Media narratives blamed Lindh’s terrorism on unchecked liberal parenting values.

Evidence

According to Time, Newsweek, and other news magazines, Lindh’s life trajectory toward terrorism can be explained by a falling away from normal American life. The steps along the way include being asexual or possibly homosexual, embracing a primitive lifestyle, and being critical of the United States. This failed life trajectory is framed—always loosely, never explicitly—as the result of liberal interests gone unchecked. Lindh is depicted as a child with a bright future who was corrupted by his interest in Islam, an interest that was not regarded as dangerous by his gay dad, hippie mom (who is cited as dabbling in Native American spirituality), or liberal town. This indictment of liberal parenting, or liberal values, reflects conservative anxieties about American society being too permissive. — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 959

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the moral-panic scapegoating logic in my ‘Complaints About Immodesty’ piece — permissiveness framed as civilization’s failure.