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this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2024
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Psychology
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Dear lord, you bring Wertham into this. The guy who is not taken seriously by any psychologists because he is a raging homophobe? His argument was nothing like this. Please, seriously, learn how to read. His argument was that comics caused juvenile delinquency. He argued that Wonder Woman made girls Lesbians FFS. There's not a single mention of mental health in his book and he didn't have a single shred of evidence. Unlike now when we do have tons of evidence of social media causing teenagers and kids to self-harm and the spike in anxiety and depression. So, NO, it wasn't the same argument.
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.