Likewar: The Weaponization of Social Media

by P.W. Singer

Rather, dangerous speech falls into one or more of five categories: dehumanizing language (comparing people to animals or as “disgusting” or subhuman in some way); coded language (using coy historical references, loaded memes, or terms popular among hate groups); suggestions of impurity (that a target is unworthy of equal rights, somehow “poisoning” society as a whole); opportunistic claims of attacks on women, but by people with no concern for women’s rights (which allows the group to claim a valorous reason for its hate); and accusation in a mirror (a reversal of reality, in which a group is falsely told it is under attack, as a means to justify preemptive violence against the target).