Words may not help change people for the better, but they clearly make harmful behaviors much easier and more probable. "Ethnic cleansing" sounds so much less troublesome than "genocide" or "mass murder." Equally, "social distancing" sounds so much more acceptable than "being legally prevented from touching family and friends." The jargon so eagerly adopted by millions, such as "support bubble" serves to make a highly unusual situation appear cozy and acceptable. Military organizations have known for years the power of language to desensitize: one does not kill a person, one "degrades the target." And the CIA does not illegally kidnap and torture people, it subjects them to "extraordinary rendition" and "enhanced interrogation." And ordinary people go along with it because they are soothed by the weasel-words and gulled into imagining the actions less awful thereby.