5 Signs You’re In The Midst Of A Moral Panic
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We are in the midst of another such panic, but despite the similarities to past episodes, we are still unable to recognize it as such. The current panic has been playing out in the military and on college campuses for nearly a decade, but with the advent of the #MeToo movement, the mass hysteria is creeping into our regular legal system as well. The following are five of the biggest signs that we are experiencing another bout of mass hysteria, this time over sexual assault and harassment.
1. Due Process Goes Out The Window
Due process is the cornerstone of our legal system, but in times of mass hysteria, it becomes the enemy. In Salem, those accused of witchcraft were presumed guilty and, in many cases, denied counsel. The only evidence presented against them was an accusation.
This was similarly the case during the Satanic Panic several decades ago. The only evidence presented against the accused were allegations from children, who alternated between plausible claims of sexual abuse (which lacked even limited physical evidence) to fanciful claims of Satanic ritual killings. Children who attended the Little Rascals day care in Edenton, North Carolina, for example, made accusations that they were taken out to the ocean and thrown overboard for sharks. Children at the McMartin Preschool claimed to travel to outer space in a hot-air balloon. These allegations, of course, were ignored while the accusations of sexual abuse were pursued.
Those accused at the time were considered “guilty until proven innocent.” Suggesting that evidence be weighed, or due process be followed, was met with scorn from those who insisted the accused were guilty. In his lengthy article for The New Yorker, Lawrence Wright followed a case of alleged sexual abuse and satanic ritual in Thurston County, Washington. The Under-Sheriff for the county, Neil McClanahan, said: “Our survivors are very traumatized. To question their credibility would cause them to be re-traumatized. They’re so fragile.”
We see this same claim being made now on college campuses. The Obama administration strongly discouraged cross-examination of students claiming to be sexual assault victims because allowing their alleged abuser (or his counsel or anyone else) to question them would “re-traumatize” them.
Legal counsel for college students is often denied, and if an attorney is allowed in the hearing, they are barred from offering guidance or speaking on behalf of their client. Many students aren’t even provided the specific allegations against them before they’re told to defend themselves. Often, only campus investigators’ biased notes exist of interviews, instead of audio or video. This was also the case in the Little Rascals trial — only therapists' notes survived.
We’re now told, quite firmly, that due process keeps sexual assault victims from coming forward. Having to tell their story multiple times, having to face their accuser, having to provide evidence of their claims, being questioned about inconsistencies or fallacies — all these things are now considered harmful, but only for those making sexual assault accusations. Accusers of other crimes are still seen as capable of surviving the legal system.
2. “Believe The Victim”
This may be the biggest tell of a moral panic. An accusation, we’re told, is sufficient enough. With due process being considered anathema to victims, accusations are all the evidence needed. During the Little Rascals case in North Carolina, some jurors didn’t believe the accusations, but during deliberations were bullied by other jurors if they didn’t believe the children.
Parents of children involved in the Little Rascals case told Frontline: “No child would lie about something like this.” In Wright’s article about the Ingram case in Washington, he wrote:
“These two hypotheses form the intellectual frame of the Ingram investigation: first, that the depth of the repression is a function of the intensity of the trauma; and, second, that victims must be believed. Once a victim’s account is believed, the evidence in a case may be stretched to fit it. Often, it’s a big stretch.” Paul Ingram himself said of his daughters, who made the accusations against him: “They wouldn’t lie about something like this.”
Today, we hear “believe all women” or “believe the victims.” Politicians such as former Vice President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton repeat this phrase. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) uses some form of this phrase a lot, even when no evidence exists.
