The basic pattern of agitations against folk devils can be seen in the history of
witchhunts and similar manias of persecution; the histories of predominantly
Catholic and
Protestant European countries present examples of adherents of the rival Western Christian faith as folk devils;
minorities and
immigrants have often been seen as folk devils; in the long history of
antisemitism, which frequently targets
Jews with allegations of dark, murderous practices, such as
blood libel; or the Roman
persecution of Christians that blamed the military reverses suffered by the
Roman Empire on the Christians' abandonment of
paganism. In modern times, political and religious leaders in many nations have sought to present atheists and secularists as deviant outsiders who threaten the social and moral order. The identification of folk devils may reflect the efforts of powerful institutions to displace social anxieties. Some Christian groups alleged that there were fifty million Americans who engaged in some form of devil worship within their lifetimes. Another example of
religious and
ethnic discrimination associated with Cohen's folk devil theory would be
Islamophobia, the discrimination of
Muslims and those perceived as being
Middle Eastern in origin. Post-
9/11 reactions by Western countries stereotyped Muslims as violent, hateful, and of possessing fanatical
extremist ideology. The group was depicted as posing a threat to social peace and safety in the Western world, and was subject to much hostility politically, from the media and from society. Certain politicians, pundits, and media outlets are reportedly attempting to trigger that fear response by portraying transgender individuals as society’s folk devils, crafting a narrative that paints them as sexual deviants and labeling them as “groomers.” Even as such accusations are debunked or explained, multiple states have introduced or implemented anti-LGBT legislation as a response to the panic. The proposed laws include bans on gender-affirming care, limits on the participation of transgender athletes in sports, requirements for transgender individuals to use public bathrooms based on their assigned sex at birth and restrictions on public drag performances.
Columbine In a 2014 study, Cohen's theory of the moral panic was applied to the media reaction to the
Columbine massacre. On April 20, 1999,
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, two students from
Columbine High School in
Columbine, Colorado, went on a
shooting spree which resulted in the deaths of 15 people. News reports in the weeks following the tragedy labelled the shooters as being “obsessed” with goth subculture, and suggested a link between Harris and Klebold's alleged identification with gothic subculture and their acts of violence. In their attempt to make sense of the Columbine shootings, journalists and other media commentators linked
goths to terrorism,
Charles and
Marilyn Manson,
self-mutilation, hostage-taking, gang culture, the
Waco cult, the
Oklahoma City bombing,
Satanism, mass murder,
ethnic cleansing in
Kosovo, suicide, the Internet,
video games,
skinhead music, white extremism and
Adolf Hitler. The ABC news program
20/20 aired a special entitled “The Goth Phenomenon” in which it reinforced claims that the shooters were heavily submerged in goth culture, and suggested that individuals of gothic subculture were to blame for homicidal activity in the past. The hostility and hysteria over the perceived ‘evil’ goth culture amplified in the years following the shooting. Goths were stereotyped in the media as being perpetuators or supporters of violence donned in black trench coats. Several high schools across the United States banned black trench coats and other apparel perceived as being linked to goth culture. Some police departments in the United States labelled gothic subculture as being “gang-based”, and as something that should be subjected to “increased police surveillance”. From the time of the Columbine shooting until 2003, there were reports of individuals sporting what was seen as gothic dress being interrogated, ticketed and arrested. In 2002,
U.S. Representative Sam Graves caused
Blue Springs, Missouri to be granted US$273,000 to combat the “new gothic threat”. The backlash against goth subculture after the Columbine shooting draws many parallels to Stanley Cohen's research on the mods and rockers, two other youth
subcultures cast as folk devils by society. In both instances the groups were portrayed in one distinct, dumbed-down image, ostracized, stripped of any redeeming qualities, and blamed for wrongdoings in society. == See also ==