Here’s another Orwellian story for you. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been using a supposed “glossary of terms” to root out individuals who might be participating in domestic terrorism according to a recent report.
The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project found that the FBI’s glossary includes words like “red pilled,” “based,” and the names “Chad” and “Stacey” as possible identifiers of people prone to violent extremism.
The Oversight Project obtained the documents through a Freedom of Information Act request. The Daily Signal reported:
Such words and phrases have come to be code for certain extremists who communicate online with others like them, according to the FBI’s glossary of words indicating “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism” and a list of “key terms” about “involuntary celibate violent extremism.”
According to the FBI, using these terms might mean you're a "violent extremist:"
*Based
*Red pilled
*Blue pilled
*Normie
*Chad
*LARPing
*IncelAre they joking? 🙄 pic.twitter.com/KOWFYGAnOg
— Libertarian Party (@LPNational) April 10, 2023
The FBI’s document, titled “Involuntary Celibate Violent Extremism,” includes a “threat overview” section in which it explains that “Involuntary celibate violent extremists (IVEs) are involuntary celibates (Incels) who seek to commit violence in support of their belief that society unjustly denies them sexual or romantic attention, to which they believe they are entitled.”
The document recounts the story of Scott Beierle, who carried out a mass shooting at a yoga studio in Tallahassee, Florida in 2018. It also brings up Elliot Rodger, who attack people at a sorority house in Santa Barbara, California using “a knife, firearms, and a vehicle, killing six and injuring 14.” This incident took place in 2014. Rodger is seen as something of a hero among extremist incels.
In its glossary of key terms, the Bureau includes words like “it’s over,” which “describes the hopelessness of being an Incel,” and “MGTOW,” which stands for “Men Going Their Own Way,” a community “that has overlap with the Incel community.”
The names “Chad” and “Stacey” are used to describe an “idealized version” of a male or female, the type of person of whom an Incel would be envious.
The document also references commonly used terms and books favored by white supremacists.
While nobody would oppose rooting out potential violent extremists, the inclusion of some of these terms could lead to problematic outcomes, especially in a season in which it is clear the FBI and other federal agencies are being used for political purposes. Terms like “red pilled” and “based,” which also appears on the list, are commonly used among many different types of people – especially on social media.
Indeed, the FBI’s glossary says the word “based” refers to “someone who has been converted to racist ideology, or as a way of indicating ideological agreement.” However, this is not the most common way the word is used. Typically, the word “based” is used to describe someone who speaks the truth without caring about what others might think. In fact, I have used the term fairly often. Does this make me a black white supremacist extremist?
Based. https://t.co/V0wJuENU76
— Jeff Charles, Agent of Chaos🏴 (@jeffcharlesjr) August 12, 2022
The term “red pill” has several different meanings, but in its most common use, it describes people who have woken up to the reality that the media narratives peddled by progressives are designed to manipulate the public in a way to push an authoritarian agenda. But it is true that white supremacists might use it in a different way.
Still, this should be chilling to anyone who values liberty, especially since this revelation comes shortly after it was revealed that the Bureau was, at the very least, considering infiltrating Catholic groups. Additionally, more and more evidence seems to show that federal agents were infiltrating the Proud Boys and other right-wing groups in the lead-up to the Jan. 6 riot and may have encouraged people to engage in violence to entrap them.
Christopher Wray, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), has spoken on several occasions about the agency’s investigative practices and priorities. One instance where Christopher Wray spoke about ideology and FBI investigations was during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on July 23, 2019.
In response to a question about the FBI’s approach to investigating “radical ideology,” Wray stated that the FBI does not investigate individuals or groups based solely on their ideological beliefs or protected First Amendment activity. Rather, the agency supposedly focuses on investigating criminal activity and violence, regardless of the ideology or motivation behind it.
Unfortunately, the actions of the Bureau and other government agencies show that Wray’s declarations are far from the truth.
