This moral panic is not Satanic
How our emotions are being used to control us, and what we can do about it.
This past week, stories have arisen over something called the Momo challenge, an online video which supposedly encourages children to harm or even kill themselves. Major news sources in both the United States and the United Kingdom have reported on it, celebrities have posted about it online, and both online and offline forums have had concerned parents warning each other to protect their children from this menace.
Problem is, the Momo challenge doesn’t exist. It’s a complete hoax.
Now, while it’s a relief that kids aren’t actually being driven to self harm or commit suicide, the past week’s furore over the Momo challenge is indicative of a wider problem, that of moral panic.
A moral panic is characterised as “a feeling of fear spread among a large number of people that some evil threatens the well-being of society”. As the video below shows, it occurs when a group of people believe a fallacy, that causes them to behave differently, and often in an unreasonable or dangerous manner.
Moral panics have plagued society for centuries, if not longer. The Salem Witch trails in 1692–1693 saw 200 people accused of witchcraft, 19 of whom were hanged and one crushed to death. The Satanic Panic of the 1980s and 1990s saw a scare around teenagers being provoked by psychologists with questionable practices to say that they had been indoctrinated into Satanic cults, leaving many of those involved with deep psychological trauma, and some of those accused still serving life sentences, based upon this questionable evidence. Video games causing school shootings, playing Dungeons and Dragons leading Satanic worship, The Blue Whale game causing a wave of suicides across the world, the list goes on and on, with new ones appearing every year.
But how do these moral panics start? What causes groups of seemingly decent and rational people to start believing something which isn’t true, and being spurred into action to combat it? The seed of a moral panic germinates within a person making a judgement call about something they see to be a threat to their way of life. These judgement calls are often based upon views that stem from strict rules that are based upon strongly held religious or political beliefs, where the accuser has made a decision about someone or something that is incorrect, and often does very little examination beforehand to understand the person or thing that they are accusing. They decide they don’t like it, and create a fallacy, which becomes the seed of the moral panic.
This behaviour is so well known, that it often becomes exploited by others. Politicians, newspapers, advertising all recognise this and use it to their advantage. Providing simple slogans and suggested threats can be used to get you to vote a certain way, click on a news story, or buy a product. Moral panics have become a way to control us, just because we’re not willing to stop and think about what we’re being told.
On a personal note, as a Satanist, I have often had people from different religions tell me that I am evil, basing that assumption upon their firmly held beliefs. They assume I am evil because they assume I literally worship an actual devil, when in fact a cursory glance over the FAQ on the Global Order of Satan’s website will tell them that we are non-theists, meaning that we don’t believe in a god or a devil and are actually worshipping ourselves. I am fortunate that many of these cases occur online, and therefore I am accused using my online pseudonym, granting me anonymity. This online pseudonym exists for that very reason, as someone who got hold of my actual name and address could well start off a moral panic about me, spreading the fallacy that I worship and actual devil, and am therefore hell-bent (if you’ll excuse the pun) on the downfall of society. This fallacy would then spread, with people more willing to accept the idea that I am a devil worshipper akin to those from a Hammer Horror film, instead of the more difficult concept that I call myself a Satanist as a way of standing up to oppressive religions and ideas, which often propagate the same fallacies.
“Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it.”
Jonathan Swift, The Examiner, 1710
People will often accept ideas that are easier to digest, and/or suit their worldview, rather than challenging it. This is known as confirmation bias, and it is what causes moral panics to spread so easily. People like to believe that they are on the right side of history; and when the chance arises to act against something which they feel threatens the things that they hold dear, they adopt a crusader-like attitude, quickly jumping to a ‘black and white’ worldview, that their cause is right and good, and the thing which they object to is bad and wrong. This attitude causes people to behave in very irrational and poorly judged ways, one such example being a crowd of people in Gwent, Wales, who had been told that a paedophile had moved into the local area, attacking the house of a local paediatrician.
Taking this back to a personal level, this is one of the reasons why I am a Satanist. The third pillar of the Global Order of Satan states:
“Science, evidence, reason, and critical thinking should guide our beliefs about our universe. Truly critical thinking can only be achieved by challenging your own preconceptions and opinions, providing a more balanced outlook to help us make better informed decisions.”
Our very presence as Satanists, holding campaigns such as ensuring vulnerable people get home safe after a night out, protesting laws that ensure that Christian crosses are displayed in public buildings, and providing tattoo coverup services to victims of domestic abuse, challenge the stereotype of the sinister figure trying to bring about the end of humanity. (Please note: to avoid confusion, some of these actions were done under our previous incarnations of Satanic Temple International and The Satanic Temple London & UK, but they’re still us.)
As for the shadowy hooded figure, we even hold rituals that challenge that stereotype, by unbaptising people who were often baptised without their consent, thereby showing that we, as an organisation, hold people’s personal autonomy of their bodies more dear than the Christian church. All of these things make people consider the preconceptions that they had about Satanists, and realise that we’re actually doing good things for them.
It is through this challenging of preconceptions that we will prevent further moral panic. We, as Satanists, strive for what we call Enlightenment-style thinking, encouraging people to challenge what they are told and not to accept things without question, especially if they neatly fit their own worldview. After all, the original embodiment of this thinking was when Satan challenged God — so why not take a leaf out of Satan’s book, and next time you find yourself being riled up by something, ask yourself — what’s really happening here?
Hail Satan, and hail yourselves. 🖤
