A Lesson In Gaslighting

Exhibit A: Kanye and Joe Rogan talk about the infamous,“Slavery sounds like a choice to me” soundbite. Listen from the 56:45 mark to the 57:46 mark.

Exhibit B: Kanye’s actual, unedited comments. Listen from the 1:14 mark to the 1:45 mark.

So what is gaslighting? From Wikipedia, it is “a form of psychological manipulation in which a person or a group covertly sows seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or group, making them question their own memory, perception, or judgment, often evoking in them cognitive dissonance and other changes, including low self-esteem.”

Listening to Joe Rogan explain it, Kanye is the victim because people deliberately misinterpreted his words and the “powers that be” spun it to make it something that was is not. At best, this is bad logic. At worst, they’re both just lying to each other and the audience.

There was nothing to spin with the words he said on TMZ. They were wholly his and his alone. If anything, he is the victim of his poor communication.

It’s ok to clean that up and say, “What I was trying to convey was…” But don’t go around and make it seem like it was somebody else’s fault that you misspoke or that it was blown out of proportion. Others are not operating on a lesser frequency because they disagree with you. That’s the problem of genius mixed with ego, insecurity, and zealotry. It makes it harder to get out of the echo chamber.

Did Kanye deserve all of the heat he got for what he said on TMZ? Yes.

Can others feel differently? Yes.

Does that condemn him for life? No.

Does he need our approval for the way he feels? No.

The biggest takeaway is to not try put mental illness on Kanye because you don’t agree with him. He is of sound mind. You can call him and those around him out for being duplicitous though. Everyone should be judged by their actions and outcomes, not their intentions.

More to come from the full Kanye interview because I think there are some other interesting discussion topics.