# Right-Wing Panics **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 8, 2023, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-panics/989760 "2023-09-08T03:19:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-panics/989760/1 "2023-09-08T03:19:00Z")
I’m interested in thinking of a list of right-wing panics in recent America - there might be one out there already that someone could point me towards (but given the overt political nature of the topic, I thought I’d put it here instead of Factual Questions) A partial list might look something like: - Gay Panic of the 2000s - Trans Panic of 2020s - Immigration Panic of 1990s/2000s/2010s/current… - Ebola Panic of 2014 - Critical Race Theory Panic of 2020s - Muslim Panic of 2000s/2010s - AIDS Panic of 1980s - War on Christmas Panic of 2000s/2010s Obviously the timelines are not exact, but I’m looking for events that are primarily a feature of conservative politics & media, involve some exaggerated anxiety about a threat, and offer conservative political and social solutions as an answer to that exaggerated threat. And I’m mostly interested in the last thirty years or so… does anyone know of a list? Or could we compile a useful one here? ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-panics/989760/2 "2023-09-08T03:19:39Z")
I’d say this thread - > [@Freakouts of the Right](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freakouts-of-the-right/963631): > > (feel free to make the alt-thread) Looking for a simple list of all the crap the Right has freaked out about since, oh, 2000. Crap like Big Bird, Mr Potato head losing his dick, CRT, Terry Schiavo, kneeling, etc. There has been so many of them that a compendium of the freakouts really is needed. Masks, vaccines, Hillary’s emails, my God, the list goes on. Help me, Dopers! Has it pretty well covered. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-panics/989760/3 "2023-09-08T03:42:54Z")
Satanic panic? When was that anyway. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-panics/989760/4 "2023-09-08T03:49:05Z")
The Satanic Panic was in the 1980s. I first started playing Dungeons & Dragons in 1982, and at that time, there were a lot of people who were convinced that playing D&D taught you to cast actual satanic rituals. Then, in 1989, my former college girlfriend, while undergoing psychiatric care, wound up being treated by a psychiatrist who ascribed to the “repressed memories” idea, and guided my former girlfriend to “recover” memories which, predictably for that era, were about her parents being involved in a Satanic cult when she was a kid. It was all BS, but it led to her being estranged from her family for years, and was, IMO, serious malpractice on the part of her psychiatrist. > **[Satanic panic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_panic)** > > The Satanic panic is a moral panic consisting of over 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse (SRA, sometimes known as ritual abuse, ritualistic abuse, organized abuse, or sadistic ritual abuse) starting in the United States in the 1980s, spreading throughout many parts of the world by the late 1990s, and persisting today. The panic originated in 1980 with the publication of Michelle Remembers, a book co-written by Canadian psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder and his patient (and future wi... ---
**Author:** ![MulderMuffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldermuffin/32/2862_2.png) [@MulderMuffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MulderMuffin)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-panics/989760/5 "2023-09-08T03:57:31Z")
Masks, Covid immunizations, litter boxes in schools, Confederate statues, her emails, 1619 Project, the non-existence of climate change, inappropriate books, inappropriate song lyrics, which bathrooms to use, fake ballots, Mr. Potatohead, gay Teletubbies, 80,000 armed iRS agents breaking down your door, War on Christmas, 2nd Amendment rights… And save for the Teletubbies I think this had all been within the past 10 years. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-panics/989760/6 "2023-09-08T03:59:27Z")
> [@MulderMuffin](#): > > inappropriate books, inappropriate song lyrics Those two seem to be eternal, or at least regularly recurring. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-panics/989760/7 "2023-09-08T04:48:51Z")
Those last ones were certainly not just right-wing. You could ask Tipper and Al Gore. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-panics/989760/8 "2023-09-08T05:55:20Z")
“They’re coming for your guns” is one of their greatest hits. Like all greatest hits, you never stop playing them, so it doesn’t really belong to any one decade. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-panics/989760/9 "2023-09-08T06:53:14Z")
The current “groomer” panic. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-panics/989760/10 "2023-09-08T11:01:42Z")
The Red Scare(s)? > **[Red Scare](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare)** > > A Red Scare is a form of right-wing propaganda in which there is a widespread promotion of fear and panic towards the potential rise of communism, anarchism or other leftist ideologies within a society or state. Historically, "red scares" have led to mass political persecution, scapegoating, and the ousting of those in government positions who have had connections with left-wing to far-left ideology. > The term is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States which ar... ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-panics/989760/11 "2023-09-08T11:07:30Z")
“Panic”, which promotes fear and anger, and which galvanizes people behind the leaders who promote it, has long been part of the right wing manifesto. Hitler used it superbly. So, it’s not surprising that it has fueled the right wing engine for a very long time. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-panics/989760/12 "2023-09-08T13:01:39Z")
I was about to add the [Lavender Scare](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavender_Scare) but that’s longer ago than you wanted. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-panics/989760/13 "2023-09-08T13:08:02Z")
> [@wevets](#): > > bola Panic of 201 I wouldn’t call Ebola and AIDS right-wing panics. I would also replace \* Critical Race Theory Panic of 2020s" with “Woke Panic of 2020s” in general. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-panics/989760/14 "2023-09-08T13:09:11Z")
Conservative means the sky is always falling. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-panics/989760/15 "2023-09-08T14:06:00Z")
Conservatives are afraid of anything they do not understand, and what they do not understand is almost everything. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-panics/989760/16 "2023-09-08T17:01:06Z")
Fluoridated drinking water = commie plot, a 1950’s subset of the general red scare. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-panics/989760/17 "2023-09-08T17:06:14Z")
I’m going with the zombie thing. A thinly veiled attempt to get everyone armed in a fighting mode. Prepping and scared. Y’all just think it was a TV show. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-panics/989760/18 "2023-09-08T17:19:36Z")
Sharia law. Between 2010 and 2017 inclusive there were 201 anti-sharia law bills proposed at the state level in the US with a peak of 52 in 2011. 14 of these were enacted. > **[Anti-Sharia law bills in the United States](https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/02/05/anti-sharia-law-bills-united-states)** > > Since 2010, 201 anti-Sharia law bills have been introduced in 43 states. In 2017 alone, 14 states introduced an anti-Sharia law bill, with Texas and Arkansas enacting the legislation. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-panics/989760/19 "2023-09-08T17:39:54Z")
> [@Dorjan](#): > > I wouldn’t call Ebola and AIDS right-wing panics. AIDS itself wasn’t a right wing panic, but there was a lot of hysteria around it at the time, with people freaking out over getting AIDS from mosquito bites, or worrying that a waiter might have AIDS and transmit it through serving you food, and other nonsense. Arguably, though, that wasn’t specifically coming from the right - neither party at the time was particularly friendly to LGBT people. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-panics/989760/20 "2023-09-08T17:41:38Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I’m going with the zombie thing. That was more of a fad than it was a panic. I don’t know anyone who was seriously worried about a zombie outbreak, but I was a little disturbed by live ammunition and firearms being sold with zombie branding as these things aren’t toys. The CDC even got in on the fun by releasing a zombie themed disaster plan and ending it by telling readers who it was applicable to real life emergencies. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-wing-panics/989760.md?page=2)