Taylor Day at American Thinker calls it “informational warfare”:
Have you sensed a pattern in the way stories like Jussie Smollett’s hoax or the Covington kids’ confrontation take over your social media? Do you read or listen to the news regularly, wondering in advance how each story can be spun? Is it increasingly frustrating to see facts distorted to bolster hate and fear? Have you been aware of pain you feel as you watched loved ones being fed lies by sources they trust?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you are the victim of emotional and philosophical warfare. There is a type of hostile tactic that’s been given a new name: DARVO.
I reached out to Jeff Giesea, an entrepreneur and information warfare expert based in Washington, D.C. He describes DARVO as “a tactic of abusers when confronted where they deny, attack, and then shift blame. The term came from studies of emotional abuse and sexual trauma, but DARVO behavior shows up in many contexts.” He also views it as “a form of psychological warfare.”
DARVO is a behavioral response that perpetrators use when met with their own wrongdoing. It is an acronym for Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender. As Mr. Giesea puts it, “DARVO is a gaslighting tactic to shift blame.”
While the area of academic study on this response has been focused on sexual abusers in intimate relationships, it does happen on a much broader scale. It is a tactic of manipulation so broad that most people in the developed world encounter it on a daily basis just by looking at their smartphones.
“I’m frankly seeing significant DARVO behavior from the media towards Trump supporters. When the media genuinely screw up, they often shift blame instead of taking responsibility,” says Jeff Giesea.
Read more of “Jussie Smollett and the Information Warfare of the Left” at American Thinker
Image credit: www.americanthinker.com.
