I don't doubt the commonplace nature of moral panic. I do, however, wonder to what degree it is culturally hidebound. It might, perhaps, be a general human ch

I don't doubt the commonplace nature of moral panic. I do, however, wonder to what degree it is culturally hidebound. It might, perhaps, be a general human characteristic, but the cultural leeway any desire or compulsion is granted is a determiner in to what it effects are (and the way in which it manifests). For instance, Japan experienced a similar type of moral panic (through a combination of government and media) around anime and manga at roughly the same time (or a little after) the crusades against comic books (and broader efforts against such works as Lady Chatterley's Lover) were ongoing in the U.S. and the U.K. However, in regards to Japan, the results broke in the opposite direction. Unlike in the U.S., a translation of Lady Chatterley's Lover was found to be obscene, but manga escaped, seemingly, relatively unscathed, and so it continued to develop as a medium in general and thus, now, in various incarnations, caters to a multiplicity of audiences, men and women, children to elderly, students to business professionals to housewives.