The Gaslighting of American Culture

May 2021 

…. To manipulate (someone) by psychological means into questioning their own sanity

Hey Americans; does this ring a bell? Every day seems to present itself as a new opportunity to excel in words and actions based on inanity and stupidity. Ironically (or possibly sarcastically) the leaders in this ever-tightening downward spiral are the exact ones our culture has deemed to be the smartest guys in the room. Namely, corporate heads, state and national politicians, kindergarten teachers to university faculties, celebrities, and news media personalities.

The saddest part of this action equation is the way those in the wake of these ‘smart guys’ have bought into their drivel. And why not, we’ve idolized and revered these exact people for our entire American experience because we actually thought they were the smartest guys in the room. They aren’t.

Gaslighting … Is someone manipulating you?

They tell you we’re a racist country, that vaccines work … but maybe not really, that riots are mostly peaceful demonstrations, that certain demographic groups aren’t smart enough to know how or when to vote, that boys and girls are simply an abstract idea, that cops are evil, that the Constitution is an outdated set of rules constructed by simple men, that fences around Capitol Hill work but border walls don’t, that words spoken by some are okay but inflammatory when spoken by others, that illegal entry into the country really isn’t illegal at all but rather compassionate and humanitarian (someone needs to tell the Customs and Border Enforcement folks at all our airports), that inclusion and diversity in the workplace trumps merit, experience, and quality from the Operating Room to the cockpit and everywhere in between, that the earth is doomed within 12 years, that laws, rules, rewards, and consequences are made for some but not for others  .. Had enough yet?

“A lie told once remains a lie but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth” (Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Reich Minister of Propaganda). Ironic? Not really.

Our country has lost its collective mind. To realize that a 31-year-old, totally inexperienced person in the political realm can be elected to the US Congress is, in and of itself, a really good thing as it acts as an example of the opportunity this country presents. But it also exposes a malleable insecurity within the political class of leaders in our society. It becomes an enigma to see how proficiency with social media and its inherent ability to form a consensus – rather than a certain depth of critical thought, has propelled this figure into positions of power where what is said actually sets the stage for broadscale conversation. One has to wonder how we got here.

Listening to the same media talking heads, medical authorities, legal analysts, political pundits, social activists tell us what we think we need to know without realizing that the words coming out of their mouths may not have your best interest in mind doesn’t seem to be an exercise in rational thought. The very definition of gaslighting.

There are very good reasons why rates of drug overdoses, suicides, depression, social disengagement, anger issues have sky-rocketed. The easy and most popular answer would be to blame it all on Covid or Trump. Its so much deeper than that and everyone and everything previously mentioned are ingredients in this horrible stew. The world has become so cluttered and noisy with all the wrong stuff that we seem to have forgotten the important human elements.

A good friend recently expressed to me that he knew many more people that have succumbed to suicide than from Covid. From personal experience I had to agree. Interesting to note that Covid ranks far above suicide in the US cause of death rate calculations. The CDC reports a dramatic rise in overdose rates in the early months of the Covid era. My state of Maine is already outpacing the terrible record set in 2020. Behavioral specialists and psychologists will tell you the single worst environment for someone going through addiction or depression issues is isolation. The FAA recently reported that airborne misconduct incidents thus far in 2021 are ten times higher than for previous full year reports. Civil unrest, property destruction, and public lawlessness is at a level not seen since the 60’s.

So, what’s the point? Maybe it’s time to take back our lives, to think for ourselves, to make decisions based not on what the smart guys tell us but on what you know is clearly right and wrong. Maybe it’s time for Americans to get back to basics and stop putting so much faith in people and institutions that don’t deserve it. In essence, it’s time to reject the gaslighting and retrieve our sanity.

America has been in crisis mitigation and regulatory restriction mode for as long as the smart guys have told us it was the thing to do. Good Americans have done what has been asked but those given the power and control continued to move the goalposts to the point where they have lost their credibility and our respect. Power and control have legitimate and recognizable limits and Americans cannot lose their ability to discern where those limits exist. At the most basic level it’s just not part of the traditional American gene set to have personal freedoms and liberties taken away by executive fiat as has been done in many states. Elected officials claim they want everything to get back to normal but whose definition of normal will it be?

Isn’t it time we get back to thinking, discerning, and assimilating what is actually true and not everything you’re being fed based on their perspectives … and not yours?

I reject gaslighting not because I’m the smartest guy in the room but because my common sense seems to be a whole lot more well educated.