Your Name: ______
Recognizing Logical Fallacies:
“Gaslighting”
Directions: Read below and short answer the questions on the front and back. You may write on this paper.
Gaslightingis a form ofmanipulationthrough continueddenial, misdirection, contradiction, andlyingin an attempt todestabilizeand delegitimize a target. Its intent is to sow seeds of doubt in the targets, hoping to make them question their own memory, perception, and sanity. Instances may range from the denial by an abuser that previous abusive incidents ever occurred up to the staging of bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disorienting the victim. The term owes its origin toGas Light, a 1938 play and 1944 film, and has been used in clinical and research literature
- After reading the above wiki entry, what does “gaslighting” mean in your own words?
This term has been in the news lately, as many Donald Trump detractors claim he is an expert at “gaslighting”. Read this excerpt from Teen Vogue and answer the questions that follow. ______
“There is a long list of receipts when it comes to Trump's lies.With the help of PolitiFact, clear-cut examples of deception include Trump saying that he watched thousands of people cheering on 9/11 in Jersey City (police say there's no evidence of this), that the Mexican government forces immigrants into the U.S. (no evidence), that there are "30 or 34 million" immigrants in this country (there are 10 or 11 million), that he never supported the Iraq War (he told Howard Stern he did), that the unemployment rate is as high as "42 percent" (the highest reported rate is 16.4 percent), that the U.S. is the highest taxed country in the world (not true based on any metric of consideration), that crime is on the rise (it's falling, and has been for decades), and too many other things to list here because the whole tactic is to clog the drain with an indecipherable mass of toxic waste. The gas lighting part comes in when the fictions are disputed by the media, and Trump doubles down on his lies, before painting himself as a victim of unfair coverage, sometimes even threatening to revoke media access.”
- According to the article, when Trump’s falsehoods are corrected or disputed, how does he often react?
An example: Most recently, an interview with ABC, the interviewer, David Muir asked about Trump’s most recent claim that “millions of illegals voted” in the 2016 election, and that he in fact would have won the popular vote if this had not happened. Read the full verbal exchange continued on back…
MUIR: What you have been presented so far (about illegals voting) has been debunked. It has been called false.
TRUMP: Take a look at the Pew reports.
MUIR: I called the author of the Pew report last night and he told me that they found no evidence of voter fraud.
TRUMP: Really, then why did he write the report?
MUIR: He said no evidence of voter fraud.
TRUMP: Excuse me, then why did he write the report? According to Pew report, then he’s groveling again. You know, I always talk about the reporters. They grovel when they wanna write something that you wanna hear, but not necessarily millions of people wanna hear or have to hear.
- What question does Trump ask back to the interview when confronted with evidence the Pew Report does notsupport his belief?
- Does his question make any difference in proving the belief that millions of illegals voted in the election? Why or why not?