics over and over again.
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The way it's always been used in my experience is - when you talk a girl up saying you want to be in a relationship and you do relationship stuff, then you stop talking to them.
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SmokeMassTree posted...

The way it's always been used in my experience is - when you talk a girl up saying you want to be in a relationship and you do relationship stuff, then you stop talking to them.

That's not gaslighting at all

That's called "being a fuckboi"
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It's another overused buzzword. The concept certainly does exist, but as soon as social media figured out the accusation of it could be used as a weapon suddenly everyone is a gaslighter.

Can we call it something less comical?

they trick you into going crazy.

real old word, idk why people started using it recently
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SmokeMassTree posted...

The way it's always been used in my experience is - when you talk a girl up saying you want to be in a relationship and you do relationship stuff, then you stop talking to them.

Lol

Krazy_Kirby posted...

they trick you into going crazy.

real old word, idk why people started using it recently

Me neither :/
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Firewood18 posted...

mastermix3000 posted...

Firewood18 posted...

You made this same topic two weeks ago. Why are you making repeat topics?

How'd that happen when I just read about gas lighting today

See, I'm not the only one that notices that every few weeks you make the exact same or similar topics over and over again.

Maybe he was gaslit into forgetting... wait, that's not how it works.

Krazy_Kirby posted...

they trick you into going crazy.

real old word, idk why people started using it recently

Because it relates to a movie that came out in the past two years. Mentioning the name *might* kinda spoil part of the twist, so here's an IMDB link to the film which you can click on at your own risk.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3631112/

EightySeven posted...

It's another overused buzzword. The concept certainly does exist, but as soon as social media figured out the accusation of it could be used as a weapon suddenly everyone is a gaslighter.

Blame a movie coming out and talk show hosts/pundits wrongly using it, which in turn spawned imitators on social media.
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if you want to talk about gaslighting as it relates to a movie it better be this...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslight_(1944_film)
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I wish you'd stop making this topic, TC. We keep explaining this to you and you still seem to ask this every week.
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Krazy_Kirby posted...

if you want to talk about gaslighting as it relates to a movie it better be this...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslight_(1944_film)

I'm talking about the film that made it a household word again. PO and others have already linked to that other film (Gaslight) several times and, as it's in the 1940s without a remake or major re-release, there's no way that it spawned the use of the term again.
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Ok, this is such a dumb name for such an evil trick, i actually looked at my posting history <.<

Pretty sure I've done this a million times in the past, didn't know it had a specific name since it literally is just "fucking with someone" mentally.
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