Are You Playing Devil's Advocate or Gaslighting?
Sometimes, the gaslighter wears the devil's advocate disguise.
Advocatus Diaboli… It sounds pretty badass in Latin, but we know it as the devil's advocate. In 1587 Pope Sixtus V established the position of devil's advocate in the canonization of saints — the official church proceedings that recognize a dead person as a saint.
The devil's advocate's job was not enviable. This person was responsible for arguing that a venerated person's miracles didn’t deserve sainthood. So basically, the devil's advocate must prove that someone’s saintly deeds were not that saintly. Now that sounds like a miserable job.
Today, a devil's advocate argument is one in which someone expresses an opposing opinion to provoke debate or test the strength of an argument. The opposing view does not necessarily have to be one the arguer agrees with. And not always agreeing with your argument is what makes playing devil's advocate tricky.
Often people who employ the devil's advocate argument are just harmless contrarians. But sometimes, their intent is more nefarious. They try to deny someone's reality by forcing an opposing opinion on someone. And that isn't arguing well. That is gaslighting.
