Neither side of the political aisle has a monopoly on lies and bad faith attacks, far from it. Some political movement are more guilty of it than others, but no political movement is fully innnocent, and no political movement can be defined uniquely in terms of these.
Also, "gaslighting" in its original meaning is far more specific than "lies and bad faith," it's a shame that that meaning is being diluted.
These statements are a combination of false equivalence and no true scottsman.
Nobody said 1 political party/etc is "fully innocent". What is useful & cogent is pointing out how much more 1 party is using gaslighting et al, systematically & unapologetically, than the other party.
And just how effective those tactics are, to the detriment of the social commons, and social contract.
Isn't that the implication when someone throws accusation at one side and then act like commenters shouldn't be allowed to point out the other side does the exact same thing?!
It's not as bad on NH compared to reddit, but it is still the same stupid pattern everytime politics or war is discussed :
- Group A: "anyone voting for X is evil because X did [bad thing], vote for Y instead"
- Group B: "Y also does the exact same thing, voting for them would do nothing to stop [bad thing]"
- Group A: accusation of whataboutism