Gaslighting – No, you’re not imagining it

Origin Story

Podmasters

Society & Culture, News, News Commentary, History

4.8 • 655 Ratings

🗓️ 28 August 2024

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Over the past eight years, the word “gaslighting” has transformed from an obscure term in psychiatric literature into a ubiquitous buzzword to describe the kind of deceit that makes you feel like you’re losing your mind. But are we using it correctly? What explains its sudden popularity? And is it entirely wise to import a psychological term into the world of politics? Dorian tells Ian how the title of Patrick Hamilton’s hit 1938 play Gaslight gradually became a verb and eventually went viral during Trump’s first presidential campaign in 2016. The story ranges from Ingrid Bergman and I Love Lucy to George Orwell and the Stasi before landing amid the current election dust-up between Trump and Kamala Harris. Strictly facts, no gaslighting, we promise. Get exclusive extras like supporter-only Q&A editions when you back Origin Story on Patreon. Written and presented by Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey. Music by Jade Bailey. Art by Jim Parrett. Logo by Mischa Welsh. Audio production by Simon Williams. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to another between season bonus episode of Origin Story.
0:12.9	I'm Doreenzy.
0:13.9	And I'm Ian Dunn.
0:15.0	This is the podcast, as I hope you know, where we discuss a term, a figure, an event, an idea from history, discuss its origins and what it means to politics today.
0:25.1	It's starting to go a bit funny the way that you say that.
0:27.1	Before it used to have this kind of like BBC for voiceover quality.
0:31.7	Now it's gone a bit blue Peter.
0:33.5	This is the podcast.
0:34.4	This is the podcast where we talk about fascism.
0:40.4	Ian, today we are doing the word gaslighting.
0:43.6	Do you use it in your journalism?
0:46.7	I don't think I do.
0:50.7	I'm pretty sure you did.
0:51.7	You used it the other day.
0:52.7	Everyone noticed it.
0:57.7	You're memories. do. I'm pretty sure you did. You used it the other day. Everyone noticed it. Your memory must be playing tricks on you.
1:00.8	Right, I see what's happened here.
1:02.3	Yes, I think I see the gambit that you've undertaken.
1:04.3	But seriously, is it a word that you are happy to use in your writing about politics or you're a bit wary of it?
1:10.2	I must have used it before. I don't feel like it comes up very much. And I'm a little bit
1:15.7	averse to kind of to fashionable anything, really, but certainly fashionable words and sort of
1:21.2	words to come up and suddenly get used an awful lot. So I think I mostly stay away from it and
	...

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