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Cancel Culture, Explained in Plain English
A clip of someone’s old comment resurfaces online. Within a day, calls to boycott them are trending. Sponsors are quietly distancing themselves. The person’s…
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Deepfake, Explained in Plain English
A video surfaces of a public figure saying something outrageous. Within minutes, people are arguing over whether it’s real, doctored the old-fashioned way, or…
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Culture War, Explained in Plain English
A disagreement about a school curriculum, a holiday tradition, or a word choice suddenly becomes evidence of which side of the country someone belongs…
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Echo Chamber, Explained in Plain English
Someone posts an opinion. Every reply agrees, builds on it, or piles onto whoever pushed back. Nobody in the conversation seems to have heard…
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The Overton Window, Explained in Plain English
A policy idea that would have ended a politician’s career a decade ago now gets a mainstream hearing. It draws barely any controversy at…
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Whataboutism, Explained in Plain English
Someone raises a criticism. Instead of a direct response, the reply points to a completely different situation. There, the other side supposedly did something…
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False Flag, Explained in Plain English
A dramatic incident happens. Before investigators have even finished at the scene, someone online is calling it “an obvious false flag.” The term gets…
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The Streisand Effect, Explained in Plain English
A company sends a cease-and-desist over an unflattering post almost nobody had noticed. Within a day, the post is everywhere. The story isn’t the…
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Astroturfing, Explained in Plain English
A flood of near-identical comments shows up under a news story, each making the same point in slightly different words. Someone in the replies…