“It has taken us centuries of thought and mockery to shake the medieval system; thought and mockery here and now are required to prevent the mechanists [technocrats] from building another.”

Dora Russell,* The Right to Be Happy (1927), preface. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mockery (*see sidebar)

Tuesday, March 22, 2022

Gaslighting* the Gaslighters

Here is a classic gaslight of a gaslight. What could the school powers possibly say so as not to offend or discriminate against this father's “lizard” daughter? How to hold true to the “new normal” of “identify as” in the face of such sincerity and family loyalty? How to respond publicly and politically correct (even to a possible spoof??!!) when some other school board has already accommodated children identifying as cats or dogs1 or when teacher sensitivity means being willing to speak the language of “meow, meow”?2


My daughter identifies as a Lizard
(Alex Stein | Jan 24, 2022 | Time 2:07) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ricRQzCkpCc
Other gaslighting scenes: https://www.youtube.com/c/AlexStein99/videos
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* Gaslighting is a colloquialism, loosely defined as making someone question their own reality.
The term may also be used to describe a person (a "gaslighter") who presents a false narrative to another group or person which leads them to doubt their perceptions and become misled (generally for the gaslighter's own benefit), disoriented or distressed. Generally, this dynamic is possible only when the audience is vulnerable, such as in unequal power relationships, or when the audience is fearful of the losses associated with challenging the false narrative. Gaslighting is not necessarily malicious or intentional, although in some cases it is. |  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting

1. Kentucky school district: Students are dressing and acting like cats https://www.wlwt.com/article/meade-school-district-students-are-dressing-and-acting-like-cats/37398744
2. School [Sub] Teacher says she was fired for not 'meowing' back at student who identifies as a cat (PatriotClips | Jan 15, 2022 | Time 1:24 min.) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyrBqLWJb-A