For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about in the 1980's there was a morality panic about Dungeons and Dragons and numerous other forms of media where people were calling them satanic and such. My question is did this panic ever really stop? Even when say Pokemon first came out there was claims that it was satanic because the Pokemon "evolved" and there were obvious claims that Harry Potter was satanic that still continue to this day.
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Did the 1980's satanic panic ever really end?
Last posted
Nov 06, 2015 at 05:23AM EST.
Added
Nov 05, 2015 at 01:53PM EST
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It still continues to this day. However, thanks to a more liberal mindset taken in the mainstream media nowadays, it's usually just confined to extreme conservative Christians/other religious groups.
The satanic panic has lost most of its influence over the media, but the feminist panic has taken its place.
The real question is: what's next?
jarbox wrote:
The satanic panic has lost most of its influence over the media, but the feminist panic has taken its place.
The real question is: what's next?
The jews.
jarbox wrote:
The satanic panic has lost most of its influence over the media, but the feminist panic has taken its place.
The real question is: what's next?
1980's "that thing you like is satanic!"
1990's/early 2000's "that thing you like is violent!"
2010's "that thing you like is sexist"
There are still christian groups and christian parents who believe in satan's influence in everything but the panic of the 80's is over. My parents where like that. I went to a christian school until junior high. Went to church twice on Sunday and once on Wednesday plus christian camp every summer. My mother would find our metal albums and break them. She even sent me to the church that the lead singer of Stryper (a christian heavy metal band) preached at, for a sermon on satanism and music. The things my mother would have freaked out about in the 80's she has no problem with now.
She would have freaked out over this
Now she thinks it's cute
Also there are only a handful of users here that were alive in the 80's
Black Graphic T
Deactivated
Minty wrote:
It still continues to this day. However, thanks to a more liberal mindset taken in the mainstream media nowadays, it's usually just confined to extreme conservative Christians/other religious groups.
Yup. Now days people get into a moral panic about what type of "ism" a game might convey to the small fringe of people who partake in it. And "demons" have been replaced with "privilege".
Roy G. Biv
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I realize that I'm probably putting my foot in my mouth here, I feel like it's worth comparing and contrasting the two trends, rather than simply equating them. For example, the 80's satanic panic was pushed by a clear majority of people who wished these "offensive" things done away with completely. (I'm afraid I have no citation to back up my claim at the moment, other than some anecdotal evidence, i.e. not empirically significant, involving a friend of mine who was allegedly forced to throw away all their pokemon cards at the behest of their pastor in the early 2000s, plus I had to convince my Mormon parents that Pokemon wasn't a "bad show" in order to watch it at around the same time.)
On the other hand, the trend on the opposite side of the political spectrum involves less uniformity. I'm sure that there are some who are outright calling for the censorship of things they don't like for political reasons, but there are many more "factions" stemming from the same end of the political spectrum. Some tend to talk about the trends or think about them without actually DOING anything. Others wish to offer suggestions that they believe will make things better. And yet another group isn't QUITE willing to resort to censorship, as long as all their demands are met. And that's just splitting the factions up by how "passionate" they are.
If we also consider the main "cause" that said factions are fighting for, not only does that splinter the movement further, but it results in a non-uniform front due to contradictions. Some of the Hawkeye Initiative supporters were labeled homophobic, for example. I'm sure there are other examples of contradictions, but like I said, I'm too lazy to bother with citations at the moment.
Personally, my own (probably flawed) comparison of the two movements reveals that while there are definitely similarities between the two groups, uniformity and motivations characterize the two movements differently. From what I know, the former movement was more uniform, and motivated by… not exactly fear, but something something close to it which I can't put my finger on at the moment. The latter is less uniform, so one's chance of accurately guessing the motivation behind their opinions and actions should arguably be lesser in magnitude.
I'm not trying to bash anyone or praise anyone, and I'm trying to make any statement on any group or individual other than I have observed the trends I said I did (which may have not been representative of the "true facts"). I just feel like active critical thinking is essential to objectivity, so I try to encourage it when I believe that the implicit claims behind conclusions have not been stated and examined.
Also, I'm probably going to be too much of a pansy to ever check any responses to this post, because I'm worried that it may give a pompous, holier-than-thou vibe, which while is not what I want or mean to do, I could see why someone would think that. That's probably what I'd think if I read this post and didn't know I wrote it.
But enough of my insecurities, this post is long enough and I'm getting off-topic, so I'll end it right here.
Black Graphic T
Deactivated
^ The previous group wasn't uniform either. Most of them didn't even want the stuff censored, they just wanted it out of the hands of children. Still a dumb over reaction, but it's hardly a public burning in the town square. There were also those who simply didn't like the so called satanic messages or non-christian nature of the stuff in question, but didn't feel strong enough to do anything about it other then bring it up.
Things are rarely a simple yes and no, black and white. Assuming one side of the political spectrum acts that way and not the other is a faulty assumption to make. The extremes are just that, the extremes, and while the unfortunate truth is that the extremes often wind up in power, while the moderates are forced to weather the storm, it doesn't make them any less a minority of participants in a much larger group.
Here's my take on the 80's satanic panic:
late 60's to early 70's started it. Most parents growing up in those times were of the flower power generation most of them having kids at a young age (my parents included). The commune lifestyles, the feeling of being at one with nature and god was very strong with them. What happened when they started to to have families and get of drugs? They went into the churches. They got commune lifestyle from the church in the 70's and by the 80's when their kids were teenagers. The fear of everything being satanic was at it's hight. Sex, Drugs and rock n roll was a main focus in the 80's. Kids rebelled against their god loving parents by listening to the most satanic music they could find. Richard Ramirez killing people and leaving satanic messages at the scene in 1985 toped it all off. It wasn't until Tipper Gore and the PMRC trials did you see heavy metal singers come out and say "I am an entertainer" but the one that most got to the parents of that time was John Denver testifying against the PMRC. Here is a singer my parents looked up to in the 70's as being a wholesome, god loving singer standing side by side with Dee Snider and Frank Zappa. By the end of the 80's my parents didn't give up on god but the church did fall apart and as we got out of our teens and into our 20's our music tastes had changed, our attitudes had changed and we grew out of that rebellious time in our lives. My parents may still believe in god but they aren't afraid that everything is going to send them to hell. My parents have seen Jimi Hendrix in the 60's and just last year went to see bands like Paul McCartney and the Eagles. They never would have gone to bands like that when they were struck with satanic panic so yeah it's over for them and me.