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14 Moral Panics Over Historical Inventions

By:: Ryan Menezes; Cracked Writers

March 26, 2021

14 Moral Panics Over Historical Inventions

Won't someone think of the children?!

Actually, people are constantly thinking of the children. Maybe thinking a little too hard, and objecting to a bunch of stuff that we know isn't so bad, once we've had a century or so to mull the matter over.

14

CHess makes you violent! That was one 19th-century objection. Others said it hurt children by offering no physical exercise-and what mental exercise it offered was wasted on something wholly unproductive. — Source: Scientific American

13

Light bulbs are unworthy! After Thomas Edison introduced the light bulb, the British government called it good enough for transatlantic friends... our but unworthy of the attention of practical Or scientific men, — Source: New Scientist

12

School? That's un American! CRACKED CO Mandatory schooling, anyway. So said various detractors throughout the 20th century, who said forcing children into schools violated the American concept of liberty (and deprived parents of free labor). — Source: History of Compulsory Education Laws

11

Umbrellas look French! The first man in London to use an umbrella was publicly ridiculed. Jonas Hanway took out an umbrella in the early 1750s. People pelted him with garbage, calling him effeminate (or, worse, French). — Source: NY Times

10

Theatre leads to godlessness! In 1642, London banned all plays to appease and avert the Wrath of God. Plays, said the puritan Parliamentarians, are Spectacles of Pleasure, too commonly expressing lascivious Mirth and Levity. — Source: Theatre, Community, and Civic Engagement in Jacobean London

9

Comic books are evill IVORySNOW CRACKED.COM After the Depression, plenty in America blamed comic books for juvenile delinquency. Some places banned selling them to kids. Plenty of other places burned books publicly. — Source: CNBC

8

Reading in bed is immoral! CRACKED.CON People warned that reading by candlelight could fires. cause But seeing how rarely this actually happened, it's now suspected that people actually feared bed reading encouraged masturbation. — Source: The Atlantic

7

Soda corrupts the youth! Fpeach MMP You might think people would gladly promote soda back during the temperance movement. Nope. They feared soda was a gateway to alcohol, not a substitute, and made kids into wild nocturnal freaks. — Source: A History of Soda Fountains

6

NIGHTTIME air? It's poisonous! Up until nearly the 1900s, many were scared to go outside at night, and some didn't even want to leave the windows open after dark because they were afraid of getting sick. — Source: Wired

5

Shopping carts are unmanly! So men didn't like them when they were first invented in 1937. And to women, shopping carts resembled baby strollers, and they didn't care for the similarity. — Source: Wired

4

He lends at interest and takes a profit. 3160 VISA Masterca GUUH EXPRESS CRACKED.COM Will such live? He will a man not! Because he has done all these detestable things, he is to be put to death; his blood will be on his own head. Ezekiel 18:13 — Source: The Guardian

3

Bikinis are sinfull The early modern bikini was So scandalous, its creator, Louis Reard, couldn't find a model willing to wear it. He had to hire a stripper. The Vatican labeled it sinful, and various U.S. states banned it. — Source: CBS News

2

Coffee leads to insurrection! century Mecca banned the beverage out of fear that it led to political thoughts and rebellion. In the 17th century, European clergymen called it the devil's drink, citing the Islamic origin. — Source: Good Housekeeping

1

Cars will lead to teen sex! So feared parents in the 1920s, along with thinking cars would make teens disobedient and turn them less religious. To be fair, these parents were -percent correct. — Source: American Quarterly

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