Debating Gaslighting

"My column about gaslighting has drawn some criticism that I want to address. Noam Schimmel argues in his letter that "gaslighting" is a correct term to use when people face "hostile claims that their reported experiences are fabricated, exaggerated or made with malicious intent." But we must always have debates about whether general claims of bigotry are exaggerated or understated, and we shouldn't presume malicious intent from anyone."

"Schimmel claims that "it is inimical to the respect and fulfillment of civil rights and human rights to focus on debating whether terms such as 'gaslighting' or 'institutional discrimination' are appropriate to describe real and widespread experiences of exclusion and abuse." Actually, it's never inimical to human rights to discuss the extent of forms of discrimination or to debate how we should describe bigotry."

"Free speech is essential to human rights, and that includes allowing people to deny that human rights are being violated, even if they are wrong. In fact, gaslighting and institutional discrimination are radically different concepts. The latter describes an institutional failure to prevent discrimination by a legal standard, but gaslighting describes a kind of conspiracy theory that suggests everyone who questions these demands for censorship is plotting against recognition of an obvious truth about antisemitism."

Debate about whether general claims of bigotry are exaggerated or understated is necessary and should not presume malicious intent from those questioned. Free speech is essential to protecting human rights and includes allowing people to deny that human rights are being violated, even when those denials are wrong. Gaslighting and institutional discrimination are distinct concepts: institutional discrimination denotes an institutional or legal failure to prevent discrimination, while gaslighting denotes a conspiratorial allegation that critics of censorship are colluding to obscure antisemitism. The mere presence of hateful beliefs on a college campus does not by itself establish institutional antisemitic discrimination.

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