This document discusses the concept of moral panics and provides examples of moral panics throughout history involving things like horror comics in the 1950s and role playing games in the 1980s. It then analyzes a specific moral panic that occurred in Gulf countries in the 2000s in response to the popularity of Pokémon among children. The panic exhibited the typical characteristics - expressions of concern over Pokémon's influence, hostility towards it, consensus among the public and authorities that it posed a threat, disproportionate responses including proposed bans, and eventual volatility as the panic subsided.

1. Radical Resistance&
Moral Panics

2. A condition, episode, person or
group of persons comes to be
defined as a threat to societal
values and interests. Its “dangers”
come to be naturalized as they are
presented repetitively in a stylized
and stereotypical fashion by the
mass media.
Moral Panic

3. Horror Comics
(1950s)
Role Playing
Games (1980s)
Internet Addiction
(2000s)
Examples

4. { {PANIC
Spiraling
upsurge in
public concern,
which draws
responses and
“solutions” from
authorities

5. {
A moral panic is
typically
expressed as
outrage (rather
than fear) over
a potential
disruption of
the social order.
“Panic”

6. { {MORAL
Organized
around the
notion that the
threat is to
something held
sacred or
fundamental to
society

7. {
“Moral”
need not
be tied to a
religious
framework.
“Moral”

8. {
“Waste”
“Corruption”
“Poor Education”
“Moral” can
invoke a purely
secular moral
framework
centered on
common social
values.
“Moral”

9. {
Moral Panics
are often
constructed
around the
notion of
children whose
innocence is
threatened
Children

10. Moral Entrepreneurs
Those who start
the panic when
they fear a
threat to
prevailing social
or cultural
values

11. Moral Entrepreneurs
People who start
the panic by
articulating
general
concerns as a
specific threat
to prevailing
social or
cultural values
Folk Devils
People who
supposedly
threaten the
social order

12. {
The media
operate as agents
of moral
indignation,
either by actively
crusading, or
simply by framing
news stories in
dramatic ways
that will appeal
to consumers.Media

13. 1.Exaggeration & Distortion: “Over-
reporting” numbers, effects, damage.
Emotive language. Repetition of false stories
Media

14. 1.Exaggeration & Distortion: “Over-
reporting” numbers, effects, damage.
Emotive language. Repetition of false stories
2.Prediction: What happened before will
happen again. Reporting of non-events.
Media

15. 1.Exaggeration & Distortion: “Over-
reporting” numbers, effects, damage.
Emotive language. Repetition of false stories
2.Prediction: What happened before will
happen again. Reporting of non-events.
3.Symbolization: Individual signs represent
the moral panic. “Dramatized and ritualistic
interviews” (p.29)
Media

16. {
WORD
OBJECTSSTATUS
Three Processes of
Symbolization:
1. A word or phrase
(Pokemon) becomes
symbolic of a certain
status (irreverent
children);
2. Particular objects
(Pikachu et al)
symbolize the word;
3. The objects in turn
become symbolic of
the status (and the
emotions attached to
the status).
Media

17. {OF A MORAL PANIC
Characteristics
5

18. concern
1
There must be
awareness that the
behaviour of the
group or category
in question is likely
to have a negative
impact on society

19. hostility
2
Hostility towards
the group in
question increases,
and they become
"folk devils".
Clear distinctions
are drawn
between them"
and "us".

20. consensus
3
Widespread
acceptance
emerges that the
group in question
poses a very real
threat to society.

21. disproportion
4
The action taken is
disproportionate to
the actual threat
posed by the
accused group.

22. volatility
5
Moral panics are
highly volatile; they
tend to disappear
as quickly as they
appeared, due to a
wane in public
interest or news
reports changing to
another topic

23. {
Most classic models
of moral panics
involved threats
from within.
Globalization

24. {
Most classic models
of moral panics
involved threats
from within.
Many contemporary
forms of moral
panic involve
threats from
without.
Globalization

25. {
Moral panics are
often produced
by the
introduction of
new practices,
representations,
and artifacts.
Globalization

26. Moral panics are clusters of
discourses that seek to:
1. explain global interconnections
2. morally evaluate them; and
3. pursue changes that will
a. break these connections; or
b. bring them into conformity
with the local moral order
Globalization

27. {PANIC IN THE GULF
POKEMON

28. {
Pokemon arrived
in Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait, Qatar
and UAE in 2000
and quickly
became the most
popular
children’s fad in
memory.

29. {Mickey
Mouse
Tom &
Jerry
Captain
Majid
1. CONCERN
It was unlike
earlier
children’s
fads.

30. {Mickey
Mouse
Tom &
Jerry
Captain
Majid
1. CONCERN
It was unlike
earlier
children’s
fads.
The Pokemon panic was not anti-Western or anti-
Global per se; people contrasted Pokemon with the
international media commodities they loved.

31. {
“Imsukuhum
Kulhum”
[“Gotta Catch ‘em
all”]

32. {
“Imsukuhum
Kulhum”
[“Gotta Catch ‘em
all”]
Viral pattern of
consumption

33. {
“Imsukuhum
Kulhum”
[“Gotta Catch ‘em
all”]
Viral pattern of
consumption
It is Pokemon’s refusal to stay “just a game” or “just
a show” that is the first and most common complaint

34. “If Pokemon were limited to the cartoon serial,
the matter would be easy. However, it has turned
to games, pictures and various other forms. …The
problem is that in school, children chat about
Pokemon because he doesn’t disappear from their
vision. His picture is on the schoolbags, the pen
cases and notebooks. …How then does a mother
protect her child from it? I don’t say that it causes
a great harm, but it is not useful to our children,
and it gets in the way of useful things.”
--Qatari mother quoted in newspaper

35. {
“This is like anything else
from the west. They produce
and we consume. They have
their ways to attract our
minds, so it is not difficult for
them to steal our childrens’
minds and to turn their
products into a profitable
trade.”
MORAL
ENTREPRENEUR
Mulhaq li Watan wa lil Muwatin
newspaper (Qatar 2000)
2. HOSTILITY

36. {
Mulhaq li Watan wa lil Muwatin
newspaper (Qatar 2000)
“This is like anything else
from the west. They produce
and we consume. They have
their ways to attract our
minds, so it is not difficult for
them to steal our childrens’
minds and to turn their
products into a profitable
trade.”
MORAL
ENTREPRENEUR
FOLK DEVILS
2. HOSTILITY

37. {
Mulhaq li Watan wa lil Muwatin
newspaper (Qatar 2000)
“This is like anything else
from the west. They produce
and we consume. They have
their ways to attract our
minds, so it is not difficult for
them to steal our childrens’
minds and to turn their
products into a profitable
trade.”
MORAL
ENTREPRENEUR
FOLK DEVILS
EXPLOITING
CHILDREN
2. HOSTILITY

38. {
Globalization Starts With
Children
Pokemon Conquers
Childrens’ Minds
A Pokemon in Every Home
Pokemon: Legendary
Creatures Sneak Into Arab
Childrens’ Bedrooms
Newspaper
Headlines
3. CONSENSUS

39. {
Globalization Starts With
Children
Pokemon Conquers
Childrens’ Minds
A Pokemon in Every Home
Pokemon: Legendary
Creatures Sneak Into Arab
Childrens’ Bedrooms
Newspaper
Headlines
Even sports and investment columnists used
their columns express concern over the
problem of children’s attachment to Pokemon
3. CONSENSUS

40. {
Pokemon is not just a
video of game or toy;
it is a virus. It
colonizes children’s
lives.
1
4. DISPROPORTION

41. {
Pokemon obstructs
children’s educations
and interferes with
their family lives. 2
4. DISPROPORTION

42. {
Pokemon teaches
foreign norms and
values. 3
4. DISPROPORTION

43. GLOBAL FOREIGN GLOBAL “ARAB”
“If we must choose between…Pokémon, who comes from Confucian culture, on
the one hand, and Aladdin, who is a distortion of the Arab character on the
other hand, then the mind will say welcome to the Arab character Aladdin, who
at least expresses Arab and Islamic heritage and fame.”
--Ali Ben Shewil Al-Qurani, Al-Jazeera

44. {
Pokemon teaches
wrongful and harmful
foreign norms and
values. 4
4. DISPROPORTION

45. Gambling is Haram Evolution is anti-Islamic

46. {
Pokemon deliberately
seeks to corrupt
children by turning
them from traditional
culture and Islamic
values and seducing
them into evil.
5
4. DISPROPORTION

47. Evil Words Zionist Codes

48. {
In response to public demand,
the Prince of Riyadh asks for
an investigation into the
moral dangers posed by
Pokémon
5. Volatility
Salman bin Abdul Aziz

49. {
The Grand Mufti rules:
1. Pokemon encourages
gambling
2. Pokemon teaches
evolutionary thought
3. Pokemon supports
certain non-Islamic
doctines
4. Pokemon may encode
Zionist symbolism
5. Volatility

50. Pokemon “becomes a means by
which different societies may
describe themselves at risk, as
vulnerable to threats both
externally and internally. Talk of
Pokemon points directly to the
vulnerabilities of global
consumerist citizenship.”
Christine Yano (2004: 109)

51. Cohen, Stanley. 1972. Folk Devils and Moral Panics.
Cook, Daniel. 2001. Exchange Value as Pedagogy in Children’s
Leisure: Moral Panics in Children’s Culture at Century’s End.
Leisure Sciences 23: 81-98.
Critcher, Charles. 2003. Moral Panics in the Media. Open
University Press.
Drotner, Kirstin. 1992. Media and Moral Panics. In Media Cultures.
Michael Skovmand and Kim Christian Schroder, eds. Pp. 42-62.
Routledge.
Goode, Erich and Nachman Ben Yehuda. 1994. Moral Panics: The
Construction of Deviance. Blackwell.
Thompson, Kenneth. 1998. Moral Panics. Routledge.
Peterson, Mark Allen. 2011. Pokemon Panics: Class Play in the
Private Schools. In Connected in Cairo: Growing Up Cosmopolitan
in the Modern Middle East. Indiana University Press
Yano, Christine. 2004. Panic Attacks: Anti-Pokemon Voices in
Global Markets. In Pikachu’s Global Adventure. Joseph Tobin, ed.
Duke University Press.
References