
By Chloe Anderson-Dixon
Now-a-days, as soon as you turn on the news, we are never short of a shocking scandal involving gangs of youths, kidnappings and assault. BREAKING NEWS: RISING GANG VIOLENCE SPARKS 80% OF OUR CRIME.
With these headlines popping up here, there and everywhere, stereotypes are gradually formed. If we walk past a young adult with his hood up, we immediately clutch our bags in terror of being mugged. However, is every single youth of today really that dangerous, or are the media creating a moral panic to make us believe so? It can be said that the media sensationalises crime, so as to create moral panic. This is used to control the way in which the public behave.
The dangers of creating these moral panics are that they are continuously exaggerated and distorted by the media, which results in public concern constantly heightening. The media causes us to form stereotypes and symbols concerning particular incidents, and a result we start to associate certain social groups with particular activities, such as gang violence and terrorism.
For example, when we think about seeing large groups of youths these days hanging around on street corners, we immediately assume they are dangerous and veer away from that isolated lane you were about to walk down and decide to keep to the busy street. Even though we often see in the news that large gangs do often create violence, it surely is unfair for us to believe that every group of teenagers we see is about to start World War Three in the middle of the street.
This constitutes the public view of social typing rule-breakers as threatening and dangerous. Therefore, they receive discriminatory and unwarranted attention from the Criminal Justice System; they are singled out, hassled, wrongfully arrested and heavily sentenced. This moral panic in fact makes it more likely that the young deviant will construct this identity that has been attached to them by the media and our society, which tends to result in more crime.
We have also seen, in recent news the panic of child abuse, kidnapping and paedophilia. The media have a regular supply of abuse and murder cases which generate sensationalist reporting. Only last year, the body of Jo Yates discovered in Clifton, Bristol, and when the investigation came to a close the man responsible was revealed as living on the next street to her.
We also witnessed the Soham murders of 2002, in which two young girls were kidnapped, abused and murdered. The school caretaker was the culprit. Statistics show that children and young adults are more in danger from immediate family members or acquaintances who perpetrate the vast majority of kidnapping and abuse. The media created this moral panic that children were no longer safe, and they needed to be supervised 24/7. This then resulted in a ‘name and shame’ campaign launched against paedophiles which resulted in vigilante mobs taking to the streets and terrorizing innocent citizens who unfortunately shared the same name or a resemblance to a known sex offender. Surely, panic like this is going to cause our society to decline rather than strengthen and regulate it?
Terrorism has also created a moral panic within our society, in particular the implication of Islam in terrorist attacks. BREAKING NEWS: ISLAMIC TERROR DRIVES CHRISTIANS OUT OF MALI; MAN CHARGED WITH PLOTTING TERROR CAMPAIGN IN THE NAME OF ISLAM; POLICE ARREST SUSPECT ISLAMIC TERRORIST.
With headlines like these being thrown at us from every angle, it causes society to associate the Islamic religion with terrorism. The media scares us into thinking our country and lives are under attack by this religion full stop. This has seen an uprising in racial abuse within our nation towards Muslims, and rapid decline within our society is only to be expected when it comes to this.
The media act in establishing certain concepts of deviance, and have the ability to create and instil particular attitudes towards certain groups within society. Newspapers often point towards the decline of our society in regard to their reporting of moral panics, and constantly refer back to the ‘good old days’.
This leads to an on-going concern that our society is in decline, and has created permanent panic which has led to the public being continuously aware of the belief that society no longer holds such past values as important. The concern expressed by the media can often both constitute and generate public concern where it isn’t needed, causing an outcry of panic amongst our society, as well as stereotyping certain groups and being prejudiced towards them. We cannot progress if we continue to allow the media to provoke these moral panics, and we will only see a degenerative society if this carries on.
So media causes a false perception that society is falling apart by publishing and promoting these moral panics and if they don’t stop then society will fall apart. Is that about the gist of it?
@Ross To be fair it’s a journalistic take on a sociological issue. The dangers of moral panics are well documented in the social sciences, so for me if anything this article is refreshingly reflective rather than ironically paranoid.
The most DAMAGING thing about the way that the media and the cops promote all this needless paranoia is our saintly, all hallowed, sacrosanct Sex Offender registration systems!!! Nothing, and I do mean NOTHING has promoted paranoia quite like THAT has!!! Yet all my attempts to point this out online have been REMOVED by moderators on just about every website I’ve ever blogged on about it!!! No one DARES question the saintly wisdom of the Sex Offender registries!!! Those registries are what gives the paranoia over perceived “sex crimes” that nasty added ka-POW that keeps parents EVERYWHERE splitting hairs while keeping their helpless little 7 – 12 year old “weaklings” ( almost a universal perception among parents and law enforcement, alike ) shut up tight behind double dead-bolted front and back doors. Double dead-bolt locks require a key on BOTH sides, to ensure that those on the inside cannot get out. You’d be surprised how many pedo-paranoid parents lock their kids up 24/7 this exact way!!! With windows usually barred, there’s little chance of escape should the parents die in a roaring house fire as the keys to those locks will probably be on THEM!!! But today’s indoctrinated paranoid parents never even think about that!!! They believe, mostly due to the “trauma myth”, that it’s better to risk the kids ( their weak, meek little ‘darlings’ ) dying in a fgn HOUSE-FIRE than risk them getting outside the house, due to the hoards of kidnappers and child molesters who are driving up and down the streets in big old cars and vans labeled “Joe’s Plumbing Services!!!” And lets not forget sexy young Johhny Ratburger, the juvenile sex Offender living just two blocks away, who got caught “molesting” his one year younger girlfriend!!! Surely HE is a threat to ANY 5 year old!!! The result of this is that any and all references to “childhood independence ” is met with scorn and suspicion!!! After all,…. “HOW CAN YOU EVEN “SPEAK” FOOLISHNESS LIKE THAT WHEN THE CITIES ARE SO CHALK FULL OF “CHILD MOLESTERS” and KIDNAPPERS!?!?!
What do ” I ” think? I think it’s going to be one VERY long time ( many many DECADES ) before the children ( particularly in America and Britain ) ever get to experience any freedom at all. It really is sad. The only reason kids aren’t flipping out all over the place is the fact that they are kept sedated by our fluoridated water supplies and their iPhones!!!
But even THEN, I see so many rebellious young children “resenting” their parents so!!! They are being constantly bullied by their parents ( who don’t trust them any further than a crippled man could push a broken down four door 1983 Buick sedan!!! ) because , and I quote: “I know what a sneaky little shit ” I ” was when ” I ” was your age!!! And YOU ain’t getting away with SQUAT!!!!!”
OFCOURSE these kids are becoming “resentful!!!” Who in their right mind could NOT become resentful?!?!?
Then, there’s the child “invalidation factor.” I’ve tried to point this out time and time again, only to have it struck down as “inappropriate!!!” But here we go, once again… The child “invalidisation factor works like this, and it is a leading factor in why children are treated like they are “invalids” today. You see, if children ( anybody under age 18 – 21 ) are universally declared incapable of “consent”, they ( by that very same token ) are likewise incapable of NONconsent!!!! Once the parental ( blind sheep ) majority realized this, they almost universally declared…… “OH MY GOD!!! OUR CHILDREN ARE LIKE “INVALIDS!!!” WE SHOULD HAVE PROTECTED THEM INFINITELY BETTER!!! WHAT WERE OUR PARENTS “THINKING???” THEY LET US NEARLY GET KILLED DELIVERING NEWSPAPERS AT THE AGE OF “NINE!!!!” THEY WERE STUPID ENOUGH TO GIVE US UNSUPERVISED FREEDOM!!! THEY GAVE US SETS OF HOUSE-KEYS,…AT THE AGE OF “TEN!!!” !!! WHAT ON EARTH WERE OUR PARENTS “THINKING!!??” THEY GAVE US MONEY AND LET US GO AROUND TOWN ON OUR SCOOTERS, ROLLERBLADES, TRYCYCLES, AND SKATEBOARDS!!! NO WONDER SO MANY MILLIONS OF KIDS ( actually, try less than 75 from 1970 – 1980!!! ) GOT ABDUCTED!!!
And that was the end of that!
Today, even those few parents who WANT to raise resiliant, independent, street savvy kids ( a.k.a “Free Range kids ) cannot do so because it’s against the law in many states. What’s more, if raising Free Range kids is not “officially” against the law, there are often “civil regulations” on the books. That’s where C.P.S. ( Child Protective Services on steroids ) comes in. And since it “takes a village to raise a child!!!” ( Hillary Clinton was the one who came up with that ), just about every decent parent in the United States, Australia, and the U.K. keeps vigilant watch to make sure all the neighborhood kids are kept locked up tight within the confines of the home!!! As soon as somebody lets his or her child take one step outside the house, they immediately flip out their iPhones and call the cops!!! The cops take these calls DEAD SERIOUSLY!!!
I remember they days when over half the parents out there would have fought, not for their children’s “safety,” but for their children’s FREEDOMS!!!
Lenore Skenazi was the one who tried to start the Free Range Kids movement. It failed before it even made it to “grass roots.” Now, the Free Range kids movement exists only online. It consists of saddened parents and grandparents who use the blogs to voice their LAMENT over the fact that, in many countries ( ESPECIALLY in the United Soviet States of OurMediaPolice!), childhood freedom is a patently ludicrous ABSURDITY.
The only HOPE for change in this area lies WITH today’s restricted youth!!! When THEY become parents, there’s a fairly good chance that they, having experienced the emotional pain caused by their own parent’s distrust and paranoia, will begin to fight so that their own children can experience the freedoms that THEY were never allowed to have. If anybody knows how much it SUCKS to be bullied by parents that, for no legitimate reason, don’t TRUST you, it is TODAY’S kids!!! If anybody knows how painful it is to be told that “YOU’RE INCAPABLE OF THINKING OR DOING THINGS FOR YOUSELF”, it is TODAY’s kids!!! If anybody knows how much it SUCKS spending Christmas and Summer vacations “IN LOCKDOWN”, it is TODAY’s kids!!! If there’s anybody that cannot tell the difference between being grounded and NOT being grounded, it is the young, indentured “servant kids” of modern society. It is THOSE people who are most likely to rise up and not only fight for their own rights, but for the rights of their own children!!! It will be a battle of adult child against parent! A battle against authorities parents, grandparents ( who will certainly try to gain “custody” of their grandchildren, citing “irresponsible parenting on their own children’s part” as the reasoning for the custody battle ),… It will pit daughter against father, and son against mother. Courtrooms will surely be clogged, jail cells and C.P.S run foster homes will surely by full to the max. In short, that revolution will be downright A.C.L.U, “UGLY!” But things have yet to “boil over.” But I can see it written all over my own co-workers’ kids faces. Many of my co-workers have school age children, and they are “bullied to the max” by their parents. They aren’t allowed to do ANYTHING!!! The smoldering rage on their little faces is quite frightening!!! How many years of that kind of mental and emotional “restriction” can a person TAKE before they finally EXPLODE!!! Like the murderous Menendez brothers, who, after YEARS of being shouted at and shoved around by their parents, finally decided that even JAIL would be better than suffering one more DAY of being kept locked up inside the house while being ordered around and SHOUTED at!!! And today, that kind of parental bullying is not the exception, it’s the norm!!! But that entire topic is currently “taboo.” Believe me, the way things are now, not many people dare criticize the parental majority!!! Why risk having the neighborhood socially “brand” you a “pedophile enabler!!!” You’d get harassed by the cops AND your neighbors!!! One should NEVER underestimate the “vigilante aspect” of the matter. But there is a revolution coming. I can see it in the eyes of today’s parentally restricted kids!!! They ALREADY can’t stand it anymore. I mean, seriously,… EVERYBODY needs some “space” … some time ALONE, from time to time!!! Today’s kids hardly ever even get a moment to clear their thoughts!!! Just imagine what it would be like to LIVE at your job under two control-freak bosses who won’t let you have any down time!!! The only “privacy” you ever get is when you’re in the fgn’ BATHROOM!!! And with 3 co-workers ( siblings! ), that privacy is short lived!!! Worst of all is the fact that, double-deadbolted doors or not, barred windows or not, you know dam-well the kind of BEATING you’ll get if you dare to take one step outside the front or back door!!! THAT’S the way the average kid ( particularly in the United States of OurMediaPolice!!! ), is forced to live his or her life!!! … for now. But the children’s anger is building! The way my co-worker’s children resent the way that their parents constantly scold them, their eyes are already filled with rage!!! I’m not kidding! Their parents talk down to them CONSTANTLY! When WE were kids, we had to actually DO something bad to get our butts whipped. All TODAY’S kids have to do to get a whippin is get their shirts dirty, or try to do something without SUPERVISION!!! The kids just intuitively “know” that life was never meant to be like THIS!!! And so their anger definitely seems to be reaching a near feverish pitch. A human being can only TAKE so much human rights deprivation. Even on T.V, kids see children riding their skateboards and tricycles freely through their neighborhoods, and they must wonder why REAL parents have to be so insanely BUTT-ANAL about kids doing AYTHING at all!!! And, understandably, their anger continues to smolder. I am hear the average little girl now!,… ” I swear to god, if my mommy gives me one more lecture about pedophiles,… if my daddy makes me view the sex Offender registry ONE MORE TIME, followed with … “you see that?!?! THAT’S why you cannot have a tricycle, bicycle or scooter, and THAT’S why you are not to leave this HOUSE!!! “If I hear my mommy and daddy say that ONE MORE TIME, I might just run away!!!!”
But it will be at least another 10 years or more, I think, before the next big rebellion occurs.
But,even now, I see how BADLY today’s kids wish that they could have a level-playing-field “showdown” with their ultra-controlling paranoid parents. How they must HATE the sex Offender registries and shows like Law and Order. They REALLY want to rebel! I don’t blame them. And they probably won’t want THEIR kids to have to spend THEIR entire childhoods “in lockdown.” Again, that’s where the REAL rebellion will occur!!! Because their control freak parents will probably try to step in and get control of THEIR kids, and that CERTAINLY won’t go over well!!!
As it is now, in the U.S and Britain, you can go out on any Saturday afternoon, and I can almost guarantee it, you won’t see ANY children riding their trycicles, bicycles, or scooters. You won’t see a single child walking down the street. As of now, they are UNIVERSALLY being kept shut up tight inside the house. And they all know what “happens” if they try to step outside the house or apartment unit!!! They all know that, odds are, they probably won’t get to ride their first bicycle until at least 13 years of age!!! And they’re SICK OF IT!!!
Sooner or later, our nations kids are going to start fighting back! As a result, many will be BRUTALIZED by their irate parents. Some will probably even be killed. Police will no doubt be rounding the young rebels up! Some of them may get killed while in police custody! But that’s why battle is such a B??????????
Why did my Imogenes get replaced with fkn QUESTION-MARKS!?!?!?!?!???
I guess you can’t use Imogenes ( faces and symbols ) on this blog… dammit
I have noticed you don’t monetize your blog, don’t waste your traffic,
you can earn additional cash every month because
you’ve got high quality content. If you want to
know how to make extra bucks, search for: Mertiso’s tips best adsense alternative