I’m generally skeptical of the claim that today’s culture is less puritanical than that of past times, as opposed to merely being an expression of a new form of puritanism. And the old puritanism and new puritanism overlap in many ways.

In the last few years, I’ve noticed there seems to be a contemporary set of moral panics related to sex abuse (eg Pizzagate, Qanon), sexual assault (#metoo), and sex trafficking that resembles the moral panics over supposed underground satanic cults engaging in human sacrifice in the 80s, or Reagan’s War on Drugs/Just Say No crusade. Also, the “social justice” fanatics of today with their hysteria over various microaggressions and triggers is reminiscent of the PMRC’s moral crusading against sex, drugs, violence, and occultism in pop music lyrics.

By Brooke Sample, Bloomberg