“There Will Be Consequences”: Moral Panic in 2010

Jessi-Slaughter-01-2010-08-07          Over the weekend, I was listening to a podcast and the host briefly brought up the story of cyberbullying victim Jessica Leonhardt, although she was not mentioned by name. Instead, the host recalled the famous words of her enraged father, “There will be consequences!”, captured on video after his daughter was inundated with hateful messages from users on 4chan and Tumblr. The conversation about the situation centered around the fact that though the Leonhardt’s family’s severe problems were aired in a very public and upsetting manner, it is rather unfortunate that they are remembered largely through trivializing parodies and memes.

Although the story of Jessica Leonhardt could be seen as a problematic case study because of Jessi’s age and behavioral problems and her abuse at the hands of her father, it still engages a lot of ideas discussed by Justine Cassell and Meg Cramer in “High Tech or High Risk.” Gene Leonhardt’s memorable language (primarily “backtraced” and “cyberpolice”) and his wife’s explanations (“The officers had said there were videos, but Jess denied making them. Then my mother-in-law called and said there were videos. But I haven’t watched them. I can’t be in the room 24/7”) display a frustration with technology and loss of parental control. There was also discussion of Jessi’s potential sexual proclivity, from the initial claims of a relationship with an adult band member to investigations concerning child pornography.

Jessi’s story is not really the typical one of misinterpreted acts of self-agency (which is how similar stories seem to be framed in the reading), but it did attribute to a societal moment of moral panic consistent with a lot of tropes mentioned by Cassell and Cramer. The Leonhardts were reported about in a very sensationalized and belittling way, and their situation was used to create a dialogue about cyberbullying and sexual predation as though it was the norm.

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