Gaslighting

Definition:
: psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one's emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator
: the act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one's own advantage

The right-wing pundits are trying to change the facts of the Club Q murders.

Tucker Carlson Guest Blames LGBTQ 'Evil Agenda' for Colorado Shooting
Newsweek
By Giulia Carbonaro
November 23, 2022


Florida political operative Jaimee Michell, founder of the controversial anti-trans group "Gays Against Groomers," told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs "was expected and predictable" and to be blamed on the LGBTQ "evil agenda" of gender-affirming care.

Talking to Carlson about the mass shooting, Michell claimed that what's really hurting the LGBTQ community is labelling "groomers"—a term that falsely equates non-heterosexual sexualities and non-cisgender identities with pedophilia—an anti-LGBTQ slur, and said that tragedies like the one at Club Q will keep happening "until we end this evil agenda."

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Right-wing media continued attacking the LGBTQ community after the mass shooting in Colorado Springs
Conservative pundits used the massacre at an LGBTQ nightclub as an excuse to further “grooming” smears
Media Matters
By Eric Kleefeld
November 21, 2022


[…]

On Monday, conservative activist Rob Smith appeared on Fox Business’ Varney & Co., stating that as a gay man he had previously frequented Club Q when he lived in Colorado Springs. “We should all have the families and the victims in our prayers right now,” Smith said, calling the shooting “an absolute tragedy.” But, he then added in response to criticism: “There is a sort of far-left LGBT activist contingent that will stomp over the blood of these dead bodies in order to push their agenda, whether it is a gun control agenda, whether it is an agenda to bully and shame the people that are speaking up against drag queen story hour, against the sexualization and grooming of children that is coming from these far-left LGBTQ sort of circles.”

(Right-wing media have routinely misappropriated the term “grooming,” which describes a social process involved in child sexual abuse, to describe any education or cultural exposure to children about LGBTQ people.)

[…]

Not to be outdone, Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro’s response to the Club Q shooting was to blame progressives for society being so divided, proclaiming, “The Left has no problem blaming tragedies like the one in Colorado Springs on their political opponents. According to them, anyone who doesn’t support their radical social agenda is complicit. And yet they wonder why society is more polarized than ever.”

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Colorado mass shooting: Liberal media blame Republicans for tragedy over LGBTQ rhetoric
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Col., were tied to the attack by journalists.
Fox News
By Nikolas Lanum
November 23, 2022


Numerous liberal journalists and pundits appeared to blame Republicans, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Rep. Lauren Boebert, Colo., for Saturday’s tragic mass shooting in Colorado.

[…]

The suspect faces five counts of first-degree murder and five counts of a bias-motivated crime. Investigators as of Tuesday are still seeking a motive, yet prominent media figures had already decided a day earlier that Republican rhetoric surrounding the LGBTQ community was directly correlated with the attack.

Hmm… why would bias crimes be include in the charges if the murders were not motivated by anti-LGBTQ+ bias? The right-wing seem to forget that little fact.

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Right-wing influencers and media double down on anti-LGBTQ rhetoric in the wake of the Colorado shooting
Tucker Carlson was among the conservative media figures who continued attacking LGBTQ people in the wake of the Club Q shooting.
NBC News
By Ben Goggin and Kat Tenbarge
November 23, 2022


Some right-wing media figures and influencers have doubled down on the use of inflammatory rhetoric against the LGBTQ community in the wake of Saturday night’s shooting at a Colorado gay club that killed five. 

The rhetoric mirrors what LGBTQ advocates have warned about for months, most notably false claims that children are being sexualized or “groomed” by LGBTQ people and events. The Colorado shooter’s motive is unknown, but the primary suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich is facing five counts of first-degree murder and five counts of bias-motivated crime-causing bodily injury, more commonly known as hate crimes. Aldrich's first court appearance is scheduled for Wednesday.

On Monday evening, Fox News host Tucker Carlson condemned the shooting, focusing on the suspect’s reported history of making a bomb threat in 2021. Three minutes into his nearly 15-minute monologue, however, Carlson’s show displayed a graphic reading “STOP SEXUALIZING KIDS.” On Tuesday evening, Carlson hosted a guest who said shootings would continue to happen "until we end this evil agenda that is attacking children."

Alejandra Caraballo, a clinical instructor at Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic, said that the repetitive messaging from Carlson and others has opened the door for violence against LGBTQ people.

Maybe the victims should get in touch with the lawyers who won a billion dollar settlement against Alex Jones. Maybe that might shut-up these hate mongers.