I am always fascinated by Moral Panics. Growing up when heavy metal was such a influence there were supposed devil worshiping cults everyone .
One bad thing about Moral Panics is it is very unpopular to speak out against them or urge caution. Moral Panics also have the bad problem of having some rather bad law or government action being used to combat the "problem". A Prof from Baylor looks at a Moral Panic from our not too past recent history. That is the CULTS!!
See How We Became Obsessed With Cults -Small religious groups like the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church were once feared and hated..
Friday, September 7, 2012
A Look At A Past Classic Moral Panic - CULTS
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2 comments:
I'm old enough to remember when we were all solicited by Hare Kristna's, Moonies, and other cult members at every airport in the country, as well as other public places sometimes. The young Moonies would even be standing on the street corners in Houston, selling cheap jewelry for inflated prices, along with the "homeles" selling newspapers. Now this Mr. Jenkins is trying to tell us this was all a figment of imagination due to some supposed "moral panic". The truth of the matter is that is was the response to these cults, the de-programming on behalf of the parents, and the efforts to warn the public, which brought about the cessation of the tactics used by these cults. Rupert Murdock and his organization has some kind of ulterior motive in publishing this piece of disinformation.
I vaguely recall the moonies. I guess the point , and he might be wrong, was the problem was never as wide spread as people thought.
That is one reason I brought up my heavy metal experience from youth and people freaking out over pentegrams. Of course the problem might have been much more severe by region
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