Gaslighting Tries to Destroy Rational Thought

Gaslighting is a term that has become quite common in current parlance. It originated with a 1944 movie called Gaslight starring Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer in which the husband kept changing the level of lighting in an attempt to make his wife think she was going crazy so that he could declare her mentally ill and seize her money.

Gaslighting is a colloquialism, loosely defined as making someone question their own reality. The expression, which derives from the title of the 1944 film Gaslight, became popular in the mid-2010s. The term may also be used to describe a person who presents a false narrative to another group or person, thereby leading them to doubt their perceptions and become misled, disoriented, or distressed. Oftentimes this is for the gaslighter's own benefit. Normally, this dynamic is possible only when the audience is vulnerable, such as in unequal power relationships, or fearful of the losses associated with challenging the false narrative. Gaslighting is not necessarily malicious or intentional, although in some cases it is. - Wikipedia. I would say that gaslighting is almost always malicious because it is essentially based on a dishonest and devious intention to dupe or con someone. Sociopaths get gratification out of messing with someone's head. It gives them a feeling of superiority. They think that if they can get someone to believe their fictional narrative and spread it to others, it means they are smarter than the other person. These people prey on the trusting nature of good people. I believe a person's willingness to make him or herself vulnerable by trusting another person shows faith in goodness and honesty and is a virtue. Gaslighters destroy this trust in innocent people and are therefore, in my opinion, evil.