9 Social Panics the Gripped the Nation, Were Totally False, and Did Horrible Lasting Damage

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/fear-america/9-social-panics-gripped-nation-were-totally-false-and-did-horrible-lasting-damage

Here are 10 of the worst social panics in recent American history.

1. Reds Under the Bed and Communist Hysteria

Red baiter Joe McCarthy would be right at home in today’s Republican party. Self-aggrandizing, prone to making baseless accusations, and cynically motivated by the endless pursuit of power, McCarthy was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1947. Though one of his first acts was to go to bat for a group of Nazis he claimed had been denied a fair trial, he was less concerned with justice for his fellow American citizens, whom he subjected to a witch-hunt that would make Bill O’Reilly proud.2. AIDS Panic and Misinformation

2. AIDS Panic and Misinformation

The continuing AIDS crisis is a global tragedy that has devastated countless families, communities and an entire continent. Yet America’s reaction to the disease was nothing short of sheer hysteria that no amount of actual information could quell. Throughout the 1980s, movies, TV mini-series, talk shows and news items constantly warned of the dangers of young people contracting AIDS after just a moment of sexual “recklessness” (Something to Live For, Kids). A 1987 episode of “Oprah” showcased a town in West Virginia that banded together against its lone HIV-positive resident. A family with three HIV-positive hemophiliac children (the Ray brothers) lost their home to arson after a court ordered a public school to allow the kids to attend. A posse of scared, overzealous parents banned teenager Ryan White from attending his school. And the nightly news showed doctors, nurses and cops wearing rubber gloves and, given the choice, hazmat suits for even the most casual contact with people presumed to have AIDS (which essentially meant all gay men).

[hobbit709]

1. "Paranoia strikes deep. It starts when you're always afraid"

and fear is a useful tool to keep people in line.

[Moliere]

2. Shock Doctrine in effect through the years

[Takket]

3. Another one...

Whenever I see an article about welfare there is always some racists in the comment section going on about "gubmint cheese" and that is how they spell it. They use it to mock poor blacks who were once part if some program that gave out cheese. The cheese program is sort of the "proof" they use that blacks and the government are "stealing" from you.

[glowing]

17. I have to say, that block of govt cheese was freaking awesome in grilled cheese.

My great grandmother got the free foods. The block of cheese was too big for her one little old lady self.. So she sent it with my grandndpa for my grandma to use at their house. When they watched "us kids", that's the cheese we used. I can still remember that yellow block cheese and my grandma slicing it off to make up sanwhiches... And I always begged for grilled cheese lunch. (This was in VT in my very younger years).

I was watching the Whalburger show, yes I know silly distraction, but Donnie was talking about the yellow government cheese and how they made the best sandwiches and it brought back my own memories of that... Good memories of family times all around an item that brought food into bellies. I Don't even know if they have that yellow cheese anymore? But if some company put a block of that cheese on a store shelf, I bet quite a few Americans would grab it up because of their own times and memories from that era of supplies coming to the house that helped a family eat. We should be doing more of that with small family farms and a share crop program for poor people. Getting good foods into bellies of children who need it, helping out the family farm, maybe even supporting new "farmers" from a new generation that really need to take over growing food and in a sustainable manner. Could you imagine a program that could have so many positive outcomes being devised by congress today? I think this is what is dissilusioning young people. We see the work that needs to be done, yet the monetary costs and the policies currently in place to make mega-corporations impenetrable, are keeping the ingenuity and drive and desire for that work to be done, from manifesting. Generational wastes of allowing people to do what they should do; not what pays a bill. It's such a pessimistic society we live in. Uninspiring, cramping, and anhilistic... Seriously, we even have laws against feeding homeless hungry people. It's such a crappy time to be alive.

[bravenak]

27. I loved it too.

We always used that cheese.

[lovemydog]

4. Really interesting article.

Another couple that I can think of are the war on drugs and the war on terror. Not that there aren't terrible things associated with both excessive hard drug use and terrorism. But I think the reactions to it have cost too much, particularly where we sacrifice privacy and freedom in the name of 'security.'

[stillwaiting]

7. Those are 2 of the worst in terms of lasting and continuing damage to our nation. nt

[cui bono]

35. Agreed.

Btw... are you two related? You look like twins!

[ScreamingMeemie]

5. When I think of Fran and Dan Keller and the horrendous charges they were found guilty of...

and the fact that a jury believed those charges, it makes me sick. Over 20 years each in prison, and they were only released a short time ago.

[LWolf]

6. I've long wondered

if the reason that I don't react to any of these social panics like I'm "supposed" to is because I don't give the misinformation machine my time or attention. I know what's going on in the world, but I don't listen to people talk about it on the tv or radio.

America is a fearful and gullible nation with a media misinformation machine that is more than happy to stoke our fears. Like windup toys, we obediently point in whatever direction the fearmongers tell us to and run, screaming and flailing our arms while demanding that someone do something about it.

Or maybe it's just that I wasn't conditioned to fear from childhood?

[rurallib]

8. also very sad that things we should be quite concerned about like ebola

are given the panic treatment and response is sometimes hurt.

[Capt. Obvious]

9. Holy shit

Watch this link from the AIDS panic:

[progressoid]

28. Indeed.

Sadly, I knew assholes like that. There was no way to reason with them.

I wonder what they think of their actions now.

[cui bono]

36. That angry guy in the tie doesn't seem to understand that gay people are born from hetero parents.

Duh.

He thinks that if you separated all the gays and didn't have any women with them they would go extinct. He did admit though, that his feelings were due to him being a hateful bigot. SMH.

[Dont call me Shirley]

10. #10 Terrorists...

Spy on your neighbors, they could be secret Muslim terrorists. Weapons of mass destruction. Orange Level 4 terror alert. ISIS.

The media hype of the 21st century.

[HockeyMom]

11. #11 --2014/2015 Disease and Epidemics

Ebola, Flu, Measles.

[malaise]

12. K & R

Good read

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

13. In the very beginning,

I don't think it was wrong for people to be fearful of AIDS.

Today, I know I could live in the same house with a person with AIDS and not be fearful. Decades ago, I might have been afraid to send my child to school if a child with AIDS was in the same kindergarten classroom.

We learn.

We adapt.

[treestar]

14. I was at the worst possible age for the marriage crunch one

25. I really resented men from that.

[Bluenorthwest]

15. Everything in that AIDS section happened during Reagan's absolute inaction toward AIDS, for 7 years

his Republicans urged him to do nothing and that's what he did, nothing. By the time Reagan so much as mentioned the word 'AIDS' there were nearly 30,000 Americans dead and a pandemic is 113 countries. So far, 36 million people have died and about 1.4 million a year are still dying from it in Africa.
Supporters of those who supported Reagan claim that during Reagan's silence, no one in the US was even aware of AIDS, but here you have folks suggesting there was panic. And there was. But it was not from 'misinformation' it was from a total lack of official information, assistance, leadership, financial resources, and basic human decency coming from the Reagan/Bush Republicans.
To be blunt with you, the United Straights of America had far more and much faster panic over Ebola, which killed one guy in the US, than it did over AIDS, which killed hundreds of thousands in the US and which continues to take lives even as we speak.
http://sfaf.org/hiv-info/hot-topics/from-the-experts/2011-02-reagans-legacy.html

[tjwash]

18. Remember how it was initially called "GRIDS" ?

The entire disease was steeped in misinformation and baseless paranoia from the very first case of pneumonia that patient 1 initially died of in the U.S.

Reagan may not have said anything, but his administration took full advantage of the paranoia and fear associated with the disease, launching countless "wars on *****" and enacting policies on incarceration and spying on people that we as a country are still not out from under to this day.

[Bluenorthwest]

19. Actually at first there was no information, literally. You never even heard of patient one.

First there was resounding apathy. Reagan was rotten to the core for many reasons, there is no reason to exploit and revise living memory history to make a case against him. It took massive social action to get any attention at all paid to this, the most important public health issue of our time. At the very beginning it took time to even get the gay community to pay attention.
Knowledge = Life
Silence = Death

Loads of history here:
http://www.actupny.org/documents/capsule-home.html

[nichomachus]

22. Actually, Patient One wasn't even patient one.

People were dying of HIV long before that. I had a cousin (female) who died of AIDS/HIV back in the '70s.

It was a total mystery. She kept getting all these exotic infections. Doctors were puzzled beyond belief. She was getting things they had only read about. They dealt with one after the other. She kept getting weaker. She developed toxoplasmosis. Then, my mother called to tell me that my cousin was developing these purple blotches all over her body. Shortly after that, she died of pneumonia. Doctors at the time had no clue as to what was going on with her.

It was only later, when AIDS was identified as a disease process, did we put two and two together and realize from her symptoms and the progress of the disease that she, in fact, had died from AIDS. We then found out that a former boyfriend of hers was an IV drug user.

[tridim]

20. It also happened during the time I was becoming sexually active (hetero).

It scared the crap out of me to the point where sex began to feel like playing Russian roulette. It was just awful.

[marmar]

16. K/R

[niyad]

21. a truly depressing list of just how easy it is to confuse and manipulate people.

[KamaAina]

23. No reefer madness?

[inanna]

24. Good to see the McMartin case listed.

They are all important examples, IMO.

Thanks for posting.

Recommended.

[Blue_Tires]

25. wow...

No reefer madness? Temperance movement? Killer bees? Ebola?

[Initech]

26. Tool trolled the Satanic music people back in the 90s and it's still epic.

On their album Ænima, they have a track called "Die Eier Von Satan" that sounds like a Satanic Nazi war rally from the height of Nuremberg during World War II. When you look at the lyrics they're in German. Translated into English? It's a recipe for short bread cookies.

[progressoid]

29. And no eggs!

[cui bono]

37. LOL!

That's hilarious.

[Initech]

38. Here's the song in question:

[b.durruti]

30. There are people today who still subscribe to almost all, if not all, of these ~nt~

[progressoid]

31. One little disagreement.

False memory syndrome was relegated to the realm of pseudoscience along with the notion that vaccines cause autism. But like the vaccine-autism theory, there are still some who believe in recovered memories.

There are still people who believe in the vaccine-autism theory too.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

32. Well, the RW propaganda machine has done some major class revisionism on the McCarthy business.

Apparently he was right all along. See RED STAR OVER HOLLYWOOD The Film Colony's Long Romance With the Left. McCarthy vindicated!

[hifiguy]

33. Social panics are always the result of two things

hysteria and paranoia.

Describing hysteria as being synonymous with emotional excitability (usually growing out of zero actual information and, even if such is available, a complete inability to think critically about it) and paranoia as systematized delusions of persecution, both are always relevant to any discussion of such things.

Once upon a time there was a respectable media establishment that stood outside, or somewhat above the fray of, such panics and would act as a counterbalance. Edward R. Murrow helping to take down McCarthy being a prominent example thereof, as was Walter Cronkite's devastating analysis of the Vietnam War. Now the media foments and stokes both the hysteria and paranoia at the behest of their owners, the tenth-percenters.

The sheeple are incredibly easy to mislead and arouse to panic. Because this is a dumb country and it's not getting any smarter.

[cui bono]

34. Well I'm glad about the Mad Cow thing since it got me to stop eating beef, although I heard about it

way before that, in the early nineties, on public radio.

I didn't realize the McMartin trials had anything to do with Satanism! I was young and didn't follow that story at the time.