#moralpanic — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #moralpanic, aggregated by home.social.
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"In 1907, the Rev. Michael G. Esper of Michigan warned his congregation that “the fad for supplanting the good old dolls of our childhood with the horrible monstrosity known as the teddy bear” would lead to falling birthrates."
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"In 1907, the Rev. Michael G. Esper of Michigan warned his congregation that “the fad for supplanting the good old dolls of our childhood with the horrible monstrosity known as the teddy bear” would lead to falling birthrates."
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Swimming the Author
England tested witches with water. The suspect was bound, right thumb to left toe, looped to a rope, and lowered into the village pond. Pure water was believed to refuse the devil's servant, so a body that floated was guilty and a body that sank was innocent, and the innocent were hauled up half-drowned to receive the town's apology. The procedure was called swimming a witch, and its genius was architectural: it could only convict. Whatever the water did, the crowd on the bank went home with the verdict it had carried down to the shore. Four centuries on, the pond fits in a browser tab. Paste the chapter. Click the button. Let the water decide. […] -
Swimming the Author
England tested witches with water. The suspect was bound, right thumb to left toe, looped to a rope, and lowered into the village pond. Pure water was believed to refuse the devil's servant, so a body that floated was guilty and a body that sank was innocent, and the innocent were hauled up half-drowned to receive the town's apology. The procedure was called swimming a witch, and its genius was architectural: it could only convict. Whatever the water did, the crowd on the bank went home with the verdict it had carried down to the shore. Four centuries on, the pond fits in a browser tab. Paste the chapter. Click the button. Let the water decide. […] -
"As I’ve argued before, I think Haidt’s book has done exactly what Gray was afraid it might do – namely, it has played into and exacerbated a moral panic over smartphones and social media and their alleged impact on the emotional and psychological wellbeing of teenagers. The architect of the Australian social-media age-gating law, South Australian premier Peter Malinouskas, described in an interview how his wife had recommended Haidt’s Anxious Generation to him, and how after reading it he had resolved to take action. His wife “put the book down on her lap and turned to me and said you’ve really got to do something about this,” he said. “And then I stopped and thought about it and thought maybe we actually can.” So he introduced state-level legislation hoping it could win federal support. It did, and since then the UK has passed a new law it says was modeled on the Australian one (modeled so closely that it too offered virtually no evidence that such a law was necessary), and Canada is also considering one.
As a journalist who once worked for the Columbia Journalism Review, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that one of the biggest proponents of Jonathan Haidt’s views about cellphones and social media and their impact on the wellbeing of teenagers has been the media."
#SocialMedia #PlayTime #MentalHealth #MoralPanic #Censorship #Fascism
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"As I’ve argued before, I think Haidt’s book has done exactly what Gray was afraid it might do – namely, it has played into and exacerbated a moral panic over smartphones and social media and their alleged impact on the emotional and psychological wellbeing of teenagers. The architect of the Australian social-media age-gating law, South Australian premier Peter Malinouskas, described in an interview how his wife had recommended Haidt’s Anxious Generation to him, and how after reading it he had resolved to take action. His wife “put the book down on her lap and turned to me and said you’ve really got to do something about this,” he said. “And then I stopped and thought about it and thought maybe we actually can.” So he introduced state-level legislation hoping it could win federal support. It did, and since then the UK has passed a new law it says was modeled on the Australian one (modeled so closely that it too offered virtually no evidence that such a law was necessary), and Canada is also considering one.
As a journalist who once worked for the Columbia Journalism Review, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that one of the biggest proponents of Jonathan Haidt’s views about cellphones and social media and their impact on the wellbeing of teenagers has been the media."
#SocialMedia #PlayTime #MentalHealth #MoralPanic #Censorship #Fascism
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"By the time NYT provided details of the Flying Bribery Palace’s shortcomings on Thursday, based in part on a the observations of a former Air Force official, the outline of what they were had become fairly clear: The Flying Bribery Palace could not protect against an Iranian missile attack"
The latest #Trump #MoralPanic aka #HissyFit is almost too ludicrous to waste any time on
From the very first moment the #Qatari #FlyingBriberyPalace aka #The747 was announced, anyone and everyone with half a brain began yelling loud and clear:
"What about a bullet-proof security checkup?"
All the interior comms for bugs, all the avionics security gear, &c &c &c
Trump rushed the security work so he could show off the Bribe-o-747 and sure enough, take the Bribe-o-747 to the #MiddleEast and the plane is vulnerable to surface-to-air missiles
Unlike the older Presidential 747s
Shocker
So now the #NewYorkTimes is all wrapped up in a Trump hissy fit for even talking about what everybody already knew
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"By the time NYT provided details of the Flying Bribery Palace’s shortcomings on Thursday, based in part on a the observations of a former Air Force official, the outline of what they were had become fairly clear: The Flying Bribery Palace could not protect against an Iranian missile attack"
The latest #Trump #MoralPanic aka #HissyFit is almost too ludicrous to waste any time on
From the very first moment the #Qatari #FlyingBriberyPalace aka #The747 was announced, anyone and everyone with half a brain began yelling loud and clear:
"What about a bullet-proof security checkup?"
All the interior comms for bugs, all the avionics security gear, &c &c &c
Trump rushed the security work so he could show off the Bribe-o-747 and sure enough, take the Bribe-o-747 to the #MiddleEast and the plane is vulnerable to surface-to-air missiles
Unlike the older Presidential 747s
Shocker
So now the #NewYorkTimes is all wrapped up in a Trump hissy fit for even talking about what everybody already knew
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How And Why To Fight Back Against Social Media Bans
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How And Why To Fight Back Against Social Media Bans
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Encoding the Moral Panic
The Telegraph's coverage of a gallery exhibition does more than report a controversy. It reorganises familiar concerns about children and public space into a wider argument about queer culture writes Simon Pearson.https://anticapitalistresistance.org/encoding-the-moral-panic/
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Encoding the Moral Panic
The Telegraph's coverage of a gallery exhibition does more than report a controversy. It reorganises familiar concerns about children and public space into a wider argument about queer culture writes Simon Pearson.https://anticapitalistresistance.org/encoding-the-moral-panic/
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CW: USPol
The entire #Republican #MoralPanic about #86 was (is) just one more example of how the Republicans speak in tongues -- to themselves
The #GOP uses the English language but it's all encoded to have a separate meaning in the #MAGA private universe
Of course the national #NewsMedia plays along and acts as willing dupes to it all, but its all just #4Chan /Pol #shitposting
#DonaldTrump #Trump #PeteHegseth #MarcoRubio #StephenMiller #MAGA #RepublicanParty #Republicans #GOP
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CW: USPol
The entire #Republican #MoralPanic about #86 was (is) just one more example of how the Republicans speak in tongues -- to themselves
The #GOP uses the English language but it's all encoded to have a separate meaning in the #MAGA private universe
Of course the national #NewsMedia plays along and acts as willing dupes to it all, but its all just #4Chan /Pol #shitposting
#DonaldTrump #Trump #PeteHegseth #MarcoRubio #StephenMiller #MAGA #RepublicanParty #Republicans #GOP
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Again, to involve the government in culture wars is gratuitous when we consider that it is supposed to settle disputes, not pick winners and losers. The free speech-restricting FCC's attempted power grab regulating gender content surely looks like the agency playing the parent. https://reason.com/2026/05/31/the-fcc-wants-warning-labels-for-shows-with-transgender-content/
#FCC #censorship #cultureWars #FirstAmendment #freeSpeech #LGBTQ #moralPanic #nannyState #trans -
Again, to involve the government in culture wars is gratuitous when we consider that it is supposed to settle disputes, not pick winners and losers. The free speech-restricting FCC's attempted power grab regulating gender content surely looks like the agency playing the parent. https://reason.com/2026/05/31/the-fcc-wants-warning-labels-for-shows-with-transgender-content/
#FCC #censorship #cultureWars #FirstAmendment #freeSpeech #LGBTQ #moralPanic #nannyState #trans -
Where there is government, there is the potential for corruption. If we all just axe the FCC (which exists primarily to restrict free speech), then maybe the state will have fewer toys to break. Besides, you wouldn't want a neo-Stalinist to regulate away Christian (and pretty much every other) content, would you? https://www.techdirt.com/2026/05/29/trump-fcc-proposes-vile-new-trans-panic-tv-warnings/
#FCC #AbolishTheFCC #BrendanCarr #bureaucracy #censorship #corruption #FirstAmendment #freeSpeech #moralPanic #trans #TVWarnings -
Where there is government, there is the potential for corruption. If we all just axe the FCC (which exists primarily to restrict free speech), then maybe the state will have fewer toys to break. Besides, you wouldn't want a neo-Stalinist to regulate away Christian (and pretty much every other) content, would you? https://www.techdirt.com/2026/05/29/trump-fcc-proposes-vile-new-trans-panic-tv-warnings/
#FCC #AbolishTheFCC #BrendanCarr #bureaucracy #censorship #corruption #FirstAmendment #freeSpeech #moralPanic #trans #TVWarnings -
"Social media as bad for young people as smoking, top doctors say"
Seriously? Sure, social media harms some young people, but smoking kills about half of all smokers.
Are we really supposed to believe that social media kills about half of all young people who use it???
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"Social media as bad for young people as smoking, top doctors say"
Seriously? Sure, social media harms some young people, but smoking kills about half of all smokers.
Are we really supposed to believe that social media kills about half of all young people who use it???
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I wrote a short, reflective blog post because social media musings be transient.
https://medium.com/@aarohini/policy-work-beyond-technological-moral-panic-4fdd2eb0b0aa
#policy #socialpolicy #techpolicy #publicpolicy #moralpanic #reflections #blog
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I wrote a short, reflective blog post because social media musings be transient.
https://medium.com/@aarohini/policy-work-beyond-technological-moral-panic-4fdd2eb0b0aa
#policy #socialpolicy #techpolicy #publicpolicy #moralpanic #reflections #blog
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Wasn’t that silly? It won’t happen again. But it may and will catch you next time, my friend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j97Wcai2Llc
https://word.undead-network.de/2026/05/22/wasnt-that-silly-it-wont-happen-again-but-it-may-and-will-catch-you-next-time-my-friend/
#moral #moralpanic #music #nexttimeyou #ReverendElvis -
AI Fabricated Quotes In A Book About AI Undermining Truth. The Author Says This Proves His Point.
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AI Fabricated Quotes In A Book About AI Undermining Truth. The Author Says This Proves His Point.
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Je m'accuse, on s'accuse – a reaction piece I published on Substack on the misguided moral outrage of LLMs.
👉 https://brywillis634737.substack.com/p/je-maccuse-on-saccuse
#philosophy #moraloutrage #rationality #freespeech #aiethics #llms #surveillancecapitalism #criticaltheory #scapegoating #blog #substack #podcast #aisafety #enlightenment #mythos #bigtech #airegulation #philosophyofmind #moralpanic #artificialintelligence
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Je m'accuse, on s'accuse – a reaction piece I published on Substack on the misguided moral outrage of LLMs.
👉 https://brywillis634737.substack.com/p/je-maccuse-on-saccuse
#philosophy #moraloutrage #rationality #freespeech #aiethics #llms #surveillancecapitalism #criticaltheory #scapegoating #blog #substack #podcast #aisafety #enlightenment #mythos #bigtech #airegulation #philosophyofmind #moralpanic #artificialintelligence
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Spencer Pratt Is Creating Panic Over ‘Super Meth.’ It's Not Even Real
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Morning Joe's DEI for gray-haired white men this morning (and I say this as a gray-haired white man): Deutsch (who opened the crypt and let him out?), Matthews (again?), VandeHei (in full kids-get-off-my-yard #MoralPanic), Barnicle (still?). Then Deutsch has the nerve to mock Biden's age.
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Morning Joe's DEI for gray-haired white men this morning (and I say this as a gray-haired white man): Deutsch (who opened the crypt and let him out?), Matthews (again?), VandeHei (in full kids-get-off-my-yard #MoralPanic), Barnicle (still?). Then Deutsch has the nerve to mock Biden's age.
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Morning Joe's DEI for gray-haired white men this morning (and I say this as a gray-haired white man): Deutsch (who opened the crypt and let him out?), Matthews (again?), VandeHei (in full kids-get-off-my-yard #MoralPanic), Barnicle (still?). Then Deutsch has the nerve to mock Biden's age.
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More Liability Will Make AI Chatbots Worse At Preventing Suicide
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More Liability Will Make AI Chatbots Worse At Preventing Suicide
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"“remains committed to protecting & strengthening #Medicaid for those who rely on it…while eliminating waste, fraud, & abuse.”"
"eliminating waste, fraud, & abuse"
And we're back to the #Repubican #MoralPanic about Chicago's #CadillacWelfareQueens and too many undeserving people scamming free #ObamaPhones
It's always the 1980s in #MAGA land
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"“remains committed to protecting & strengthening #Medicaid for those who rely on it…while eliminating waste, fraud, & abuse.”"
"eliminating waste, fraud, & abuse"
And we're back to the #Repubican #MoralPanic about Chicago's #CadillacWelfareQueens and too many undeserving people scamming free #ObamaPhones
It's always the 1980s in #MAGA land
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“Nobody Is Parenting These Kids” Is a Moral Panic #moralpanic #parenting
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The Kids Are (Mostly) Alright: New Pew Study Deflates The Social Media Panic
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The Kids Are (Mostly) Alright: New Pew Study Deflates The Social Media Panic
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Wer ein Verbot sozialer Medien für Jugendliche will, mogelt sich nur am Problem vorbei:
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Wer ein Verbot sozialer Medien für Jugendliche will, mogelt sich nur am Problem vorbei:
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Overwritten #MoralPanic, which The Times labels an Idea.
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Overwritten #MoralPanic, which The Times labels an Idea.
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Overwritten #MoralPanic, which The Times labels an Idea.
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"How “trans panic” took over the world" by Rowan Ellis.
In this video Rowan breaks down how moral panics are created, who benefits from them, and how we might be able to fight them! Including a breakdown of exactly how the trans moral panic of recent years began in the UK...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFbx3JYkhU4
#lgbtq #trans #TransPanic #MoralPanic #VideoEssay #transgender
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"How “trans panic” took over the world" by Rowan Ellis.
In this video Rowan breaks down how moral panics are created, who benefits from them, and how we might be able to fight them! Including a breakdown of exactly how the trans moral panic of recent years began in the UK...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFbx3JYkhU4
#lgbtq #trans #TransPanic #MoralPanic #VideoEssay #transgender
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Free Speech Experts: Jonathan Haidt’s Moral Panic Is As Old As Democracy Itself
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Free Speech Experts: Jonathan Haidt’s Moral Panic Is As Old As Democracy Itself
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Classic #MoralPanic social entrepreneur behavior. Soooo tired/.
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:sefgphqp2xqwh2hawaixykwz/post/3mi5i4vcrsk23 -
I had naively assumed when I wrote the first in this series that the YouTube videos in the Google News feed would be mostly from middle or centrist news outlets. That was wrong, so I wanted to see who was the most popular. I wish I hadn't. Then I read the comments section, and that went poorly, too.
https://jessk.org/blog/how-youtube-feeds-the-anti-trans-machine
#disinformation #misinformation #moralpanic #hate #antitrans
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I had naively assumed when I wrote the first in this series that the YouTube videos in the Google News feed would be mostly from middle or centrist news outlets. That was wrong, so I wanted to see who was the most popular. I wish I hadn't. Then I read the comments section, and that went poorly, too.
https://jessk.org/blog/how-youtube-feeds-the-anti-trans-machine
#disinformation #misinformation #moralpanic #hate #antitrans
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From an early 20th-century home medical guide which I discovered in a hotel library a few years ago — note the shifting attribution from masturbation to syphilitic causes
#HistoryOfMedicine #MedicalHistory #HistoryOfTheBody #Sexuality #MoralPanic #CulturalHistory
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Exactly, and link-pasting is exactly what I've done ever since I got on #Mastodon
#QuotePosting was an enormous #MoralPanic about four years ago because #Twitter had it and #Mastodon didn't and all the big techy-bro rags convinced #Gargron that he was discouraging new migrants from Twitter because Mastodon didn't have #QuotePosts
Took 'em about three years to do it, and everyone pretty much ignored quote posts when they were finally implemented, a lot because people could opt-out if they wanted and no one took them seriously
IMO, YMMV...
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Human Problems: It’s Not Always The Technology’s Fault
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I've been watching this on Github (as one does) because it's a replay of the very old #A11y #MoralPanic that hit #Mastodon right around the time I first got on -- and that has resurfaced regularly since
Now it's reached #Github
It's always cast in the same light, ultimately:
"You have to do what I want because *I'm* looking out for other people that you don't even care about so you're a poopy-head!!!""
It's grown (once again) to be extremely tedious
Current offering, by actually pulling the comment out into a text editor:
14 lines, 365 words, for a count of 2,117 characters
Boooring...