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ALPERN AT LARGE - Definition of Gaslighting: “Gaslighting is a form of persistent psychological manipulation and emotional abuse where a perpetrator makes someone question their own reality, memories, or perceptions. It is designed to make victims doubt their sanity, leading to confusion, loss of confidence, and dependency on the manipulator. It is used to control or evade accountability.”
At this time, the most dangerous forces pulling us apart are those screaming about how “the other side” is pulling us apart.
When someone shouts, “You’re dividing us!” we now have ask whether that individual, or group of individuals, is the one TRULY dividing us, and also gaslighting us into thinking we’re being tooled and misled when THAT person or group of people is guilty of that.
In California, how many of us are still under the spell of the Governor with the Great Hair who never stops blaming Trump and his administration for what is really his own lack of responsible leadership…while demonizing and marginalizing those who declare that the Emperor has no clothes?
How many of us in L.A. are still under the spell of the Mayor with the charming smile who doesn’t have the guts to do the painful things necessary to run this City properly (budget cuts, reduction in force, knowing when to say NO to those who only care about what they can consume at the public trough, safety, security, etc.)?
On a more global level, Jewish and Black Americans are traditionally hard-core and dedicated Democrats…but we’ve now seen prominent Jewish Democrats like Alan Dershowitz and prominent black Democrats like Leo Terrell leave the party of JFK and FDR. Because Jewish and Black Americans are being thrown under the bus by the Democratic Party that once united them in a fight AGAINST bigotry and FOR the American Dream.
Meanwhile, the Republican Party base is waging its war against the elites, because the Republican base is no longer wants anything to do with the wealthy elites prospering while the rest of us live in fear of an uncertain future…and hence past GOP political leaders are now personas non grata (think of Mitt Romney, Mitch McConnell, and George W. Bush).
When we saw Joe Biden become President because he was galvanized by the Charlottesville Nazi rally in 2017, most of us who either leaned right or were moderates were wondering, “Who the hell are those rioters, and what rock did they come out from under?”
And now the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) which reportedly was an organization built to FIGHT racism is being accused of having FUNDED the Charlottesville rally!
At this point of time, I will throw out a new paradigm that will double down on in both this and future CityWatchLA pieces…which is that the traditional contrasts between political movements that existed between Liberals and Conservatives are now being replaced by those movements now described as Progressives and…
…and…
…and…Principled.
PRINCIPLED. THE OPPOSITE OF “PROGRESSIVE”.
Being Liberal means open-minded, and one can be both Liberal but eschew Progressivism (which appears to mean changing one’s principles in a New York minute if it serves one’s personal, financial, or psychological needs).
Consider the aforementioned Dershowitz and Terrell, as well as commentator Bill Maher and common-sense and committed Democrat Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania…who are wondering what the HELL is happening to a Democratic Party that is becoming more and more accepting of nihilism and Islamic fascism.
One can also be Conservative and “Progressive” as well—think of the once-GOP stalwarts Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Megyn Kelly who’ve thrown away their principles, and eschewed antisemitism and anti-Western priorities because of either personal, psychological, or even financial reasons.
And let’s not forget trouble-makers like “right-wing Groyper” Nick Fuentes and “left-wing verbal bomb-thrower Hasan Piker, both of whom would not long ago have entirely be relegated to a “cringe fringe” of society.
…and, as is so common throughout the past two millennia, it’s always “blame the Jews” as an easy scapegoat whenever things get financially rough. Both Fuentes, Piker and their ilk all use the lazy-but-successful way out of reason via Jew-Hatred.
Maybe it’s a lack of respect or personal memory of the Middle-Eastern and Cold War conflicts, and 9/11, or even just a violent and disdainful disregard to Western History, the Enlightenment, and the Renaissance that’s swept over hordes of disaffected individuals fearing financial and sociological Armageddon in their lifetimes.
Clearly President Trump can throw gasoline on the overall fire of our modern era, but his opponents appear far worse, and by far more likely to commit violence upon Americans of all types.
And when you’re more problematic than our brash-mouthed President Trump…that’s pretty doggone BAD.
We just had yet ANOTHER person try to kill President Trump, and perhaps a whole lotta Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, in the process (many who probably despise Trump) at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
This is being noted by the BBC, which has its own problems in a Great Britain ready to quite a bit of political and even civil unrest.
But when the conspiracies are being proven true, it’s VERY, VERY BAD.
Because that means we just don’t know if or when we’re being gaslighted, and if those decrying the gaslighting are themselves the gaslighters.
(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father. He was active for 20 years on the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) as a Board Member focused on Planning and Transportation, and helped lead the grassroots efforts of the Expo Line as well as connecting LAX to MetroRail. His latest project is his fictional online book entitled The Unforgotten Tales of Middle-Earth, and can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)
