The term “gaslighting” has become popular on social media. “To gaslight” means — or at least once meant — to manipulate people to make them think they’re insane. Today the word often serves as an all-purpose tool for attacking someone who says you’re wrong.

A Time article discusses the stretching of several psychological terms, including gaslighting:

Perhaps the most often misconstrued word of the past few years, “gaslighting” has been widely adopted as a way to describe any act that’s insensitive, a lie, or simply a difference of opinion.

A piece of trash on US News provides an example of the distortion:

Ever had someone make you question your own thoughts and feelings? That’s gaslighting, a sneaky mind game that can leave you feeling lost.

By that definition, any attempt to convince someone they’re wrong or irrational is gaslighting. Worse, the article claims to have been “medically reviewed.” If that’s a medically valid definition, I must be insane. Whoops — I’ve been gaslit. (Gaslighted?) Or am I gaslighting the “medical reviewer” by rejecting it as nonsense? My guess is they showed the article to a dermatologist, who said, “Looks good to me.”

The goal of the gaslighter is to convince you that “you’re misremembering, misunderstanding or misinterpreting your own behavior or motivations, thus creating doubt in your mind that leaves you vulnerable and confused,” explains psychoanalyst Robin Stern, co-founder and senior adviser of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and author of “The Gaslight Effect.”

An article on the BBC website has the title text (which shows up in the search engine summary) of “Why no one is immune to gaslighting,” though that assertion doesn’t show up in the article. The article claims that “Gaslighting is defined as manipulating someone into thinking they’re wrong even when they’re right.” That equates a broad range of persuasion efforts with attempting to cast doubt on people’s sanity. It even claims that “some of us might gaslight without ever realising.” Don’t ask how you can inadvertently embark on a campaign of making someone think they’ve lost their mind.

An accusation of gaslighting can bolster an argument from emotion. If you have facts and reasons to back up your claim, you can refute any attempt to claim you’re “misunderstanding.” If you have only an emotional appeal to offer, then you can cry “Gaslighting!” at anyone who points out the lack of substance.

Real gaslighting is a vile thing which can be used to control people in vulnerable positions. Here’s an article which discusses the real thing:

Gaslighting is a form of manipulation that often occurs in abusive relationships. It is a covert type of emotional abuse in which the bully or abuser misleads the target, creating a false narrative and making them question their judgments and reality.

The true gaslighter claims the victim didn’t see things they saw. A claim that the victim has false memories can ward off the exposure of horrible abuse. On the other side of the coin, manipulative accusers can trick people into “recovering” memories of fictitious incidents. Whether an assertion is gaslighting or truth depends heavily on the facts of the situation. The claim that anyone who “makes you question your thoughts and feelings” is gaslighting provides an all-purpose bludgeon against disagreement. By that definition, I hope I’ve “gaslit” a few people who have read this piece, providing them with a little illumination.