Moral Panic - Blog 2

       Moral panic is the fear gained and spread through society that there is something evil or malicious that poses an actual danger to them, when in actuality, the danger is much less than thought and typically amplified through the media. 

      Karen Sternheimer tells us, "Underneath the fear lies the belief that our way of life is at stake, threatened by evildoers--often cast as  popular culture or it's consumers--who must be controlled." She makes it clear that the "evil" is part of something boosted by the media that can and will negatively change society. That is the panic that is felt by society. For example, Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) was believed to control its consumers. While the game DnD was a game of fantasy and medieval role play, the media did not popularize it in good light. The media even labeled it as a gateway into cult culture driving panic into society and the parents of the youth. Sternheimer could even label this as the "folk devil" that is looked down upon because of it's unusual nature that is the core of everything wrong with society. The same is true with the "Momo challenge", as there was a panic associated with the image driven through the media and fear that parents had for their children commuting suicide after viewing the image of the Japanese art piece That wouldn't have been nearly as much of an issue if the news/social media hadn't driven it to be something that effecting many people in society.