_“Camus accuses French media of covering up the situation in the name of political correctness. Essentially telling the French that the Islamicization they see happening with their own eyes is not happening. ‘Television is saying every day and school is saying every day that what is happening is not happening. That it is all in your head. That it is an optical illusion.’

‘Practically every week, Catholic churches are attacked, and people received stones in a very old Muslim tradition. So they say, ‘No this is not happening or it’s not important.’ Or if they can’t deny that it has happened, they say that this is a result of racism.”

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Yes, you do see what you see, and no, you’re not making it up.

**

It’s a classic case of “Gaslighting.” The thing you see and hear doesn’t exist. What you see happening isn’t really happening; it’s all a product of your own paranoias.

Gaslighting is a common form of mental and emotional abuse used by sociopaths and malignant narcissists to control their victims. It was named after a brilliant 1938 play, (and subsequent brilliant film with Ingrid Bergman,) “Gas Light,” in which a controlling husband uses various tricks to convince his wife she is insane so he can control a fortune in gems he believes is hidden in their house.

Psychologists have identified the manipulation technique of Gaslighting as particularly harmful for the children of narcissistic parents. Simply described, (by Wikipedia) it involves “information is twisted or spun, selectively omitted to favor the abuser, or false information presented with the intent of making victims doubt their own memory, perception and sanity.”

Something we will shortly be hearing more about in this space is “malignant narcissism” and how it has infected the media and political classes in Europe. Gaslighting is one of the main tools of a M. Narcissist to control a victim and prevent him from rising up and rebelling.

What’s the cure?

**

How do people avoid allowing themselves to be Gaslighted? Wikipedia helpfully quotes psychologist Hilde L. Nelson in her book, ‘Damaged Identities, narrative repair,’ who said that the victim’s ability to resist depends upon ‘her ability to trust her own judgments.’

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