Gaslighting a Nation
And the lasting effect on people’s mental health
Whether you want to hear it or not what’s currently going on in the United States is traumatic. And it will leave a trace. A lasting one. Spanning generations.
It’s the unpredictability. It’s the complete disregard for people’s rights and the law.
It’s the feeling of being trapped. It’s the helplessness.
It’s the breakdown of the most basic systems. It’s the chaos.
And that adds up. They are not single events. They are piled on top of each other fighting for top spot.
And this is where gaslighting comes in – all of those very valid feelings are dismissed by the government that is causing them.
There is hope of course and you might like to read about that in The Planet newsletter. There is a series of what happens after the fall. Read part 1 and part 2.
Today I am looking at the psychology behind what’s happening. And what I think all of it is essentially building on.
The Second World War ended, and a new order was established. Europe was divided and parts of it were hidden away behind an iron curtain.
So, how could the United States prove it was different from “those” people? Well, let’s add God to the mix. Despite the US having been founded on religious freedom and strict separation of church and state, God was added.
This started in the 1950s when In God We Trust was put on money and One Nation Under God was added to the pledge of allegiance.
Enter moral superiority because look at us, we have God on our side and the Russians are atheists. This was the official reason that was given for doing it.
Not what was originally intended by the founding fathers, but it made it easier later on to push those famous Christian values on everybody. I mean it’s on the money and in the pledge of allegiance – so we are clearly a Christian nation, right?
What else was needed to end up where we are today?
Well, America is the best country in the world comes to mind. If you can get your citizens to believe that this is the case, they are a lot less likely to criticize. And you can add all sorts of things here. You can add that everybody wants to live in the US, and all those immigrants prove that. Nobody is going to check actual numbers and compare them to other countries with much higher immigrant numbers.
It fits the rhetoric.
Of course everybody wants to move to the US, if it is the best country in the world. That’s why depending on where you entered the US as a tourist you could get hassled at immigration. It happened to me so many times. And you had to be careful what to say.
If you traveled as a student, you were questioned as to how you could afford it – and “because in Switzerland we don’t bankrupt our students and I work three days a week” was not the right answer.
All this was going on way before things started to turn. In hindsight, the signs were already there, even if they were easy to overlook in the moment.
In the 1990s the US was very different. I lived in California for a year and I could almost see myself living there for longer.
9-11 happened and of course that changed things. I mean how could it not.
It built on the Christianity angle and on the enemy wanting to destroy Christian values and America – because they were so jealous of its power and success. And they did hit the financial capital of the world.
Under that guise more and more division was created. Mega churches popped up all over the place. Money became even more important in politics than it used to be.
Any misfortune was blamed on the others, whether it’s non-Christians, non-white Americans, non-citizens, non-heterosexuals, non-cis, non-binary or any other others that I’m forgetting. It was their fault.
That path had been paved long ago and has now been expanded into a 6-lane freeway.
Those others must be fought because they are destroying the country and they are all thugs of course. I forgot to mention that.
Why did I mention gaslighting?
Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation that makes people question their own perception of reality - what they see, what they feel, and what they know to be true.
It’s basically telling people that what they are seeing and experiencing isn’t true. That the US is still the best country in the world and everybody is out to get you and your government is protecting you.
That kind of rhetoric.
Then there are distractions and deflection. All based on what I said above. Christianity as the main and superior religion and the US as the best country.
Add to that a president that is infallible and wants to be treated like a god. No criticism allowed. All the power in the world. No concern for law and constitution.
And you now own or control enough of the media that it is difficult to get to actual facts. The narrative is very controlled.
Social media are firmly in your pocket as well. And don’t get me started on some of those Supreme Court Justices.
It’s the perfect set up.
And the distractions range from starting new wars or making ridiculous claims to sending hospital ships to Greenland – and no those are not needed.
Basically, everything you see in the news today is a distraction.
The playbook behind it is clear – no more elections, no more democracy.
A tipping point?
We’re getting to a point where things are starting to shift. A tipping point seems to be within reach. More and more people are speaking up. More and more people realize that there are more decent people in the country than those who are trying to destroy it.
People who know and love their neighbors. Who know that not every immigrant is a criminal. People who are willing to fight for their democratic rights.
This is a crucial time.
It’s a time where it’s crucial to understand what gaslighting is and how it works. We often only realize that it was happening after the fact.
Making people feel isolated and alone in what they’re experiencing is one key factor. Deflection and distraction are others.
This was helped along by the America is the best country narrative and adding God in the 1950s.
And all that contributes to generational trauma – trauma that lasts.
Having participated in systemic constellation work with descendants of Germans who died in or lived through World War II, I know the pattern. The pain and suffering those people carried for their relatives was shocking to see.
And they were the descendants of ordinary citizens who had been caught in the war, just trying to survive.
So, I know how much of the psychological stress and pain that many in the US feel today will be passed down through generations.
This is not something that can be avoided. This is how generational trauma works.
There are many of us out there who are working on explaining how gaslighting and other adverse situations work through our body, mind and nervous system. These reactions are normal and some even healthy coping mechanisms. Working with them rather than against them will be most helpful.
Understanding this will be the key to resilience in the future.
I’ll leave you with this picture from the Light Festival on Mt. Rigi, Switzerland.
Please take good care of yourselves.
Or buy me a coffee, tea, orange juice or some hot chocolate 😊🍫.
Thank you, Evelyne. We have seen this before, but not as a culmination. We will overcome this because we have to. No ifs, ands, or buts.
"That path had been paved long ago and has now been expanded into a 6-lane freeway."
⬆️ Absolutely this. In the works for so long. There is so much I would say about the history but I must live in the moment and my moment is so traumatized. Everything you mentioned. I will add the word "danger" to your exceptional list. I am in high alert all the time. Sitting at a bus stop at midnight, an enormous, black SUV sped past and stopped suddenly near me. I grabbed my whistle and prepared to run. It was a limo dropping off a resident. Took a long time to come down from that and I have experience with danger. So many citizens don't have a full grasp of the situation.