The Problem Seems To Be That We Cannot Align On The Cause Of The Moral Panic

It seems like everyone thinks there’s something to be panicked about morally these days. But what’s the root?

I think we all generally know that outrage and negativity sells faster than anything else. Must have an enemy, etc. The NRA and other marketing tools (including how we sell infant care) are almost entirely based on fear and lurking enemies. We respond to that stuff, because our reptile brains love in-groups and out-groups and they’re designed to respond to negativity and threats as a logical defense mechanism. That’s also all why safety is such a big issue in elections.

Well, one of the great recent moral panics is about education. Recently, this 8th-grade math teacher in St. Paul went semi-viral for telling people what I think people already knew or assumed: kids these days are behaving badly, and there are not many consequences for that.

There is a significant amount to unpack here, but I can keep it semi-simple. The…