Arctic Indigenous people have many words to describe snow and its various colours. Aleut speaking peoples reportedly have 50 words for snow. Since snow is a significant part of their daily life, the richness of the relevant vocabulary comes as no surprise. Perhaps for the same reason the list of words for lie in modern English is equally impressive and keeps extending. One of them, gaslighting, has recently become Merriam-Webster’s word of the year 2022 because of its growing popularity.
Merriam-Webster’s includes more than 10 words to the list of synonyms for lie: falsehood, untruth, fraud, deceitfulness, prevarication, dissemble, disinformation, manipulation, fake news, and deepfake. Gaslighting is just the latest. Google Trends show that internet users in English-speaking countries started to look up definitions for gaslighting since the second half of the 2010s. British and American English seems to be particularly affected, although similar trends are observed in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia (see the chart).
While Google Books allows comparing English-language books published in the US and the UK only, this databank has the advantage of covering a longer period. About five per cent of all books published since 1800 are indexed. Until the start of the 20th century the term ‘gaslighting’ was mostly used literally, in relation to gaslight, a lamp which operates by burning piped illuminating gas. A figurative meaning has been attached to this term relatively recently. A surge in its relative frequency on pages books published in the US and the UK observed since the second half of the 2010s is likely attributable to gaslighting defined figuratively (see the chart, the red curve depicts relative frequencies of gaslighting on pages of books published in the UK, the red – in the US).
In its figurative sense, gaslighting means manipulation by using particularly sophisticated means of deception. A person subject to gaslighting loses touch with reality, starting to question everywhere the boundary between true and false. It may happen within the family with an abusive partner or within an organization, where gaslighting becomes a dimension of bullying; or in politics, because of the unavailability of valid information and the spread of misinformation.
A closer look at publications in the newspapers of record from the five English-speaking countries suggests that few, if any, institutions and processes remain immune to gaslighting.
A publication in The Times describes the experience of a psychologically abused wife: “I now realise I’ve lived with gaslighting and emotional abuse for a long time. I’ve been blamed for everything. I took responsibility for trying to fix things and I didn’t have a hope. My husband has left. How can I help my family cope?” (February 28, 2022).
The Globe and Mail reports on the use of gaslighting in academia quoting the president of the faculty association of a Canadian public university that recently went bankrupt because of mismanagement, who said “People are devastated. They’re angry. Rightfully so, because in the process, the administration spent a lot of effort scapegoating, ignoring and gaslighting faculty” (November 24, 2022).
The term ‘gaslighting’ is used in an article in The Australian to describe the mishandling of COVID-19 and the provision of incomplete and/or misleading data as its element: “Even by the standards of public health authorities across the world gaslighting the people to nudge them into docile – and often performative – compliance with official edicts, this level of internal contradiction of narrative with data is breathtaking” (August 20, 2022).
The New Zealand Herald offers the other example of how gaslighting may penetrate politics and undermine the declared democratic principles: “‘Employment matters’ are being worked through with a Labour backbencher MP who yesterday made explosive claims about ‘rampant’ bullying and gaslighting involving party whips and the Parliamentary Service, it has been revealed” (August 12, 2022).
Even the court, the other cornerstone of democracy, does not avoid being associated with gaslighting. In an interview conducted for The New York Times, we read: “And yet the court, which to the extent people trust it, and should be able to trust it, is trying to tell us – I mean, as you put it, gaslight us into saying, well look, unfortunately, the founders had an unbelievably expansive vision of gun ownership, and we are bound to follow the simple truth whether we like it or not of what the historical record tells us” (July 1, 2022).
It is difficult to keep sanity when gaslighting becomes so widespread. An increased risk of mental disorders seems to go hand in hand with the growing popularity of gaslighting. According to the data collected by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in the US, Australia has the highest prevalence of mental disorders in the world. In 2019, 19.4 per cent of the adult population in this country had issues with mental health. Australia is closely followed by New Zealand (19.04 per cent). The US, the UK and Canada follow their lead (see the chart). Between 1990 and 2019, the relative (not to be confused with the absolute) change in the share of population with any mental health problems varies from more than one per cent in the UK to more than nine per cent in the US.
At the end of the day, the unexpected rise in popularity of gaslighting may be indicative of serious underlying problems at the institutional level. If they are not properly addressed being covered by clouds of gas of lies, then further increases in the demand for mental health facilities and services be expected.
Lies are circumstantial. Gaslighting is systemic, it seems. It is more and more a codeword for issues that are real, but whose existence is denied or belittled.
Support rabble today!
We’re so glad you stopped by! Thanks for consuming rabble content this year.
rabble.ca is 100% reader and donor funded, so as an avid reader of our content, we hope you will consider gifting rabble with a donation during our summer fundraiser today.
Whether it be a one-time donation or a small monthly contribution, your support is critical to keep rabble writers producing the work you’ve come to rely on as a part of a healthy media diet.
Become a rabble rouser — donate to rabble.ca today.
Nick Seebruch, editor
