moral panic
Societal fear frenzy
A moral panic is widespread public alarm about a perceived threat to social values, typically amplified by media coverage and political rhetoric beyond what evidence warrants.
The threat is often linked to a particular group—youth, immigrants, or a subculture—cast as folk devils corrupting society: The satanic panic of the 1980s led to false accusations of ritual abuse.
Moral panics tend to flare intensely, drive policy changes, then fade when the supposed threat proves exaggerated.
- mass hysteriaShared irrational public fear
- social contagionSpread through observation
- scapegoatingUnfairly assigning fault to innocents
- fearmongeringDeliberately spreading exaggerated threats
- witch-huntPersecution of supposed subversives
propaganda · sensationalism · media circus · Salem witch trials · deviant behavior · stranger danger · stigma · yellow journalism · media frenzy · violent video games · think of the children · censorship · public outrage · overreaction · religious persecution · societal norms · culture war · tabloid journalism
- fearmongeringscaremongering, fearmongering, scare tactics, fear tactics, alarmism
- media effectsmedia influence, media manipulation, media bias, agenda-setting, framing
- witch huntswitch trials, witch hunt, witch hunts, Salem witch trials, Salem trials
- mass delusionsmass hysteria, groupthink, mob mentality, herd mentality, witch hunts
- backlashbacklash, blowback, outcry, outrage, pushback
- conformityconformity, conforming, conform, conformist, conformism
moral panicmeasured response
Controlled, proportional reply
critical thinking · risk assessment · scientific consensus · due diligence
moral paniccomplacency
Uncritical satisfaction with oneself
normalcy · equanimity · blissful ignorance · willful blindness
moral panicdismissiveness
Attitude of casual disregard
underreaction · minimization · willful ignorance · normalization · desensitization
panic, moral, immoral, morality, mores, morally, amoral, moralizing, moralistic