They are...

Im sure there are good people on both sides

Yes, but there are some among them that act like terrorist. Sadly the worse of a group, if numbered enough, ends up as the face of the group.

as an english major, what's your opinion on the devaluing of terms? Terrorist was someone willing to kill tens, hundreds, or even thousands from the time the world trade center was hit to about 2016. Then all of a sudden it meant people in masks who have mini bats and dreadlocks that get in the occasional scuffle that doesn't even require stitches. Today's terrorist is yesterdays pussy mob. Just another word ruined by partisan hackery, toss it on the pile with "racist" and "sexual misconduct".

Physical assault is illegal, be it one or a thousand.

It definitely has taken a different subjective meaning when used against a populace that just uses violence and not murder, though it is still within the bounds of the definition. I wouldn't compare them to terrorist who kill people, they are simply a rude and rowdy bunch that happens to be doing what they are doing for political means.

even violence is a bit of a buzzword now, same with assault. if a lady yells at you on the subway you'll tell a news reporter you were violently assaulted.

Yea I do find that sort of weird. I personally wouldn't act that way, and I think people mainly acting that way to reinforce their paradigm of views and it justifies this behavior for them.

i think it's just a reflection of litigious thinking. people all talk like they're addressing a grand jury for a civil lawsuit. it's a result of us reinforcing the "rewards" for being victimized. Whereas before it was about the factual happenings of the story, it's now about portraying yourself a certain way for societal positive feedback. I'm sure we've all noticed the trend on social media, whereas before families or individuals would suffer in silence they now carefully craft a page long story about whatever tragedy befalls them. This also causes a lack of differentiation, little Timmy's teeball team ending their playoff run garners the same response as the mother's miscarriage. Black man shot and killed by the police while held down by 5 officers garners the same outrage as a black man on the subway getting called a nigger.

That could definitely be another side of it. There are many different sorts of people, and many are willing to say whatever in order to justify the way they think. On the other hand, many are willing to take advantage of social trends and use them for their own benefit, regardless of the public repercussions.
I'm not a huge social media fan so I don't have a huge amount of viewed data to really hash this down further than these points, my facebook is like 12 friends and they are all my class mates for my next two years lol.