Delayed Onset Gaslighting is Real… And its Effects are Deadly

If you’re like me, you were glued to CNN last Tuesday night watching the Democratic debate. Everyone had a side to root for. Klobuchuar’s Klubbers cheered as she laid waste to the Beto Bros. Kamala’s Kweens crushed the Biden Boys with a nonstop onslaught of facts… served with a healthy heaping of snark. Warren’s Warriors, beset on all sides by rape culture deniers and their cruel mansplanation, calmly explained how she “had a plan” for discrediting Bernie’s national socialism. And, well, I don’t know what Tulsi’s Troops were cheering about… because I don’t speak Ukranian!

It was a wonderful affair, as always. My final rankings were:

1. Klobuchar

2. Kamala

3. Warren

4. Steyer

5. Corey

6. Biden

7. Castro

8. Yang

9. Tulsi

10. Getting hit by a truck

[ … ]

1,000,000. Sanders

I went to bed excited, with images of empowered women dancing through my head. As I was helping my son, Craycen, perform his pre-sleep bowel movement, I could sense a hopefulness in his voice that has all but been absent these past few years. “Daddy,” he said. “Is a woman going to be president.”

“Yes,” I said. “No matter what Russia tries to do. This time, a woman will win.”

Which woman? I didn’t say, because I don’t know and I don’t care. I may not be the biggest fish in the pond, but I have some influence over Akron’s political scene. And it’s simply not my place to endorse a candidate so early. Doing so would accomplish nothing but fracturing the party. Only an egotistical monster would disagree.

I awoke earlier than usual. Craycen was screaming in terror. I ran into his bedroom to find him seated in front of MSNBC.

“What is it, son? Tell me what’s the matter.”

He screamed but couldn’t form words. He gestured violently toward the TV, squealing and crying.

I turned to face the horrible sight that had traumatized my poor son. The on-screen text, as red as the blood of a betrayed heart, announced that Alexandria Ocasio Cortez was going to endorse Bernie Sanders for president.

I could no longer hear the screams of my precious boy. I reeled, stumbled onto the bed, and blacked out for nearly 10 hours. Upon coming to, I contacted my doctor. He said the trauma I have suffered was similar to what prisoners go through after being sexually assaulted.

Nearly a week later, I still can’t look toward a television set without setting off my PTSD.

What was the greater fallout of Ms. Ocasio Cortez’ selfish act? No doubt, hundreds of trans teens killed themselves immediately upon hearing the news. Thousands, perhaps. And tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of young girls gave up their dreams of studying STEM, realizing that no matter how hard they worked or how qualified they’d become, their sisters would always sell them out to win the affection of old white men.

How could she do this? Why would she be so close-minded, so selfish? With nearly a halfdozen of the most progressive women to ever live running for president, why would anyone support a white male whose politics are very much in line with those of Adolf Hitler?

I can’t tell betrayed minorities how to react to AOC. If they feel the need to #cancel her, all I can do in response is listen and respect their decision.

What I can do, as white cis male, is encourage my fellow white cis males to not judge AOC too harshly. We can never understand that trauma that she, as a woman of color, faces every second of every day of her life. While I do not agree with her selfish and disgusting endorsement, and while it’s important for us to recognize the millions of lives she has ruined, we must keep in mind the fact that women of color have very little personal agency. It’s practically impossible for a WoC to make any decision or take any action without being influenced by the pervasive evils of ancestral whiteness.

Sometimes, WoC make the right decisions: they study STEM, they support their fierce sisters in politics, they lean in at their workplaces, they make anonymous allegations against creepy co-workers in public forums, etc. In these cases, Women of Color are among the most feisty and righteous creatures ever put on this earth. When Women of Color work to uplift one another, they take full ownership of their choices, and should be celebrated as the goddesses they are.

But when Women of Color do things that upset other, more established and successful women of color, they do so only because their identity has rendered them in a state of permanent victimhood. In these instances, WoC are unable to understand the consequences of their decisions, unable even to act of their own free will. This is the effect of what scientists refer to as “Delayed Onset Gaslighting” (DOG). And Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is undoubtedly a victim of this cruel phenomenon.

As has been documented millions of times on social media, Bernie Sanders is master of tricking women and people of color into self-gaslighting. He does this through verbal r*pe, promising them things he cannot deliver the same as an abusive boss using his position of power to persuade young employees into surrendering their bodies to his disgusting will. Sanders does this through bullying and other forms of literal violence, his finger wags shattering the souls of PoC, triggering their genetic trauma and rendering them unable to think critically. And worse, if a PoC actually comes into physical contact with Sanders — as AoC unfortunately did — he has been reported to literally r*pe their souls, his words and physical power breaking open the glowing amulet of rape culture to hypnotize them into following his message of hate and divisiveness.

Thankfully, AoC’s endorsement — white a betrayal of the millions of people who formally supported her and an act of epigenetic hypnosis — will matter very little. A recent landline poll of Idaho residents over age 65 found Sanders’ favorability ratings among the lowest in the Democrat field. His campaign is dead. He should kill himself and get it over with (he should kill his fat bitch wife, too).. And I’m sure, eventually, a real hero will come along and once again inspire young women to respect their elders and pursue careers in investment banking.