NEWS YOU CAN USE: How to Spot the Next Mania: Each new panic follows the same playbook. “Within the astonishingly short time frame of 10 years, I count four real-life collective crazes: transgenderism, #MeToo, Covid lockdowns (which spawned sub-crazes over masks and vaccines), and Black Lives Matter. I also worry we’re already in the grip of social mania number five.”

But I don’t believe that “both the priests and disciples of moral panics are driven by good intentions.” The useful idiots are, but not the promulgators. And even a lot of the useful idiots are drawn in by the opportunity to bully others and feel virtuous about it.