Prepare for the Ultimate Gaslighting*

[marmar]

Prepare for the Ultimate Gaslighting*
You are not crazy, my friends

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 lie 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 multibillion-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 repaint. 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 rewire 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 health care system that cannot provide basic protective equipment for its frontline; 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 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 socioeconomic 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. .....................(more)

https://forge.medium.com/prepare-for-the-ultimate-gaslighting-6a8ce3f0a0e0?source=collection_home---4------0-----------------------

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. This is a superb piece of writing! I was going to post it, but you got there first!

Thank you for sharing it.

[SheltieLover]

2. TY!

K&R

[lunatica]

3. As a Progressive I have these exact same thoughts

We get a chance to do it right from the beginning as soon as we can mingle without fear of the pandemic. I hope everyone realizes we’ll be getting a second chance to build a solid foundation for everyone. Everyone.

May the Greed is Good era be over forever.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. It's already begun. His base think he is winning and are promoting it:

Trump Learned Game of Left and Beat Them
The BlackSphere ^ | April 6, 2020 | Kevin Jackson
Posted on 4/8/2020, 4:21:19 PM by Forgiven_Sinner

There came a point in the Chinese Wuhan Virus “pandemic” when
President Trump spotted the game of the Leftists. So he played
along. At first President Trump rightfully downplayed the severity of
the Chinese Wuhan Virus. He equated it to various flu bugs. He then
cautioned people to stay away from sick people, wash their own hands
and if sick, cough into their elbows.

If Trump were Obama, this advice would have been deemed
yogiesque. Then you can bet some Leftist organization would have given
Obama an award for potentially saving millions of lives. But since we
live in the era of Trump, Leftists declared Trump unfit. They claimed
that his cavalier attitude cost lives.

Trump got the message; a message that had been drilled into him for
four years. He knew that nothing he does will satisfy Leftists unless
he plays along. So he did. (Excerpt) Read more at theblacksphere.net ...

I thought my fellow Freepers would like this article. Kevin Jackson
shows how Trump is using Fauci as the bad cop to set expectations very
low and then he is the good cop beating expectations.
I'm not tired of winning. Are you?
1 posted on 4/8/2020 by Forgiven_Sinner

His long promised 2 trillion dollar infrastructure bill will destroy
the Dems. The unions will laud him as Ceasar. He’ll be a modern day
FDR. Too bad he can’t run again after his landslide in November.
13 posted on 4/8/2020 by blackberry1

Why, they {Fauci, Brix} are the best things to ever have happened for
Trump. Consider that with cover from those two stalking horses, they
actually sanctioned granting Trump dictatorial powers. Without
declaring a national security emergency, Trump could not have - with
neither congressional nor judicial oversight - imposed:

- border controls
- travel restrictions
- moderated sanctuary states
- re-homed domestic production
- import tariffs
- lower oil prices
- undeclared cartel operations
- $8-10T to invest/re-direct US economy

Can anyone imagine the collective Homer Simpson "DOH!" going through
the proglib media right now? By now everyone knows the threat was
overblown - CV has been in Calif since fall. Also, the death tally
radically overstated, with bounties being paid for CV victims in order
to recover federal reimbursement funding.

The whole thing was/is a scam of epic proportions, with the
expectation that Trump would be consumed in the operation. Yet, like a
martial arts master, Trump now has reversed the attack, and now has
complete and total control. That is, as long as the shut down order is
maintained.

So, anyone care to guess when the MSM starts badgering Trump about
re-opening the country? And what will Trump do? LOL - he'll defer to
the two MD experts, laughing inside. Oh sure, small biz is taking a
hit, but there is more than enough $money to make every front-line
warrior good. Because that's who's the tip of the spear - small
businesses are Trump's army to defeat the real enemies of the
republic.
18 posted on 4/8/2020 by semantic

[Faux pas]

5. Kickin'

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