Lighting the gas

 I think by now the term "gaslighting" is ubiquitous enough most people know it. It's a tactic that abusers use to manipulate their victims. And I see it often employed in the political sphere. At Trump's inauguration, Elon gave the Nazi salute. It's obvious. It's clear. There's no mistaking it. His arm, straight out, at the most commonly used angle for that salute. That's what it was. And he and his fans are denying it. They're even trying to compare it with actual Nazis doing the salute to prove the difference. It's gaslighting. We know what we saw. That's the gesture he did. There's no doubt. There's no confusion. There's no point trying to deny it, and people who recognize it for what it is are not crazy. He did the Nazi salute and he is a Nazi by his beliefs and the agenda he's pushing.

The current administration is pushing to end diversity, equity, and inclusion. They are terrified of diversity and people who are different. They fear Black people, gay people, trans people, anyone who doesn't fit their cookie cutter view of what an "American" is. The Nazis did the same thing. They oppressed Jews, gays, trans people, immigrants--basically all the same groups that we're seeing oppressed now by the current administration. It's not an accident. It's because they're small groups and they're easy to oppress when you have the support of the majority. Why oppress them? Because when you think life sucks, you need someone to blame--somewhere to turn to focus your anger and your rage. So why not blame a small group of people for all your problems? It's easier than trying to find out the root cause. And if you're the one in charge it's much better for you to have angry mobs following you--if they see you as the solution to their problems, they'll channel that anger at anyone you tell them is ruining their lives.

White men have been complaining for ages that they have it so difficult because of regulations which give opportunities to historically oppressed groups. And that's the narrative that's being continued here. They want to do away with any law which would protect someone from being discriminated against based on their race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other factor. They want to make it easier for white men to have power and harder for anyone else. The policies they are enacting are Nazi policies. They are discriminatory and they are based on ignorance. 

This time around there's a fun twist. Because anti-Nazi sentiment is so common, because bigotry is seen as a bad thing in polite company, they need to disguise it. In other words, they need to gaslight us about doing it. It's not racism, they claim, because they just want everyone to have an equal opportunity and have hiring based solely on merit. It's not bigoted to be transphobic because trans people are just mentally ill. That's the reasoning that is used, and people believe it. The reason we know it is false is because all of the DEI policies and regulations which exist solely have the purpose of engendering an environment where merit-based hiring is the norm. Historically, white men have a much easier time getting a job than anyone else with the same qualifications. The entire purpose of DEI is to ensure that people from different backgrounds are also considered and given a fair chance to be hired. It follows, then, that the only reason someone could have for wanting to get rid of it is to reinstate the bigotry that preceded. Of course they can't sell it that way. They can't campaign on "we're the party of bigotry now" because that's unpopular. So they have to repackage it as "we're the ones who really want fairness." And their strategy is working. I see people who support Trump repeating that lie. They are buying into it. They see the backpedaling of diversity programs as equality--as fair and equal treatment. It is anything but.

Honestly, conservatives defending Elon's Nazi salute (by denying it as such) is evidence of how well the gaslighting is working. They saw a man literally give the Nazi salute and deny that he did so. When I was a practicing Mormon, anytime we talked about "the unforgivable sin" in church it was explained as "you would have to be looking at the sun in the sky and assert that it is not there." At the time I remember thinking it would be impossible to make that assertion and truly believe it. And yet, I am seeing people do the equivalent here. We all saw the gesture. And there are millions of people who are asserting that it was something else. In exactly the same vein, there are millions of Americans who believe the lie that removing diversity, equity, and inclusion is actually necessary in order to promote fairness. They believe that banning trans athletes from competing is good, not bigotry. 

Gaslighting is often used by abusers to test their control over their victims. If they believe this lie little lie then I have a little control. If they believe this bigger lie, then I have more control. So that's what they do. They lie bigger and bigger and see what they can get away with. And these tests are always done on things that don't matter that much. If they're caught in the lie, it's easily dismissed as unimportant. I guarantee Trump doesn't care who thinks he's racist and who doesn't. He doesn't care which of his followers are racist and which aren't. Musk doesn't care who thinks he's a Nazi and who doesn't--who thinks his Nazi salute was a Nazi salute and who thinks it was just "my heart goes out to you". What they care about is what level of control they have--to test how loyal their followers are.

The massive slashing of jobs being done by Musk and his DOGE team will largely impact older workers and Black workers. It isn't about government efficiency. It's about branding his ageism and racism as government efficiency. Overturning, bypassing, or rewriting laws which promote equal treatment of people regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc is not about building a merit-based system. It is about branding bigotry as a merit-based system. Elon wants to maintain the power for white men. He's not interested in fairness. He's selling it as fairness because he needs to in order to gain popular support for it. It is oppression. It is bigotry. He is showing us who he is. He's a Nazi. He believes white people are better. He believes men are better. He believes cisgender people are better. He is wrong on all counts. We are all the same. We all deserve an equal chance. Those of us who are commonly discriminated against need policies and regulations in place to protect us from people like Trump and Musk in order to have a seat at the table.

To highlight the point of Trump trying to push the envelope to see what he can get away with, he has issued many executive orders which are unconstitutional and violate not just the Constitution but basic human rights. On Jan 20 he signed an order to end birthright citizenship, a right defended by the Constitution. On Jan 27 he signed a ban on trans people serving in the military. On Jan 20 and Jan 27 he signed two different executive orders to end programs for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. On Jan 29 he signed an order banning gender ideology in schools. Make no mistake he's not banning gender ideology, just ideology he disagrees with. He's okay with toxic masculinity and maintaining the patriarchy and strict gender roles entrenched in society, he's just targeting transgender people here. On Feb 4 he signed an order to withdraw the US from the UN Human Rights Council. Honestly, I can think of no clearer sign that he wishes to violate human rights than this one act. On Mar 1 he signed an order making English the official language of the USA. To me it is clear that the intent here is to reduce accessibility of government programs to people who do not speak English (undoubtedly targeting the Spanish-speaking population). He has signed many other orders, some which may actually benefit us and many which will curtail human rights and oppress marginalized groups of people. He is truly pushing the Nazi agenda, and Musk is running with that flag.