Someone challenged me on what gaslighting is & how it applies to Johnson& #39;s tactics. Gaslighting is sometimes used inappropriately imo but means manipulating people by making them question their understanding of reality. Not their beliefs but reality. How does it apply here?>

> Primarily the way he is telling us what Cummings did was not a breach of lockdown. He wants to make us think it was within the rules and it is our understanding of the rules that is wrong - he described people as being "confused" about what has happened. There is a secondary>

> line of argument where he is suggesting that Cummings just did what any good parent would do, planting the idea that maybe people who are angry about this don& #39;t understand what good parenting is. Finally the whole thing is surrounded by obfuscation, a story that changes every>

> time it is told, which makes the essential facts appear uncertain & hard to grasp. This is textbook gaslighting & the PM doing it, on this of all issues, is so incredible that it& #39;s maybe the final element that leads us to wonder if we& #39;re the ones who have gone mad.