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Reasoning your way out of "moral panic"
A while back, Ivan Seeking https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=255234"on how we’ve changed since 9-11. Got me thinking about how the collective American soul seemed to change overnight, and what might have been behind it.
For example, remember the ramp-up to the Iraq war? Reaction to any sort of opposition was fierce and highly emotional. It wasn’t uncommon to hear people attacked as being unpatriotic, either implied or explicit, until any opposition became completely muted. The closest term I can find for this phenomenon is “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_panic" ”.
Shouldn’t scientists be more aware than lay people at recognizing when we’re experiencing a moral panic? Does being trained as a scientist make you more capable of thinking your way out of a moral panic, despite the strong emotional response that accompanies it?
A while back, Ivan Seeking https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=255234"on how we’ve changed since 9-11. Got me thinking about how the collective American soul seemed to change overnight, and what might have been behind it.
For example, remember the ramp-up to the Iraq war? Reaction to any sort of opposition was fierce and highly emotional. It wasn’t uncommon to hear people attacked as being unpatriotic, either implied or explicit, until any opposition became completely muted. The closest term I can find for this phenomenon is “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_panic" ”.
Shouldn’t scientists be more aware than lay people at recognizing when we’re experiencing a moral panic? Does being trained as a scientist make you more capable of thinking your way out of a moral panic, despite the strong emotional response that accompanies it?
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