Democrats propose a bill denying security clearances to “conspiracy theorists”

It should be obvious the terms “conspiracy theorist” and “domestic terrorist” are being exploited at this point. The term “conspiracy theorist” has been used to undermine the credibility of legitimate grassroots movements for decades. In most circles, calling someone a “conspiracy theorist” will shut down the discussion. And while real “domestic threats” might be running around, they should be identified and investigated via an appropriate process. Politicians need to stop using the loaded phrase “domestic terrorist” to generalize about opponents and protesters. It is disturbing to hear the term thrown as a blanket over a wide group of people. For instance, there were individuals who committed crimes on Jan 6th. But clearly everyone who attended the rally was not a criminal or a threat. Misusing one of these labels could lead to the extrajudicial surveillance and harassment of Americans who have committed no crimes.