First BLOTUS Press Conference, Annotated
FLATUS Dossier Spotlights Russian History of ‘Kompromat’ – Diplomats, politicians and bureaucrats have been embarrassed by leaks of compromising material
The body language of FLATUS, and the 20 best nicknames; are you sorry yet?
FLATUS plan to keep his business is national embarrassment
Gun silencers are hard to buy. Donald Trump Jr. and silencer makers want to change that
Regarding Simon & Schuster, Milo Y., and Booksmith
Nazis Celebrate As Ann Coulter Cites White Supremacist Code
The US has been hacking elections for more than a century
Transcript of Face the Nation book panel with Isabel Wilkerson (“The Warmth of Other Suns”; JD Vance (“Hillbilly Elegy”); actor Diane Guerrero (“In the Country We Love”); Amani Al- Khatahthbeh (“Muslim Girl: A Coming of Age”
Full Text Of Obama’s Farewell Address, or you can watch it
President Obama Awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Vice President Biden
ObamaWhiteHouse.gov is the future home of President Obama’s WhiteHouse.gov. This site will be maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration and will serve as an historical archive of Obama Administration content.
Our brain does not process information, retrieve knowledge or store memories. In short: your brain is not a computer
The Prank of the Face: Unmasking the “Droeshout” Portrait of William Shakespeare
Actors seek posthumous protections after big-screen resurrections
RIP William Christopher; I watched him as Father Mulcahy for 11 seasons on MASH
Lord Snowdon dies aged 86; Anthony Armstrong-Jones was the first “famous” person who I knew shared my birthday of March 7
The Mysterious Virus That Could Cause Obesity
Shelterforce takes an in-depth look at the summer 2016 Sheridan Hollow mosaic project in which 3,000 City School District of Albany art students contributed their talents to help transform a city neighborhood.
Announcing a New Folger Fellowship in Honor of Margaret Hannay
The Waxhaws, on the border between the Carolinas
Arthur answers my questions about pop culture and Arthur, plus writes about his mom, who would have been 100
How Not To Write Like An Archdruid
Richard Thompson and the comic strip CUL DE SAC
Jim Cummings provides the voices for many cartoon characters
Now I Know: Selling a Better Way to Shop and Top Billing and The People That Have No Rights and McRefugees and The Lobster War
Obit: Mr. Oliver Larry Rickard, better known as “Paw Paw” the Clown, age 81, of Rome “Survivors include… a brother-in-law, the late Roger Green.”
Music
2016 Coverville Countdown of the best cover versions, Part I and Part II
Kubo and the Two Strings – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Highlights from “Bring It On: The Musical”
To Russia with Love – Matt Monro
If Moby Accepted Trump Inauguration Invitation, This Would Be His Playlist, plus Trump Is on Your Side – Moby and the Homeland Choir
Station to Station – David Bowie
Nat Hentoff, renowned columnist, jazz critic, free speech advocate, died at 91. I used to read him in the Village Voice for about 20 of his 50 years with the paper
Patti Smith Never Wanted to Be Famous (interview)
David Byrne on not being afraid to fail
The Kinks’ Ray Davies receives knighthood in New Year Honours List
50 Years Ago, the Wah-Wah Pedal Was Born in a Hollywood Hills Garage
Vinyl sales in UK reach highest level in last 25 years – with more than 3.2 MILLION LPs sold last year
A Fancy Guitar to Sell, but Hard to Play in Handcuffs
Why did CNN air a documentary about the band Chicago produced by band members?
Whenever someone would deliberately change the personal history between that person and me in order to win an argument, or to pull some kind nastiness on me, I would become frustrated and angry. If I’d tried to point out what they were doing I’d end up sputtering, and the liar would smile a superior sneer and look at me with contempt. Because, of course, their trick was working and they could see it.
But recently I learned the word “gaslighting.” It comes from a movie called Gaslight (1944) and was formulated by literary types who referenced the movie for the concept. From there it has filtered to the rest of us, an unusual path for a popular word to become standard.
For me it has been wonderful to discover that I’m not the only person in the world who has to deal with this problem from sleazy sniveling people, and that the entire concept can be expressed with one word. Now when someone changes our mutual history to gain some kind of advantage over me (“I never said that” etc.) I just say “Don’t gaslight me” and their sneers turn to frowns and they slink away.
Now, of course, gaslighting is the political method favored by the sleazebags who have seized control of our country with an electoral coup. We Americans need this word so we can stand up to America’s internal enemies for the next four years and beyond.
Ah, I wrote about gaslighting four years ago: https://www.rogerogreen.com/2013/02/23/g-is-for-gaslighting/
I missed that article, or more likely skimmed over it. I saw the movie several times on TV when I was a kid. It was a sinister movie about a sinister plot, although as a kid I thought it was kind of dumb (the kid that I once was thought, Who has gaslights anyway? And why would that woman trust that guy?)
I use the word much more loosely than you define it in the article. I define it as any attempt to change actual history to further a momentary goal either big or small. And because we Americans are actually famous for forgetting history and for concealing it from ourselves, that form of lying we now call gaslighting is all too widespread.
And of course, once again Mr. Green is ahead of me and everybody else, a real trendsetter.