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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: August 3, 2008 7:03:23 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Subject: The "Gaslighting" of the American (i.e., Mass-Media-
Manufactured) "Mind"
"State of Confusion: Political Manipulation
and the Assault on the American Mind"
by Bryant Welch
http://www.amazon.com/State-Confusion-Political-Manipulation-American/dp/0312373066/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213105959&sr=8-3
Finally, a Book that Offers an Explanation as to Why At Least Half of
America Appears to Have Lost All Sense of Reality.
America is Being "Gaslighted"
BuzzFlash.com's Review
“Bryant Welch was born to write this vitally important and highly
readable investigation of how a cadre of ethically challenged
political operatives and their religious and journalistic allies have
gradually distorted and disabled the minds of ordinary Americans—and
have all but crippled the once-extraordinary mind of America. It is
not too late for us to reclaim our identity, but we will succeed only
if we take to heart the lessons so lucidly laid bare by the remarkable
work of this insightful psychologist and experienced political
activist.”
--Laurence H. Tribe, Carl M. Loeb University Professor, Harvard Law
School
BuzzFlash Review:
This is one of those few books -- and a bit undernoticed -- that is a
virtual Rosetta stone to understanding how so many Americans are
living in an alternative reality.
They have been emotionally and psychologically manipulated by a
"manufactured reality" of the right wing consortium: think tanks,
public relations spin, advertising techniques, corporate media,
psychological tactics, and politicians, among others.
The author, a psychologist/attorney, compares the process we have gone
through as a nation in the last 30 years -- and particularly the last
8 years -- to a film from 1944: "Gaslight" (starring Charles Boyer and
Ingrid Bergman). Directed by George Cukor, it is distinctly
Hitchcockian in its rendering.
We will quote directly from the first chapter of "State of Delusion":
"The term gaslighting comes from the 1944 film...in which a
psychopathic husband coveting his wife's property tries to drive his
dependent young bride insane by covertly manipulating her environment,
making her increasingly perplexed and uncertain. Among other things,
he raises and lowers the gaslights in the house while denying to the
wife that there has been any change in the lighting. While he feigns
genuine concern for her, he cleverly isolates her from any contact
with the rest of the world that might interfere with his propaganda-
like assault on her sense of reality....
"In the mental health profession, gaslighting refers to a series of
mind games that prey on our limited ability to tolerate much ambiguity
or uncertainty about what is happening in our important areas of our
lives. It is a highly destructive form of psychological manipulation
that undercuts trust in our sense of reality and results in confusion
and perplexity. If the victims of gaslighting do not come up with a
resolution for the perplexity, they will act in an increasingly
primitive and irrational fashion. This is what has been done to large
segments of America."
Oh, dear me, how elitist to reveal the truth!
We could say much more, particularly the tell-tale sign of attacking
and then claiming "victimization." Rove is a master at this, and that
is what John McCain did after subliminally raising race in an ad
(black man/white women) and then claiming that Obama "played the race
card." This is just one of the recurrent patterns that appears in the
process of "gaslighting" the American people by the immoral right wing.
Of course, the corporate media (which controls most book reviews)
isn't eager to publicize a book that posits that a large segment of
the American population (you can find a chunk of them regularly
watching FOX News) have been brainwashed, emotionally manipulated, and
embedded with a false sense of reality. That's because the corporate
media is one of the main vehicles for accomplishing this Lee Atwater/
Karl Rove/Roger Ailes Psy-ops strategy.
From the publisher:
Gaslighters prey on their victim’s vulnerability to paranoia, sexual
perplexity,and envy to undermine the mind’s ability to function
rationally. Welch examines why millions of Americans, in response to
such assaults, subconsciously and dangerously create their own
simplistic reality, even if it is completely different from the more
complex reality of the world.
Most important, State of Confusion explains how and why Americans must
act now to fight back against this harmful manipulation before it’s
too late. Dr. Welch’s exploration of the American mind is both
fascinating and frightening, and State of Confusion is a must-read for
everyone who cares about the future of this great country.
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