[Sigh] When Gaslighters Discover Gaslighting, They Don’t Recognize Themselves, poor fellows. Climate Denialist Anthony Watts of the Denialist Web site Watts Up With That has been observed trying to turn gaslighting on its head against the rest of us.
The idea that the fossil fuel industry and its denial-defenders in politics and media are gaslighting America is hardly new. The term for how someone in an abusive relationship will use lies and deception to make their victim think they’re crazy (based on a 1938 movie where a man makes his wife question her sanity by dimming the gaslights every night, among other things) was injected into the political discourse in 2016 by a viral TeenVogue essay explaining how Trump gaslights Americans.
Others have made the connection to how climate denial operates:
- Bill McKibben wrote about gaslighting last year regarding the myth that fracking is a climate solution
- columnist Robert Gehrke used a scientist’s quote about gasllighting to describe former Interior chief Zinke’s approach to forest fires
- Dave Roberts described shifting GOP climate rhetoric in 2018 as gaslighting
- Emily Atkin 3 years ago described how congressional Republicans were gaslighting on climate
the list goes on.
The Dixie Chicks just made their return with a new song called “Gaslighter.”
Just below the fold.