In his blog, "Slacktivist", Fred Clark wrote about the phenomena of moral panics in society. He cited the Salem Witch Trials as an example, a case where the "morality" or the fear that evil was threatening society was so strong a panic ensued and 14 women, 5 men and 2 dogs were put to death.
Mr. Clark feels a better phrase would be moral hysteria. Panic is an involuntary response while hysteria grows when certain choices are made. Those choices include accepting assertions as solid evidence without allowing oneself to look at any evidence to the contrary, the decision to embrace and perpetuate at least the emotional drama and most likely the verbal/written drama.
Regardless of which term we use, moral panic or moral hysteria, as we become a nation, really a world, with more and more access to information, to research-backed data, to facts, we have become no less susceptible to this. The fear is perpetuated by politicians, religious leaders, the NRA, some of the more sensational media sources, and any group that aims to marginalize others.
Currently, the victims of the this type of thinking are Syrian refugees, Muslims, illegal immigrants and even sex abusers. We've taken a little bit of fear and let it overwhelm our responsibility to look at the facts, blinded ourselves to evidence from all sides of each issue and let our desire to protect our loved ones see enemies in the unknown. We're encouraged to do this by well meaning people and by people who have a warped sense of right and wrong. Whatever the reason it lessens us individually and as a society.
Mr. Clark is a much clearer thinker and better writer and his blog can be found on the Patheos.com site under Slacktivist.
