#Radicalization

Radicalization is the alchemical process that transforms a reasoned debate into a live-streamed conflagration. One moment a person is a moderate; the next they are forged into a zealot by the storm of social media and the applause of anonymous crowds. Dissenting views are, quite literally, burned at the virtual stake, and one's own righteousness becomes the irrefutable law of the universe. Strangely, those warmed by this fervor lose all capacity for nuance, and diversity of thought is chained to the altar of conviction.