Editing Moral panic (section)

=== Historic examples ===
==== Nativist movement and the Know-Nothing Party (1840s–1860s) ====
{{Main|Nativism (politics)|Know Nothing}}

The brief success of the [[Know Nothing|Know-Nothing Party]] in the US during the 1850s can be understood as resulting from a moral panic over Irish Catholic immigration dating back to the 1840s, particularly as it related to religion, politics, and jobs.<ref name="Ramet-2013" /> [[Nativism (politics)|Nativist]] criticism of immigrants from [[Catholic countries|Catholic nations]] centered upon the control of the [[Pope]] over church members. The concern regarding the social threat led the Know-Nothing Party in the [[1856 United States presidential election|1856 presidential election]] to win 21.5% of the vote. The quick decline in political success for the Know-Nothing Party as a result of a decline in concern for the perceived social threat is an indicative feature of the movements situated in moral panic.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Downs|first=A.|date=1972|title=Up with Ecology and Down with Ecology: The 'Issue Attention' Cycle|journal=The Public Interest|volume=28|issue=38–50}}</ref>

==== Red Scare (1919–1920, late 1940s–1950s) ====
{{Main|First Red Scare|Second Red Scare}}

During the years 1919 to 1920, followed by the late 1940s to the 1950s, the United States had a moral panic over [[communism]] and feared being attacked by the [[Soviet Union]].<ref>{{Cite book |doi=10.1007/978-981-15-5569-5_6 |chapter=Case Study 2: Communist Panic |title=The Oldest Trick in the Book |year=2020 |last1=Debney |first1=Ben M. |pages=149–229 |isbn=978-981-15-5568-8 |s2cid=226498342 }}</ref><ref name="RodwellReds" /><ref name="MoralPanicToPermanentWar" /> In the late 1940s and the 1950s, a period now known as the [[McCarthy Era]], Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] used his power as a senator to conduct a [[Witch-hunt#Figurative use of the term|witch hunt]] for communists he claimed had infiltrated all levels of American society, including Hollywood, the [[United States Department of State|State Department]], and the armed forces.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Griffith |first1=Robert |title=The Politics of Fear: Joseph R. McCarthy |date=1970 |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |location=Boston|isbn=0-87023-555-9 |page=49 |url=https://archive.org/details/politicsoffearjo00grif |access-date=19 January 2022}}</ref> When he began, he held little influence or respect within the Senate,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Herman |first1=Arthur |title=Joseph McCarthy: Reexamining the Life and Legacy of America's Most Hated Senator. |date=1999 |publisher=Free Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0684836256 |pages=44, 51, 55 |url=https://archive.org/details/josephmccarthyre00herm/mode/2up |access-date=19 January 2022}}</ref> but he exploited Americans' fears of communism (and Congress' desire to not lose re-election) to rise to prominence and keep the hunt going in spite of an increasingly apparent lack of evidence, often accusing those who dared oppose him of being communists themselves.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pontikes |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Negro |first2=Giacomo |last3=Rao |first3=Hayagreeva |title=Stained Red: A Study of Stigma by Association to Blacklisted Artists during the 'Red Scare' in Hollywood, 1945 to 1960 |journal=American Sociological Review |date=June 2010 |volume=75 |issue=3 |pages=456–478 |doi=10.1177/0003122410368929 |s2cid=145166332 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wark |first1=Colin |last2=Galliher |first2=John F. |title=Progressive lawyers under siege: Moral panic during the McCarthy era |journal=Crime, Law and Social Change |date=June 2013 |volume=59 |issue=5 |pages=517–535 |doi=10.1007/s10611-013-9428-z |s2cid=143542653 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |doi=10.1007/978-981-15-5569-5_2 |chapter=Patterning Moral Panics |title=The Oldest Trick in the Book |year=2020 |last1=Debney |first1=Ben M. |pages=21–44 |isbn=978-981-15-5568-8 |s2cid=226722746 }}</ref>

==== "The Devil's music" (1920s–1980s) ====
{{See also|Parents Music Resource Center}}

Over the years, there has been concern of various types of new music causing spiritual or otherwise [[moral corruption]] to younger generations,<ref name="Centre for Suicide Prevention">{{Cite web|title=Suicide, Rock Music and Moral Panics|url=https://www.suicideinfo.ca/resource/musicandsuicide/|access-date=2021-06-02|website=Centre for Suicide Prevention}}</ref> often called "the devil's music". While the types of music popularly labeled as such has changed with time, along with the intended meaning of the term, this basic factor of the moral panic has remained constant. It could thus be argued that this is really a series of smaller moral panics that fall under a larger umbrella. While most notable in the United States, other countries such as [[Romania]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nechita |first1=Costel Mirel |title=SATANISMUL ÎN MUZICĂ-PUSTIIREA SUFLETEASCĂ A TINERETULUI |journal=Altarul Reîntregirii |date=2016 |issue=3 |pages=307–323 |doi=10.29302/AR.2016.3.17 |doi-access=free }}</ref> have seen exposure to or promotion of the idea as well.

[[Blues]] was one of the first music genres to receive this label, mainly due to a perception that it incited violence and other poor behavior.<ref>SFGate{{Full citation needed|date=March 2021}}</ref> In the early 20th century, the blues was considered disreputable, especially as white audiences began listening to the blues during the 1920s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A History of Blues Music - SantaFe.com |url=https://santafe.com/a-history-of-blues-music/ |access-date=2024-03-14 |website=santafe.com}}</ref>

[[Jazz]] was another early receiver of the label. At the time, traditionalists considered jazz to contribute to the breakdown of morality.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fass|first=Paula|title=The damned and the beautiful : American youth in the 1920's|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=1977|isbn=978-0-19-502148-6|location=New York|page=22}}</ref> Despite the veiled attacks on blues and jazz as "negro music" often going hand-in-hand with other attacks on the genres, urban middle-class African Americans perceived jazz as "devil's music", and agreed with the beliefs that jazz's improvised rhythms and sounds were promoting promiscuity.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dinerstein|first=Joel|year=2003|title=Music, Memory, and Cultural Identity in the Jazz Age|journal=American Quarterly|volume=55|issue=2|pages=303–313|doi=10.1353/aq.2003.0012|s2cid=145194943}}</ref>

Some have speculated that the rock phase of the panic in the 1970s and 1980s contributed to the popularity of the [[satanic ritual abuse]] alleged moral panic in the 1980s.<ref name="Centre for Suicide Prevention" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Romano|first=Aja|date=2016-10-30|title=The history of Satanic Panic in the US – and why it's not over yet|url=https://www.vox.com/2016/10/30/13413864/satanic-panic-ritual-abuse-history-explained|access-date=2020-07-22|website=[[Vox (website)|Vox]]}}</ref>

==== Comic books (1950s) ====
{{See also|Comics Code Authority}}

In the United States, substantial limits were placed on comic book content during the 1950s, especially in the horror and crime genres. This moral panic was promoted by the psychologist [[Fredric Wertham]], who claimed that comics were a major source of juvenile delinquency, arguing in his book ''[[Seduction of the Innocent]]'' that they predisposed children to violence. Comic books appeared in congressional hearings, and organisations promoted [[book burning]]s.<ref name="haberman">{{Cite web |last1=Haberman |first1=Clyde |title=Two Pop Culture Wars: First Over Comics, Then Over Music |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/26/us/two-pop-culture-wars-first-over-comics-then-over-music.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=13 March 2024 |date=25 October 2015}}</ref><ref name="heer">{{Cite web |last1=Heer |first1=Jeet |title=The Caped Crusader |url=https://slate.com/culture/2008/04/the-campaign-against-comic-books.html |website=Slate |access-date=13 March 2024 |date=4 April 2008}}</ref> Wertham's work resulted in the creation of the [[Comics Code Authority|Comics Code]], which drastically limited what kind of content could be published.<ref name="heer"/> As a result of these limitations, many comics publishers and illustrators were forced to leave the profession, and the content produced by those that remained became tamer and more focused on [[superhero]]es.<ref name="heer"/><ref name="abad-santos">{{Cite web |last1=Abad-Santos |first1=Alex |title=The insane history of how American paranoia ruined and censored comic books |url=https://www.vox.com/2014/12/15/7326605/comic-book-censorship |website=Vox |access-date=13 March 2024 |date=15 December 2014}}</ref>

During the following decades, the Comics Code was loosened in scope before finally being abolished in 2011.<ref name="haberman"/><ref name="abad-santos"/>

==== Switchblades (1950s) ====
{{Main|Switchblade#1950s gang usage and controversy}}

In the United States, a 1950 article titled "The Toy That Kills" in the ''[[Woman's Home Companion|Women's Home Companion]]'',<ref>Pollack, Jack H., "The Toy That Kills", 77 ''Women's Home Companion Magazine'' 38, November 1950</ref> about automatic knives, or "[[switchblade]]s", sparked significant controversy. It was further fuelled by highly popular films of the late 1950s, including ''[[Rebel Without a Cause]]'' (1955), ''[[Crime in the Streets]]'' (1956), ''[[12 Angry Men (1957 film)|12 Angry Men]]'' (1957), ''[[The Delinquents (1957 film)|The Delinquents]]'', ''[[High School Confidential (film)|High School Confidential]]'' (1958), and the 1957 [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] musical ''[[West Side Story (musical)|West Side Story]]''.<ref name="TWFK" /><ref name="LEV" />

Fixation on the switchblade as the symbol of youth violence, sex, and delinquency resulted in demands from the public and Congress to control the sale and possession of such knives.<ref name="TWFK">{{Cite book | surname=Dick | given=Steven| title=The Working Folding Knife | year=1997| publisher= Stoeger Publishing Company |isbn= 978-0-88317-210-0 }}</ref><ref name="LEV">Levine, Bernard R., "[http://www.knife-expert.com/schr-pb.txt The Switchblade Menace]", ''OKCA Newsletter'' (1993): Rep. [[Sidney R. Yates]] (D) of Illinois was convinced of a sadistic connection, proclaiming that "vicious fantasies of omnipotence, idolatry...barbaric and sadistic atrocities, and monstrous violations of accepted values spring from [switchblades]&nbsp;... Minus switchblade knives and the distorted feeling of power they beget{{snd}}power that is swaggering, reckless, and itching to express itself in violence{{snd}}our delinquent adolescents would be shorn of one of their most potent means of incitement to crime".</ref> State laws restricting or criminalizing switchblade possession and use were adopted by an increasing number of state legislatures, and many of the [[Switchblade#Legality|restrictive laws around them]] worldwide date back to this period.{{Citation needed|date=September 2020|reason=Unsourced}}

==== Mods and rockers (1960s) ====
{{Main|Mods and rockers}}

In early 1960s Britain, the two main [[youth subculture]]s were [[Mod (subculture)|Mods]] and [[Rocker (subculture)|Rockers]]. The "Mods and Rockers" conflict was explored as an instance of moral panic by sociologist [[Stanley Cohen (sociologist)|Stanley Cohen]] in his seminal study ''Folk Devils and Moral Panics'',{{sfn|Cohen|2002|p=}} which examined media coverage of the Mod and Rocker riots in the 1960s.<ref>British Film Commission (BFC) (PDF), Film Education.</ref>

Although Cohen acknowledged that Mods and Rockers engaged in [[street fighting]] in the mid-1960s, he argued that they were no different from the evening brawls that occurred between non-Mod and non-Rocker youths throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, both at seaside resorts and after football games.{{sfn|Cohen|2002|p=27}}

==== ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (1980s–1990s) ====
{{Main|Dungeons & Dragons controversies}}

At various times, ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' and other [[tabletop role-playing game]]s have been accused of promoting such practices as [[Satanism]], [[witchcraft]], [[suicide]], [[pornography]] and [[murder]]. In the 1980s and later, some groups, especially [[Christian fundamentalism|fundamentalist]] Christian groups, accused the games of encouraging interest in [[Magic (paranormal)|sorcery]] and the veneration of [[demon]]s.<ref name="panic">{{Cite journal |year=2005 |title=Role-Playing Games and the Christian Right: Community Formation in Response to a Moral Panic |journal=The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture |volume=9 |pages=3 |doi=10.3138/jrpc.9.1.003 |last1=Waldron |first1=David|hdl=1959.17/44257 |url=https://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/services/Download/vital:919/DS1 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Laycock |first1=Joseph P. |title=Dangerous Games: What the Moral Panic over Role-Playing Games Says about Play, Religion, and Imagined Worlds |date=2015 |publisher=Univ of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-28492-0 }}{{page needed|date=August 2022}}</ref>

==== <span class="anchor" id="AIDS"></span><!--[[AIDS panic]] redirects here--> HIV/AIDS (1980s–1990s) ====
{{See also|Gay plague}}

[[HIV/AIDS|Acquired immune deficiency syndrome]] (AIDS) is a viral illness that may lead to or exacerbate other health conditions such as [[pneumonia]], [[fungal infection]]s, [[tuberculosis]], [[toxoplasmosis]], and [[cytomegalovirus]]. A meeting of the [[British Sociological Association]]'s South West and Wales Study entitled "AIDS: The Latest Moral Panic" was prompted by the growing interest of medical sociologists in [[AIDS]], as well as that of UK health care professionals working in the field of health education. It took place at a time when both groups were beginning to voice an increased concern with the growing media attention and [[Fearmongering|fear-mongering]] that AIDS was attracting.<ref name="ATLMP">{{Cite book |last1=Coxon |first1=Anthony Peter Macmillan |last2=Gilligan |first2=J. H. |title=Aids: The Latest Moral Panic |date=1985 |publisher=School of Social Studies, University College of Swansea |isbn=978-0-947622-10-7 }}{{page needed|date=November 2016}}</ref> In the 1980s, a moral panic was created within the media over HIV/AIDS. For example, in Britain, a prominent advertisement by the government<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Pemberton |first1=Max |title=HIV/Aids treatment has come a long way– in the West |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/sexual-health-and-advice/9715372/HIVAids-treatment-has-come-a-long-way-in-the-West.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/sexual-health-and-advice/9715372/HIVAids-treatment-has-come-a-long-way-in-the-West.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=14 June 2017 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=3 December 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> suggested that the public was uninformed about HIV/AIDS due to a lack of publicly accessible and accurate information.<ref>{{cite web |title=Remembering the 'Don't Die of Ignorance' campaign |url=https://placingthepublic.lshtm.ac.uk/2018/05/20/remembering-the-dont-die-of-ignorance-campaign/ |website=Placing the Public in Public Health: Public Health in Britain, 1948-2010 |access-date=10 November 2024 |date=20 May 2018}}</ref>

The media outlets nicknamed HIV/AIDS the "gay plague", which further stigmatized the disease. However, scientists gained a far better understanding of HIV/AIDS as it grew in the 1980s and moved into the 1990s and beyond. The illness was still negatively viewed by many as either being caused by or passed on through the gay community. Once it became clear that this was not the case, the moral panic created by the media changed to blaming the overall negligence of ethical standards by the younger generation (both male and female), resulting in another moral panic. Authors behind ''AIDS: Rights, Risk, and Reason'' argued that "British TV and press coverage is locked into an agenda which blocks out any approach to the subject which does not conform in advance to the values and language of a profoundly homophobic culture—a culture that does not regard gay men as fully or properly human. No distinction obtains for the agenda between 'quality' and 'tabloid' newspapers, or between 'popular' and 'serious' television."<ref>Aggleton, P., Davies, P., & Hart, G. (1992). ''AIDS: Rights, Risk, and Reason''. London: Falmer Press. {{ISBN|978-0750700405}}{{page needed|date=November 2016}}</ref>

Similarly, reports of a group of AIDS cases amongst gay men in [[Southern California]] which suggested that a [[Sexually transmitted disease|sexually transmitted]] [[Infectious disease|infectious agent]] might be the [[Etiology|etiological]] agent<ref name="MMWR Weekly, 1982">{{Cite journal | title = A cluster of Kaposi's sarcoma and ''Pneumocystis carinii'' pneumonia among homosexual male residents of Los Angeles and Orange Counties, California | journal = MMWR Morb. Mortal. Wkly. Rep. | volume = 31 | issue = 23 | pages = 305–307 | date = June 1982 | pmid = 6811844 | url = https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00001114.htm | author1 = Centers for Disease Control (CDC). }}</ref> led to several terms relating to homosexuality being coined for the disease, including ''gay plague''.<ref name="AIDS-Encyclopedia">{{Cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Raymond A. |title=Encyclopedia of AIDS: A Social, Political, Cultural, and Scientific Record of the HIV Epidemic |publisher=Routledge |date= 1998 |page=347 |isbn=978-1-135-45754-9 }}</ref>

==== Dangerous dogs (late 1980s – early 1990s) ====
{{Main|Dangerous Dogs Act 1991}}

After a series of high-profile dog attacks on children in the United Kingdom, the British press began to engage in a campaign against so-called dangerous dog breeds, especially [[pit bull]]s and [[Rottweiler]]s, which bore all the hallmarks of a moral panic.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Jones |first1=S. |title=Criminology |date=2006 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |page=93}}</ref><ref name="Kaspersson-2008">{{Cite conference |last1=Kaspersson |first1=Maria |title=On treating the symptoms and not the cause: reflections on the Dangerous Dogs Act |conference=British Criminology Conference |date=July 2008 |volume=8 |pages=205–225 |url=https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/1452/ }}</ref>

This media pressure led the government to hastily introduce the [[Dangerous Dogs Act 1991|''Dangerous Dogs Act'' 1991]] which has been criticised as "among the worst pieces of legislation ever seen, a poorly thought-out knee-jerk reaction to tabloid headlines that was rushed through Parliament without proper scrutiny."<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Parkinson |first1=Justin |title=Pledge: Watch Dangerous Dogs |date=4 December 2009 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8391175.stm |access-date=5 September 2020}}</ref> The act specifically focused on pit bulls, which were associated with the lower social strata of British society, rather than the Rottweilers and [[Dobermann|Dobermann Pinschers]] generally owned by richer social groups. Critics have identified the presence of social class as a factor in the dangerous dogs moral panic, with establishment anxieties about the "[[Subproletariat|sub-proletarian]]" sector of British society displaced onto the [[folk devil]] of the "Dangerous dog".<ref name="Kaspersson-2008" />