# Banal Terrorism - Synthesis A By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2025-12-16 “When people are not heard, they escalate.” When it comes to the socio-political use of rhetoric, this is a point worthy of persistent reflection. Isolation and despair abound. Social media seems unable to do much more than aggregate the isolated. The aggregation achieved through the employment of social media does not unify; it simply compounds. We can quickly find like-minded individuals, consume their posts, and amplify in response. Likewise, we can equally fast find those with whom we disagree, attack their thoughts, and assert our perspective. Social media has democratized and radically expanded our ability to produce and consume information. It has done nothing but complicate the inherent challenges of assessing its quality or merit, or encouraging reflection or sitting with one’s discomfort at paradox and contradiction. The banal terrorism transforming “drug traffickers” into “narco-terrorists” has already been extended in declaring fentanyl a “weapon of mass destruction.” To be sure, too many have lost their lives to fentanyl. Whereas this is certainly tragic, fentanyl is no more a weapon of mass destruction than are bullets. The essential component of a weapon of mass destruction is the near simultaneity of its destruction, not the slow aggregation of its toll. Bullets have killed more Americans than fentanyl; should bullets be considered a weapon of mass destruction? There are no “right” definitions. Words are defined socially through their use. If we are to communicate effectively, we must understand the meanings of the terms we use. Our language is our best weapon against tyranny. We should protect it. Whereas words are socially defined, words do have meanings. The appropriation of words by those in power is one of the most persistent and effective ways of manipulating the masses. Social media makes this task easier and more insidious. We are experiencing the banal terrorism of a linguistic massacre.      #### Related Items [[Words]] [[Language]] [[Social Media]] [[Manipulation]] [[Information]] [[Isolation]]