Nolan96
Mage
- Feb 12, 2022
- 506
What is it called when someone makes vague suggestions about another person to try to villainize them? It's not gaslighting. Similar to "strawmanning" I guess, but instead of outright making specific accusations, they just say something like, "We *all* know what kind of a person X is, don't we? haha"
It's an effective form of psychological torment and manipulation. It makes people afraid to disagree or question what's being said because they want to feel in on the wise unspoken knowledge. It also lets the imagination run rampant. Suddenly X person is whatever hazy half-defined demon your imagination can vaguely conjure in the back of your mind. Worse than any explicit accusation could ever be. And difficult if not impossible to defend yourself against.
Anyway, I've dealt with it my whole life and it's always been upsetting to me. Especially because my personality type is very straightforward and sincere, and I think people pick up on that very quickly and realize that twisting who I am into this ill-defined smoke-monster is exactly the way to make me lose my mind and feel isolated and hurt, so it's their go-to to use against me.
It'd help if I at least had a name for this technique so I could call it out when it happens.
It's an effective form of psychological torment and manipulation. It makes people afraid to disagree or question what's being said because they want to feel in on the wise unspoken knowledge. It also lets the imagination run rampant. Suddenly X person is whatever hazy half-defined demon your imagination can vaguely conjure in the back of your mind. Worse than any explicit accusation could ever be. And difficult if not impossible to defend yourself against.
Anyway, I've dealt with it my whole life and it's always been upsetting to me. Especially because my personality type is very straightforward and sincere, and I think people pick up on that very quickly and realize that twisting who I am into this ill-defined smoke-monster is exactly the way to make me lose my mind and feel isolated and hurt, so it's their go-to to use against me.
It'd help if I at least had a name for this technique so I could call it out when it happens.
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