#1525 Don't Panic: Irrational Fear and Panic in the US

Air Date 11/12/2022 Today, we take a look at a few types of panic that regularly strike within communities or across the nation including various satanic panics, Halloween candy panics, and panic over kids being too inclusive and welcoming of all types of people. Be part of the show! Leave us a message at 202-999-3991 or email [email protected]  Transcript BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Get AD FREE Shows and Bonus Content) Join our Discord community! OUR AFFILIATE LINKS: ExpressVPN.com/BestOfTheLeft GET INTERNET PRIVACY WITH EXPRESS VPN! BestOfTheLeft.com/Libro SUPPORT INDIE BOOKSHOPS, GET YOUR AUDIOBOOK FROM LIBRO! SHOW NOTES Ch. 1: Why Satanic Panic never really ended | What's the Story? - Vox Quick Hits - Air Date 4-7-21 One of the most famous moral panics in history, the Satanic Panic, may have been at its peak in the 80s, but did it ever really go away? Vox culture writer Aja Romano walks up through the history of this fear of the occult Ch. 2: Rainbow Fentanyl for Halloween? - The Politics of Everything - Air Date 10-19-22 Are evil-minded strangers trying to hook your kids on candy-colored fentanyl? As Halloween approaches, a dire story is making the rounds about the threat to children of so-called rainbow fentanyl. Ch. 3: Satanic Panic: Part One - American Hysteria - Air Date 12-10-18 This episode is part one of our two-part series on perhaps the most mystifying moral panic in US history, the 1980s and early 90s 'Satanic Panic.' For this episode, Chelsey covers the rise of organized Satanism beginning in the late 60s Ch. 4: Fentanyl In Our Halloween Candy and Liberal Messaging Failures of the Overdose Crisis - Citations Needed - Air Date 10-28-22 In this Halloween-themed News Brief, we debunk the idea drug dealers are handing out fentanyl candy to our children. But we also examine why these copaganda panics are able to take hold: namely the failure of liberals to provide an alternative Ch. 5: Satanic Panic — Dungeons & Dragons and Harry Potter - Soul Search - Air Date 9-22-22 The Satanic Panic was a time of incredible anxiety in the United States and Australia. This feature examines how games like Dungeons and Dragons and books like Harry Potter became unlikely villains in a war over religion, politics and imagination. Ch. 6: Deranged Parents FREAK OUT Over Mural During School Board Meeting - The Majority Report - Air Date 10-21-22 Michigan high school student defends her mural which parents called satanic and anti-Christian because it contained a Genshin Impact character and a person wearing a transgender flag t-shirt. The Majority Report crew discusses parents. MEMBERS-ONLY BONUS CLIP(S) Ch. 7: Our annual Halloween hysteria - Today, Explained - Air Date 10-28-22 This year's fear of rainbow fentanyl in kids' trick-or-treat bags is just the latest unfounded Halloween candy freakout. But the yearly panic has its roots in a very real crisis: the 1982 Tylenol murders. Ch. 8: Satanic Panic: Part Two - American Hysteria - Air Date 1-7-19 Two characters, Stranger Danger's murderous pedophile and the Satanist, blurred into a new villain and psychological archetype FINAL COMMENTS Ch. 9: Final comments on policing gender norms through the ages References:  A Brief History of Men Today Are Too Feminine and Women Too Masculine A Brief History of Nobody Wants to Work Anymore MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions): Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr  Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent Activism Music: This Fickle World by Theo Bard (https://theobard.bandcamp.com/track/this-fickle-world) Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere! Follow at Twitter.com/BestOfTheLeft Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at [email protected]