Moral panic

{{significantly problematic}}{{media}}{{cquote|There is perhaps no phenomenon which contains so much destructive feeling as 'moral indignation', which permits envy or hate to be acted out under the guise of {{wpl|virtue||.}}|||[[wikipedia:Erich Fromm|Erich Fromm]]<ref>''Man for Himself: An Inquiry Into the Psychology of Ethics'' by Erich Fromm (1947 [1990]) Henry Holt. ISBN 0805014039.</ref>{{rp|235}}}}
A '''moral panic''' is a public panic over an issue popularly deemed to be a threat to, or shocking to, the sensibilities of "proper" [[society]]. This is often fanned by sensationalist [[selective reporting]] in the [[media]] and exaggerated accounts offered by {{wpl|moral entrepreneur||s}} — a category that includes [[politician]]s on the make and {{wpl|Activism|activists}} in search of a cause. Moral panics can result in what is a real phenomenon being blown ''way'' out of proportion, or in what is not a real phenomenon in the first place being widely believed to be real. Moral panics often feature a caricatured or stereotypical "[[#Folk devils|folk devil]]" on which the anxieties of the community focus, as described by [[sociologist]] Stanley Cohen, who coined the term in his study ''Folk Devils and Moral Panics'', which examined media coverage of the {{wpl|mods and rockers|mods and rocker}} riots in the 1960s.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20040719071439/http://www.filmeducation.org/filmlib/BFC.pdf Bowling for Columbine] (2003) ''Film Education'', NSFW Resources 03 (archived from July 19, 2004).</ref><ref name=mods>Stanley Cohen. 1980. ''Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockets''. 2<sup>nd</sup>. New York: St. Martin's Press. {{isbn|9780415610162}}.</ref> 

Where the moral panic fingers a group whose members are conscious of their subordination, the denounced behavior may become "a symbol of opposition and rebellion".<ref>Mark Fenemore. 2009. ''Sex, Thugs and Rock 'N' Roll: Teenage Rebels in Cold-War East Germany''. Berghahn Books, 2009. {{isbn|1845457188}}.</ref>{{rp|216}}
==Origins==
[[Image:Onozomg.gif|thumb|right|165px|Don't panic!]]The term 'moral panic' originated in [[philosopher]] {{wpl|Marshall McLuhan||'s}} 1964 book ''Understanding Media'', which analyzed modern participatory media (which was then [[radio]] and television) vs. traditional, written media.<ref>Marshall McLuhan, ''Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man''. McGraw-Hill, 1964. {{isbn|0262631598}}. "Perhaps that is the reason why many highly literate people in our time find it difficult to examine this question without getting into a moral panic." (page 85).</ref> While ''Understanding Media'' was praised by [[postmodernist]]s,<ref>''The Method Is the Message: Rethinking McLuhan Through Critical Theory'' Paul Grosswiler (1998) Black Rose. {{isbn|1551640740}}.</ref> McLuhan himself was not especially associated with [[postmodernism]]. Moral panic theory, however, was subsequently developed by postmodernist philosophers via [[deconstruction]].<ref>''Moral Panic and the Politics of Anxiety'', edited by Sean P. Hier (2011) Routledge. {{isbn|0415555566}}.</ref>{{rp|5}}<ref>''Moral Panics and School Educational Policy'' by Grant Rodwell (2018) Routledge. {{isbn|1138078883}}.</ref>{{rp|1}}

==Components==
===Confabulation===
{{main|Confabulation}}
In short, the creation of false memories of trauma.

===Mass hysteria===
{{main|Mass hysteria}}
In short, the spreading of fear.

===Folk devils===
'''Folk devils''' are the personification of the [[evil]]s identified in moral panics. Typically caricatured or [[Stereotype|stereotypical]] members of marginalized ethnic groups, they are the [[scapegoat|scapegoats]] for the anxieties of the community.<ref name=mods />

For example, [[Chinese]] male immigrants were the focus of a moral panic (the [[Yellow Peril]]) over [[opium]], infectious disease, [[prostitution]], and [[homosexuality]] in the 19<sup>th</sup> century in the [[United States]], the [[United Kingdom]], [[Canada]], [[Australia]], and [[New Zealand]].<ref>Diana L. Ahmad. 2007. ''The Opium Debate and Chinese Exclusion Laws in the Nineteenth-century American West''. University of Nevada Press. ISBN 0874176980.</ref> This served as the model for subsequent [[War on Drugs|drug-focused moral panics]]. 

In the 1990s, the [[Neo-Nazism|neo-fascist]] [[British National Party]] constructed a folk devil in the form of supposedly work-shy fake asylum seekers from the [[Balkans]] and [[Africa]] who would overwhelm an already heavily burdened [[Welfare state|welfare system]] in the [[United Kingdom|UK]].<ref>Daniel Trilling. 2012. ''Bloody Nasty People: The Rise of Britain's Far Right''. London: Verso. ISBN 1884679591.</ref>

Other examples include:
*[[Black brute]]
*[[Homosexual recruitment]], [[homosexual agenda]]
*[[The Evil Jew]]

===Culture of fear===
"Culture of fear" is a term used by a number of writers and commentators to describe a culture in which fear is a driving factor in [[social]] and [[political]] discourse. Much of the time, such fear has been [[Fear mongering|blown out of proportion]] by the media, the [[state]], or some other body with an interest in seeing people afraid.<ref>Frank Furedi, ''Culture of Fear: Risk Taking and the Morality of Low Expectation''. Continuum International Publishing Group, 1997. {{isbn|030433751X}}. 2nd edition: 2002. {{isbn|0826459293}}.</ref><ref>Frank Furedi, ''How Fear Works: Culture of Fear in the Twenty-First Century''. Bloomsbury, 2018. {{isbn|9781472972897}}.</ref>

[[Conspiracy theorists]] will claim that the "culture of fear" is used to make people believe that they need the [[government]] to protect them from these threats (whether they're existent or not). A fictional example can be found in the film ''V For Vendetta'', in which the [[dictator]]ial Chancellor orders that the news be saturated with scare stories to remind the people "why they need us." A real-life example of such a conspiracy theory is the fears that [[George W. Bush]] would use the threat of [[terrorist]] attacks to nullify the [[US Constitution]], cancel elections, and bring in a dictatorship. When Bush left office having done nothing of the sort,{{efn|Well, he ''was'' responsible for some [[Executive power and the War on Terror|serious violations]] of the [[United States Constitution|Constitution]], but nothing on the scale that conspiracy theorists were saying.}} [[left-wing]]ers abandoned this preposterous notion, and [[right-wing]]ers proceeded to say the exact same thing about [[Barack Obama]].

One problem directly leading to a "culture of fear", and [[Irony|ironically]] stemming from the fear, is the [[mainstream media]]'s use of sensationalism to sell their stories. Snow that has fallen for 2 days is not merely a "snowfall" but a "blizzard".{{efn|Unless one is in [[Minnesota]], where this sort of snowfall occurs every other day, and where people are not afraid of snow anyway so it cannot be reliably used to drum up newspaper sales.}} Then, taglines, hyper-art and ominous [[music]] accompany minor events as they become full-blown historical ''events'': "The Blizzard of 2008". "Firestorm of July". "Horror of Christmas Shopping hell, 2009". Each outlet competes with each other using known [[marketing]] techniques to make today's [[Molehill mountaineering|molehill into the news cycle's mountain]].  

Examples of this culture may include:
*The [[Red Scare]]s over [[anarchism]], [[communism]], and [[socialism]], during the 1920s and 1950s. Reflected in China and Russia as a fear of [[Arab Spring]]-style revolutions and [[mobocracy|"intrusion veiled as democracy"]].
*The fear of [[terrorism]] that was (mostly) exaggerated and exploited by the [[Dick Cheney|Bush administration]] after [[9/11]].
*Fear of [[pandemic]]s, like the [[swine flu]] outbreak of 2009 (and SARS and [[BSE]] etc.), or [[Ebola]] in 2014
*The popularity of [[doomsday scenario]]s and [[survivalism]]
*Fear of the "[[other]]" in society, ''e.g.'' [[xenophobia]] or [[homophobia]]
*Fear that the [[Jews]] and/or [[Illuminati]] are trying to foist a creepy [[New World Order]] upon us
*Fear that the [[capitalist]] [[elite]] will take away [[workers' rights]] and institute a [[fascist]] dictatorship if a communist [[revolution]] is not instituted PDQ
*Fear that the [[socialist]] elite will raise your [[tax]]es and institute a communist dictatorship with [[universal health care]] unless we take action now<ref group=note>Yes, there are people who are dumb enough to somehow see universal health care as a bad thing.</ref>
*Excessive parental protectiveness over concern "[[Emotional appeal#Children|for the]] [[children]]," including [[vaccine hysteria]] and over-supervision on the largely baseless grounds that there is a [[child sexual abuse|child molester]] lurking in every park and a [[drug]] dealer{{efn|A big bad scary adult drug dealer, of course: probably male, with a trench coat, for the sole purpose of addicting kids to drugs for the fun of it. Alternatively, a 'bad kid' who wears leather and skips class, who peer pressures the 'good' kids into [[Cannabis|smoking joints]] and being all bad like the rock and roll says.}} lurking outside every school.<ref>Louis Anslow, [https://newsletter.pessimistsarchive.org/p/the-forgotten-war-on-beepers The Forgotten War on Beepers]. Pessimists Archive, 10 April 2024.</ref>
**Nearly every article and opinion piece will mention the "young, impressionable children with developing frontal lobes", especially when discussing media-related panics
*Obsession with safety from the threat of [[Mothers Against Drunk Driving|drunks]], [[hacker]]s, [[Parents Music Resource Center|dirty lyrics]], [[Comics Code Authority|comic books]], [[Judith Reisman|pr0n]], not pretending to be asexual, forgetting to change smoke detector batteries twice a year, and  children riding their bicycles without helmets
*Panic over "[[white extinction scenario|demographic winter]]" in Europe or North America because immigrants
*[[Genetically modified food|GMOs]] poisoning humans and causing [[cancer]], [[autism]], etc.
The trouble with all of the above is that it is very difficult to judge which (if any) fear is justified. If it all comes to nothing, then was the hype and fear [un]justified, or was the hype, fear, and precautions taken the ''reason'' that it came to nothing?

==See also==
*[[Clean living movement]]
*[[Culture war]]
*[[Satanic Panic]]
*[[FUD]]
*[[Harwoods and Harebreaks]] for examples of moral panic and [[paranoia]] leading to really stupid decisions
*[[Wolf hysteria]], which shares many similar features to a Moral Panic

==External links==
*From ''[[Cracked]]'':
**[http://www.cracked.com/article_17040_6-most-insane-moral-panics-in-american-history.html The 6 Most Insane Moral Panics in American History]
**[http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-stupid-moral-panics-caused-by-everyday-objects/ 4 Stupid Moral Panics Caused By Everyday Objects] — Spoiler: The four everyday objects are forks, bicycles, novels, and telephone conversations
*[http://reason.com/news/show/134038.html The Top 10 Most Absurd Time Covers of The Past 40 Years] -- from ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason.com]]''
*[http://flashbak.com/scared-america-8-crises-and-collective-panics-of-the-1970s-27236/ Scared America: 8 Crises and Collective Panics of the 1970s] — from ''Flashbak.com''
*[http://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/south-carolina-clown-panics Clown Panic! Sighting Of Mysterious Clowns Rattle Nerves In South Carolina] — from ''skeptic.com''
*[http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/12/the_comet_ping_pong_pizzagate_scandal_is_a_child_sex_ring_myth_for_the_age.html A Moral Panic for the Age of Trump: “Pizzagate” is the latest in a long line of child-sex-ring myths.] — from ''Slate.com'' (q.v. [[Pizzagate]])
*{{wpa|Boys Beware||:}} This is an example of anti-gay propaganda from the US, which conflates the two issues of [[child sexual abuse]] and gay men's mere presence around children. A similar film akin this, also from the US, is {{wpl|Perversion for Profit|''Perversion for Profit''|,}} which claims that "This moral decay weakens our resistance to [[Red-baiting|the onslaught of the Communist masters of deceit]]." ''[[Fearmongering]] for Profit'' might have been a better name.

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Moral panics| ]]
[[Category:Media hysteria]]
[[Category:Postmodernism]]
[[Category:Propaganda]]
[[Category:Sociology]]

Categories: Moral panics, Media hysteria, Postmodernism, Propaganda, Sociology