A recently released Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) document titled “Domestic Terrorism Symbols Guide”* links common protest symbols to “terrorism” — another marker in a common theme of conflating militant protest for social justice with deadly terrorist violence within the United States. Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Brennan Center have raised warnings about such documents, citing inadequate protections for people’s constitutional rights.
I cannot do anything about it but hope. I suspect it’ll be a network effect, where once some people start going through the motions, others may follow.
Admittedly a bad example, but we saw the edge of this in hysterical form with the covid toilet paper fiasco. Should things get truly bad enough, not even the news systems will constrain us.