Remember the satanic pedophilic nursery school conspiracy theories that proliferated in the late seventies and early 80s? Supposedly, rings of satanists were running and staffing child care centers so they could have access to toddlers for sex, satanic rituals, and even cannibalism.

Tons of people believed this, and some stories even got reported in mainstream press with a certain degree of seriousness.

At least one person was convicted by a jury and went to prison for things he could not possibly have done. After all the fury and nonsense had died down, he was exonerated. Not without having his life destroyed, of course.

Eventually, as entrenched as some of these beliefs had become, the uproar fizzled out, because there really was nothing to it and evidence never presented itself.

I don’t know if "fizzle out" is as realistic a possibility today when information sources are more popular than gate kept. The satanic pedophilic craze of several decades ago disappeared because the Press stopped writing about it. Even sensationalistic press felt pressure from the social establishment and money sources to act more responsibly.

With Facebook and Twitter and all sorts of alternative news sources, however, can that same pressure apply today?

It seems unlikely.