this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2024
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Psychology
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At the time he was making those claims he was very well respected. It was only around 2012 that his work was discredited.
Moral panic generally doesn't look like moral panic at the time it's happening.
Still, his argument was distinctly different from the one being made today. Again, for the illiterate on the other side. Wertham argued that comic made kids delinquents and homosexuals. Today, we have basis to believe that smartphone addiction and social media use might be making kids more anxious and depressed. Entirely not “the same thing”.
It sure sounds like the same thing except you are just substituting "anxious and depressed" in place of "delinquent and homosexual".
If you can't seem to see the difference, that's a lack of critical thinking on your part. One criminalizes and demeans youth, the other one is concerned about well being and health. I think it is just appropriate that one ended up influencing Congress and courts while the other is largely being ignored and dismissed. I'll let you to sort out which is which. Good bye.
At the time, delinquency and homosexuality were seen as mental disorders, just like anxiety and depression are today. The problem is that you are looking at both events through the lens of today rather than as things were understood at the time each event was happening.