Attacks your memory and perception
Word salad
They pour out long, tangled talk until you lose the thread.
The first tell
You feel confused and tired. That feeling arrives before you can name the move.
What it sounds like
You ask a simple question about a fee. The agent talks for five minutes about policy, history and other customers.
Say back
I lost the answer in there. Yes or no: is the fee refundable?
If they push
It's complicated. You'd need the full context.
I'll take the short version. Yes or no?
How this family is disarmed
Hold to the record. Refuse to debate your own experience.
Paid
See it in dating and at work
Context packs show this tactic in the settings where it does the most damage, and let you drill it against a timer.
Related tactics
- GaslightingThey insist that what you saw or heard didn't happen, until you doubt yourself.
- DARVOConfronted, they deny it, attack you, and claim to be the victim.
- Rewriting historyThey retell past events in a version that favours them.
- Moving the goalpostsYou meet the condition they set, and they set a new one.