# Your favorite moral panics **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 10, 2019, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875 "2019-03-10T05:06:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875/61 "2019-03-13T13:32:12Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > Aspartame was known to cause instant death. Or at least the news seemed to hint that deaths were rampant during the early 90s. None of my friends died from it, so I guess we got lucky. Aspartame can hurt a small part of the population, those that have phenylketonuria. Because they have trouble metabolising phenylalanine, they need to be very careful of their input and avoiding aspartame is part of that. Anyone else who claims they’re hurt by aspartame is full of it. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875/62 "2019-03-13T13:47:09Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > ISTR some substance on apples that was going to wipe out most of the population. We recovered somehow. I believe that was Alar, some sort of growth regulator. I remember as possibly one of the first time Congress had celebrities testifying to the danger of something, as opposed to people who might actually know something. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875/63 "2019-03-13T13:47:15Z")
Please! Dotcha know Michael J. Fox does not have Parkinson’s, but is suffering from [aspartame poisoning](https://rense.com/general24/sugarfreemichael.htm)? ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875/64 "2019-03-13T13:51:02Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > PLEASE! Doncha know KISS stands for Kids in Satan’s Service?😃 I remember hearing it was Knights In Satan’s Service. There were also a couple of other devil-worshiping bands, Running Under Satan’s Hand and After Christ / Devil Comes. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875/65 "2019-03-13T14:02:03Z")
> [@GESancMan](#): > > I remember hearing it was Knights In Satan’s Service. > > There were also a couple of other devil-worshiping bands, Running Under Satan’s Hand and After Christ / Devil Comes. Shows what _you_ know. AC/DC was “Anti-Christ/Devil Child”. And the appropriately-named **thelurkinghorror** brings up a good one – the Killer Clown Craze. Man, that was a bizarre episode of mass panic. I need to read that Wiki when I get done at work. If someone hasn’t written a book, or at least a few thousand word article, about that, they should. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875/66 "2019-03-13T14:13:48Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > There was also an urban legend around here of black gang members (always black gang members) hiding under cars in mall parking lots, and cutting the Achilles tendons of white women as they got into their cars. That also proved not to be true, on any level. My sister believed this (without the racial specificity) so thoroughly she bragged how her high-riding 4wd sport-ute would allow her to see the mugger under her car before she got too close. I pointed out that no mugger would fit under her old car so it was infinitely safer from this particular horror. She was not persuaded. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875/67 "2019-03-13T14:14:13Z")
[2016 Clown Sightings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_clown_sightings). “Threatened Clown Purge”? If you don’t crack up on that one, I don’t want to know you. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875/68 "2019-03-13T14:35:25Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Back in the 1980s, a local hospital offered free x-rays of Halloween candy, and they got a lot of takers. They never saw anything adverse, and lots of kids thought it was cool to see what their Halloween candy looked like on an x-ray. > > There was also an urban legend around here of black gang members (always black gang members) hiding under cars in mall parking lots, and cutting the Achilles tendons of white women as they got into their cars. That also proved not to be true, on any level. Back when I was a freshman in high school, that was going around here too, although it wasn’t just white women. Supposedly it was up at the local mall and the theory was that when you’d fall down and clutch your ankle, they’d hack off one of our fingers and take it in to the rest of the gang to prove they did it. And someone ALWAYS knew someone who’s cousin’s girlfriend’s best friend’s grandmother had it happen to them. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875/69 "2019-03-13T23:16:20Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Peak Oil was another one of those “End of the World” scares that didn’t really amount to much, it was super popular and clickbait for much of the mid-00s. > > Around that time I read a book that claimed gasoline in the United States would be about $10 a gallon by 2008 and $20 a gallon by 2014. Seems like the predictions were a bit off. When I got my license in 1981, it was about $1.50 a gallon, and a lot of people were predicting $5 a gallon by 1985. Thank heavens THAT didn’t happens. My first car got 12mpg. That is not a typo. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875/70 "2019-03-13T23:17:45Z")
> [@Covfefe](#): > > It’s been a long time since I watched it and it’s 30 years old now. There’s a pretty entertaining documentary out there called [Hell’s Bells - The Dangers of Rock 'N Roll](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OSwaN4bKMM). I get a kick out of the guy narrating it because all you have to do is take one look and not only can you can tell he’s the type who’s lived a wild lifestyle in the past, he looked like he was high then and there. You should see the comments on Amazon and You Tube. Most of the positive ones were from people who said things like, "I found out about a lot of cool bands by watching this, and no, I haven’t killed myself or anyone else, or OD’d, and I’ve been a Christian all this time. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875/71 "2019-03-13T23:21:05Z")
Don’t think I’ve seen the long-debunked “MMR vaccine makes children autistic” thing yet in this thread. The P component of the DPT vaccine was reformulated when research suggested that it might cause brain damage in a small percentage of children who took it, and that it seemed to be hereditary. It was later discovered that these children had a hereditary error of sodium metabolism which caused brain damage, the onset of which coincided with the time period where they would get their first DPT shots. ---
**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:** [March 14, 2019, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875/72 "2019-03-14T00:16:25Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > In response, the Christian band Petra put a backwards message in one of their songs that said, “Why are you looking for the devil when you should be looking for the Lord?” > > 😃 Because the devil has better music. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875/73 "2019-03-14T13:24:49Z")
Two oldies but goodies: The Red Scare “There’s a Communist under every bed.” Ruined some people The Atom Bomb Scare. Remember “Duck and Cover”? The third part of that message came to be know as “and kiss your ass goodbye.” ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875/74 "2019-03-14T13:34:55Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Two oldies but goodies: > > The Red Scare “There’s a Communist under every bed.” Ruined some people Yeah, and now it’s “A Russian under every bed”. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875/75 "2019-03-14T20:34:22Z")
I thought it was “A Russian peeing on every bed”. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875/76 "2019-03-14T20:47:55Z")
In my day, comic books were going to destroy a generation of children (my generation). Then came TV. Watching it was going to destroy our eyes. (On the other hand, listening to loud rock is destroying ears.) When my kids were growing up, many (okay, a few) parents believed that D&Ders were actually calling up occult creatures. Then there is recovered memories, entirely a crock. Let me just say a few words about Y2K. I think the moral panic was justified. Had it not been a panic, not enough effort would have been put into fixing it. But by avoiding all those nasty effects, the meme was created that all that effort was unnecessary. What about climate change. A little panic might well be in order. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875/77 "2019-03-14T21:21:52Z")
> [@](#): > > Let me just say a few words about Y2K. I think the moral panic was justified. Does Y2K really qualify as a **moral** panic? > [@](#): > > But by avoiding all those nasty effects, the meme was created that all that effort was unnecessary. I don’t see that all that often, but have seen it. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875/78 "2019-03-15T13:23:26Z")
I’m the first to mention “the gay agenda”? To quote Anita Bryant: Homosexuals cannot reproduce, so they are after our children. Right. All homosexuals are out there trying to convert children to their sodomite lifestyle. If a man molests a little girl, he’s a pedophile. If he molests a little boy, he’s a homosexual. This moral panic has been around since gays came out in the 1960’s, and is still believed by many of the “rah-rah” (really religious) people of today. AND IT IS WRONG AND STUPID! ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875/79 "2019-03-15T17:41:35Z")
How can a razor blade be inserted in an apple? ---
**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:** [March 15, 2019, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875/80 "2019-03-15T18:00:24Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > How can a razor blade be inserted in an apple? [This kind of razor blade,](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61huaJywkvL._SY355_.jpg) not [this kind of razor blade.](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61Tp-s90F6L._SX425_.jpg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-moral-panics/830875.md?page=5)