Modern day moral panics

A moral panic starts to develop when the media, police and the wider public overreact to behaviour that is seen as a social problem (Marsh & Melville, 2009, pg40).

An example of this is the recent Villawood violence where we saw detainees setting fire to the buildings. The information and images conveyed to the public by the media caused an outrage. Many people lashed out and said that these people do not deserve to live in this country and that they should be sent back to their country.

The topic of asylum seekers always attracts great debate. On one hand they are seen as a social problem and people do not want them entering their country, then there are those who argue human rights and say that they should be allowed in.  The panic has created people to fear foreigners. The media and other influential sources describing them as dangerous and a threat to society, and the images of them burning and destroying property makes people anxious and fearful.

This was also the case when September 11 happened as there was a mass panic erupting around the world. The effect of this event created so much chaos. This was mainly due to the information and devastating images created by the media and fed to society.  People were basically living in fear that another attack was going to happen. Since this event, security, defence forces and anti-terrorism laws have gone into overdrive. Just look at airport security and the incident that occurred when about 10 people were not screened and everyone had to be called back, which delayed flights for days. Moral panics are based on disproportionality as viewed by Goode and Ben-Yehuda, and the response was a bit disproportionate calling everyone back due to 10 unscreened people. (Marsh & Melville, 2009, pg47)We now live in a world where things are checked, rechecked and go through multiple processes to make sure everything is safe. The policies that have been changed and created since 9/11 are made to keep people safe but all it is doing is creating a heightened sense of fear.

About a week ago, Osama bin Laden was killed. When I got home to watch the 6pm news I was quite disheartened by the fact that people would ‘celebrate’ the death of Osama bin Laden. Watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FmHti8iBQM . I realise the killing of bin Laden is what people have been looking forward to for the past 10 years but there is no need to carry on the way they do. I think the quote that sums it up the best and has been tweeted by many is the one by Martin Luther King, Jnr  - "I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy."

Even with bin Laden dead people are still fearful as some have cancelled their flights in fear of revenge attacks. I guess once the panic is set in, it never leaves.

References:

Marsh, I & Melville, G. (2009). Crime, justice and the media, Routledge, USA

Williams, P & Dickinson, J. (1993). Fear of crime: read all about it? The relationship between newspaper crime reporting and fear of crime, British Journal of Criminology, 33(1), 33-56.