Illustration: Adramelech, from the 1863 edition of Collin de Plancy’s Dictionnaire infernal — Source.
Remember the Satanic Panic of the 1980s? Satanic abuse ritualists were lurking behind every corner. These secret Satan worshippers were working behind the scenes 24/7, intent upon abusing little children, indoctrinating older children, or ritually sacrificing your baby.
This phenomenon is classified as a moral panic. Sociologist Stanley Cohen coined the term in his book Folk Devils and Moral Panics, published in 1972.
In a January 2018 article written by Ashley Crossman titled “Definition of Moral Panic: Overview of the Theory and Notable Examples,” Crossman summarizes Cohen’s theory as follows:
“Cohen developed a theory of moral panic that outlines five stages of the process.
- Something or someone is perceived and defined as a threat to social norms and the interests of the community or society at large.
- News media and members of the community/society then depict the threat in simplistic symbolic ways that quickly become recognizable to the greater public.
- Widespread public concern is aroused by the way news media portrays the symbolic representation of the threat.
- Authorities and policy makers respond to the threat, be it real or perceived, with new laws or policies.
- The moral panic and actions by those in power that follows it results in social change within the community.
Cohen suggested that there are five key sets of actors involved in the process of moral panic. They are:
- The threat that incites the moral panic, which Cohen referred to as “folk devils”;
- Enforcers of rules or laws, like institutional authority figures, police, or armed forces;
- The news media, which breaks the news about the threat and continues to report on it, thereby setting the agenda for how it is discussed, and attaching visual symbolic images to it;
- Politicians, who respond to the threat, and sometimes fan the flames of the panic;
- And the public, who develop focused concern about the threat and demand action in response to it.”
While the Satanic Panic has subsided in its most frenzied form, in which we saw specialized law enforcement training as well as crimes attributed to Satanic ritual abuse, we still see the suggestion that there are “gateways” to Satanism we might want to avoid. Among these dark influencers:
Yoga
Astrology
Heavy Metal
Halloween
Dungeons and Dragons
Harry Potter
Pokemon
Animorphs
Lord of the Rings
Smurfs
Walt Disney/Disneyland
Thriller (Michael Jackson)
Beyonce (& various other pop stars)
Hollywood stars in general
So, are we experiencing a moral panic today with regard to Racism?
Let me look at the above list again, only with a lens that believes racism permeates everything. I’ll research each topic briefly to see if I find an assertion that the same phenomena purported to be infected by Satanism are now infected by racism.
Yoga
Yoga promotes white supremacy because white Americans have appropriated and colonized it. White people, and especially white women, now behave as though yoga belongs to them.
Astrology
Astrology doesn’t appear to be racist in itself, though it might promote stereotyping others or being biased or prejudiced against someone because of the astrological sign. Let’s call it racist-adjacent.
Heavy Metal
Some heavy metal has undoubtedly been associated with Neo-Nazi fans and even actively promoted racial division.
Halloween
Halloween promotes racism if costumes are culturally appropriated or make fun of or belittle another race.
Dungeons and Dragons
Yes, D & D promotes white male dominance which makes it racist by default.
Harry Potter
Apparently the entire Harry Potter series can be interpreted as racist if you focus on issues such as the mistreatment of minorities or the purity of certain bloodlines such as witches or warlocks.
Pokemon
Yes, Pokemon has been caught with racist stereotypes such as the character Jynx, who echoes the look of Little Black Sambo.
Animorphs
Apparently, Animorphs “whitewashes” certain characters who are depicted as being “white” as opposed to being authentically ethnic in their characterization.
Lord of the Rings
Lord of the Rings is definitely racist because dark is associated with evil.
Smurfs
Apparently the blue blobby cartoon characters exhibit their racism by treating Blacks as less than and are also anti-semitic to boot.
Walt Disney/Disneyland
Of course, we have old Disney cartoons which reflect a time period of overt racism, but more recently Splash Mountain has been deemed racist for its association with the film Song of the South which was made in 1946.
Thriller (Michael Jackson)
Well, Thriller isn’t a problem but Michael Jackson could have been something of a self-hating racist if he did indeed deny his Blackness and present himself only as a “good Black.”
Beyonce (& various other pop stars)
Beyonce is not racist herself, but white women who criticize Beyonce probably are.
Hollywood stars in general
Hollywood stars may not be individually practicing racism, but the industry itself is roundly criticized year after year for never having enough roles for Black people, and specifically for Black women.
We certainly can’t draw any conclusions from this little comparison and will probably understand this period in history more clearly when we look backwards, but I suspect that a feature of moral panic is the inability to recognize it as such while it is actually happening. Time will tell.
