KBTV

KBTV::Gaslight

I’m please to say that I’ve just completed a two-part series about the vagaries of deceit. It’s called “The Legacy of Lying.”

Again, it’s sweltering outside, and for some ungodly reason I’ve decided to wear a sleeveless, black cashmere sweater. I can feel it. I’m beginning to shine.

I’m Kate Bohner for KBTVonline. Welcome to the second installment of our two-part series “The Legacy of Lying.” Yesterday I broadcast the results of brand new study that basically contradicts what sociologists had believed for quite some time … that babies are born “guiltless” … therefore, by definition, they cannot lie! Today we explore the larger and much more complex side of this story … why do people lie, anyway?

Over the past several months, there have been times when I think I’ve gone completely, stark, raving mad. I’ll have a conversation with someone about something that is seemingly innocuous. The facts derived from that conversation therefore become true – in my mind. I then proceed, operating within the confines of believing the facts that I now “know” to be true, only to be told something so entirely different that I begin to feel – not only that I’ve been lied to or that I’m just completely missing the point – but that I’ve begun to live in a entirely separate, parallel universe.

This is when the whole “Gaslight” reference emerged as a punctuation mark in my vocabulary. Conversations with my girlfriend Lori sounded something like this:

Lori: “Well, did you ask him?”
Me: “Of course!”
Lori: “Well, what did he say? Did he admit it?”
Me: “Gaslight.”
Lori: “Eek. I know … but, Kate, again?
Me: “Total Gaslight.”
Lori: “You poor thing.”

The “Gaslight” reference began about two months ago after being on the phone with my mother, begging her to commit me to an insane asylum and her responding: “No, I won’t have you committed. But, it does sound eerily like that film noir from the ‘40s, dear. With Ingrid Bergman. Gaslight.”

Indeed. The film's plot, faithfully adapted by its screenwriters, was about a diabolical, Victorian criminal husband (Charles Boyer playing against type) who systematically and methodically attempts to torment, menace and drive his bedeviled, fragile wife (Ingrid Bergman) mad. Its title was derived from the frequent dimming and flickering of the gaslights. The phrase "to gaslight" someone (to deliberately drive someone insane by psychologically manipulating their environment and tricking someone into believing that they are insane) was derived from the film. Hence, my frequent usage of the term today.

I jolt back into reality for a moment because Barry is beckoning me – hand signals and waving arms. It’s time for me to shoot the second to last paragraph. “Hit it, Kate!” he says.

I take a deep breath and robotically articulate my perfectly rehearsed “chunk:”

Finally, there’s the most harmful, destructive and injurious group of all – the compulsive liars. These are people who lie even when it might not benefit them at all. Paul Ekman, a psychiatry professor from the University of California, San Francisco, calls it “duping delight.” For compulsive liars, lying is like a drug. It gives them an adrenalin surge or 'kick' sensation. Part of the appeal for them is the feeling of being able to control the person they are lying to.

“And that’s a wrap,” Barry exhales.

Barry and I return to the townhouse to begin the editing. I plop down at my computer and write the following words:

“Gaslighting.” Derived from the epic film noir “Gaslight,” is the act of ruthlessly manipulating an individual, for nefarious reasons, into believing something other than the truth.

And that’s a wrap.

posted by rjoyner @ 10:01 AM