"Guilt Trips"
Expresiones para hacer sentir culpable a alguien

Introduction

The Ten Centimos Guilt Trip Story

Here is a copy of an entry from my Dec 24, 2005 journal:

In the mall last night. Getting ice cream. I give the girl 10 ten centimos coins to pay for the 1 sol cone. (These are something like dimes in the USA but their value is more like a penny.) She sees that I have a one sol coin. She lays a guilt trip on me and tells me that she has too many ten centimos coins and it is a lot to count. She talks me into giving her the one sol coin. Jerren was thinking about it this morning. He said "It's true. In this country if you are sensitive, you get railroaded." Earlier we were talking about how many times I have been taken advantage of here.

The idea is that one person is sending the other person on a trip of guilty feelings and thoughts. When we feel guilty we feel weaker also. Thus it is easier for someone to control us. The objective, then, when we guilt trip someone is to make them feel weaker and to control them. Another obejective is to make them think about our needs and desires instead of their own.

It is important to be aware of all of this so other people don't take advantage of you. So when you realize that another person wants them to feel guilty, you can say "I feel guilt tripped" just like when you realize that someone is threatening you and you say "I feel threatened".

"Guilt" es culpabilidad, y "trip" es viaje. La idea es que una persona está mandando la otra persona en un viaje de pensamientos y sentimientos de culpabilidad. Cuando nos sentimos culpables, nos sentimos mas débiles también. Así es más fácil que alguien nos controle. El objetivo, entonces, de "guilt trip" es hacer sentir a alguien más débil y controlarles. Otro objetivo es hacerles pensar en nuestras necesidades y deseos en vez de las suyas.

Es importante ser consciente de todo esto para que otras personas no se aprovechen de ti. Entonces, cuando tu te das cuenta que la otra persona quiere que te sientas culpable, puedes decir “Me siento guilt tripped”, igual cuando te das cuenta que alguien está amenazándote y puedes decir “Me siento amenazado”.

Hay muchas expresiones que se usan para “guilt trip” a alguien. Aquí hay una lista de ejemplos.