And we’re off!
The terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day is here.
How are you planning to get through it?
All I know for sure is that I will not watch a single minute of the “celebration”.
I have nothing to celebrate.
I won’t watch the swearing-in or the address or the parade, or listen to any of the vapid time-filling punditry either. DJT will have to get his ratings some place else.
Instead I will spend as much of the day as possible at DK, commiserating with like-minded friends and smacking down trolls, who if they know what is good for them will not bother to come here to make trouble today of all days.
And although this may get lost in inauguration liveblogs and other counter-programming, I am also choosing today to launch my commentary series, TRUE BLUE REPORT.
I plan to write regularly during the First 100 Days of Resistance: a little bit of ranting, a little bit of rage against the lying of the right, a little message discipline, a little plain truth in simple language, a little community building, a little bit of everything. I always wanted to write a column, and I suddenly realized nothing was stopping me from just going ahead and doing it. So here it is, for what it’s worth. Instead of being overwhelmed by current political realities, I’ll write my way out.
I’m starting with a subject very close to my heart : how to keep the crazymaking tactics of GOPropaganda from scrambling your brain.
A key element to resisting gaslighting is to simply label it for what it is: a deliberate attempt to twist your perception of reality.
When you name it and openly acknowledge it, you expose what Rcons thought they had hidden.
They know the Blue Team is full of thinkers and analyzers. This gaslighting tactic is an attempt to use our greatest strength against us.
They expect us to be Norman One—a “perfect robot” so rigid in his programming and so limited in his ability to think outside of the box that he can be stymied by a simple Liar’s Paradox.
They laugh at the flaw in our brains that makes us keep trying to process the BS as though it were real. They laugh at our inability to step outside the circle of logical analysis: You say you are lying, but if everything you say is a lie, then you are telling the truth, but you cannot tell the truth because everything you say is a lie, but you lie... You tell the truth but you cannot for you lie... illogical! Illogical! Please explain!
They WANT our brains to seize up with trying to process the contradictions. They EXPECT that we cannot get our minds around rank hypocrisy. They ENJOY watching us tie ourselves in knots.
Don’t give them the satisfaction of taking the “but you just said the opposite an hour ago!” bait.
Exclaiming “no fair, no fair” and “those are not the rules on the box!” and “that’s not the way you played the game yesterday” makes us sound like the petulant toddlers, and distracts attention from the petulant toddler they are sending to the White House. It also gives them more reason to laugh at us for paying such close attention to the rules of Fizzbin, when all along they were planning to turn the table over.
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Listen. Everyone. Please. There is no such game as Fizzbin. Kirk was making it up as he went along. That’s why the rules of Fizzbin don’t make sense.
Stop expecting Republicons to make sense.
When you look at the M.C. Escher print above, you know it is an artificial construction. In that world, a figure can walk up and down the same staircase at the same time. You might even admire the artistry of it.
But you know it is not reality. You don’t waste time ranting about how it is an impossible construct. You would simply laugh at anyone trying to persuade you that such a structure could actually be built.
This is what we must do EVERY TIME the Rcons throw gaslighting techniques at us.
Putin has set a ring in DJT’s nose using basic flattery manipulation tactics they probably learn on the first day of KGB training. So when DJT responds with “no puppet, no puppet, you’re the puppet”, we shouldn’t sputter about how nonsensical it is, just notice he is attempting to present a skewed version of reality and call it out.
When someone makes a racist statement and then says “of course I’m not a racist, in fact YOU are the racist” just notice the tactic and name it.
The Escher print of the political landscape that is currently being drawn by GOPropaganda isn’t real. It’s real in the sense that they actually drew it, and it does appear on the paper or the screen in front of you, but it is still a false construct. No matter how many times they point to the “evidence” they themselves created, saying “Look! It’s right there in front of your own eyes!” it still isn’t real.
When they try to Asch Conformity Test you by making it appear as though everyone else sees it/accepts it/believes it except you, it still isn’t real.
Eventually, as we all get better calling it out after the fact, we can take it a step further and start deconstructing these things as they happen in real time.
I used to love watching those shows that revealed the secrets behind classic magic tricks. By the end of the first season, I was pretty good at figuring out the illusion as it was being performed by keeping my eyes open, disregarding misdirection, and asking the right questions: Why is that person standing there? What is that screen covering up? Why is that backdrop painted that way? Why is that woman wearing a long flowing dress? Why is that box being shown at such a strange angle?
As I remembered pieces from other tricks, I started deconstructing it in real time: It would be easy to slip out of those restraints. Those spikes recede into the tubes. They are dancing around to stall for time. That box is wider/deeper than it looks.
When you START WITH THE ASSUMPTION THAT IT ISN’T REAL, you can almost make a game out of noticing what they are actually doing. Oh, that’s the same gambit they used during the XYZQ campaign. Or, this is just like last year when they pretended to A when they were actually doing B.
KellyAnne Conway and all of her ilk are simply magician’s assistants: in on the trick, willing to contort themselves in whatever way necessary to sell the illusion, paid very well for not revealing how the trick is actually done.
“Attractive” spokesbots are used because focusing on the assistant’s appearance is part of the misdirection. They twirl around and make exaggerated arm movements and stall for time while the real work goes on behind the scenes. Even if you find the Roger Ailes Stepford Wife look a little bit creepy and it’s not your cup of tea, getting distracted by what the operative looks like is still providing your own misdirection.
They laugh at us for being so easily misdirected. It is an act.
Furthermore, THEY know it isn’t real, just as the magician’s assistants know the trick isn’t real. It’s just a job.
The magician’s assistant isn’t “lying” when she pretends she has been cut into three pieces. It’s all part of the act.
Rcons in general and DJT in particular are only in it for the payoff—the fun of putting something over on people and getting away with it. The power of making folks gasp at the big reveal. The applause and adulation from the people who got exactly the entertainment they hoped for.
And the paycheck. Of course the paycheck.
This is entertaining for them: “Ha! You think you are smarter than me, but with all your supposed intellectual superiority I was able to put a simple magic trick over on you and leave you complaining that there is no way to make a woman disappear. But she’s gone isn’t she? And you don’t know how I did it! HA!”
So the best way to resist the gaslighting is: stop expecting what they say or do to make sense. Stop complaining about hypocrisy. Just calmly call it out. Name it: “That’s a lie.” “It’s not a joke, you meant what you said.” “That insult is offensive.” “Don’t change the subject—the misdirection is not working.”
Open your eyes to the various techniques they use until noticing them becomes second nature to you. Admire it as political artistry, but do not let anyone persuade you Rcons actually have magic powers. They are just very very good at deceiving people!
As for the voters who do choose to believe it, remember millions of folks enjoy the willing suspension of disbelief because their lives are bleak and they are desperate for entertainment.
Most important of all, remember Rs are often deliberately trying to provoke. If they get a rise out of you, once again you provide your own misdirection, and they gain the emotional advantage.
On the other hand, not taking the bait will confuse them.
Do not be fooled. Do not take it seriously.
As more and more of us shine the light on their tactics, the freak out shoe will quickly be on the other foot as Rs say “Damn, they caught on. The gaslighting isn’t working anymore.” They may move on to some other tactic, but we will at least have successfully thrown a monkey wrench into a strategy that has worked very smoothly for them up until now.
We’ve got some challenging days ahead. But we will get through it as we stick together and refuse to despair.
And whenever you need a comforting thought, always remember, we outnumber them.
why a big suit? it makes no sense!