Ambiguous Name: You Can Panic Now

This trope is supposed to be about scaremongering in the media, but its name (which seems like it might be a reference to something obscure) doesn't properly indicate this, leading to rampant misuse, sometimes in reference to the inevitable subversion of This Is No Time to Panic, but more often simply as as a stock phrase, or in some particularly egregious cases, to mean simply "a character panics". Wick check numbered 50 in all, with the results as follows:

You Can Panic Now Wick Check results:

19/50 (38%): Correct usage 3/50 (6%): Erroneous association/confusion with This Is No Time to Panic 28/50 (56%): General misuse/unclear usage/other

As you can see, while the specific form of misuse I was concerned about was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting, other forms of misuse are rampant. So what needs to be done? Well, obviously, we need to rename the trope to something that makes it clear that it's about scaremongering. Perhaps Media Scare, Scaremongering Media or even just Scaremongering?

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Correct usage (19)

Franchise Killer: In the late 2000s and early '10s, Slender Man was one of the biggest names in creepypasta, a style of ghost stories and Urban Legends born from the internet and rooted in its culture. First created on the Something Awful forums in 2009 as a paranormal hoax, it took on a life of its own afterwards as a modernized fey figure and developed an elaborate lore, with fan art, cosplay, web shows like Marble Hornets, and games like Slender popularizing it. All of that came to a halt with an infamous stabbing incident in Waukesha, Wisconsin on May 31, 2014, in which two adolescent girls who believed that Slender Man was real stabbed one of their friends as an attempted Human Sacrifice to demonstrate their loyalty to him and become his "proxies". The negative publicity from this and other incidents that were connected to Slender Man (including another stabbing in suburban Cincinnati, Ohio, an arson in Port Richey, Florida, and an epidemic of suicide attempts on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation) left a black mark on the entire creepypasta community (also weakened because its fanbase increasingly either turned to more hardcore conspiracy theories or recanted from them), and Slender Man's popularity rapidly faded, irrevocably associated with people who Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality. A 2018 film adaptation even wound up attracting controversy in light of the tragedy, with people (including the father of one of the culprits in the stabbing) criticizing it as insensitive and some theaters in the Milwaukee area choosing not to show it. This was despite attempts by the studio to make cuts to the film following the incident to avoid backlash (which resulted in the final cut's PG-13 rating as opposed to an R rating). This article by Carli Velocci for The Verge goes into more detail on Slender Man's decline, calling the 2018 film "a nail in the coffin of a dying fandom". The franchise only further collapsed after it was it was discovered that Adam Rosner, a creator heavily involved with the franchise and creator of the now cancelled Tribe Twelve, was a sexual predator who had attempted to groom many of his fans during the long development of his series.
New Media Are Evil: Supertrope to Social Media Is Bad and Digital Piracy Is Evil. See also: murder.com, Everything Is Online, Clickbait Gag, There Should Be a Law, TV Never Lies, You Can Panic Now, Books vs. Screens, Cyberbullying, and Appeal to Tradition. The opposite usually ends with Old Media Playing Catch-Up. If books or other forms of written communication are portrayed as superior, it may also be an example of The Power of Language.
Parody Displacement: The song is inspired by the Will Smith song "Just The Two Of Us" (which was the song's original title). The original song is a very cute and wholesome song about a father's love for his child. In Eminem's version, the father loves his child so much that he kills her mother, her mother's new husband, and her half-brother so he can have her all to himself. Naturally, the song about a weird, bleached-blond Card-Carrying Jerkass who was marketed to your children writing a fantasy about killing his actual then-wife proved more memorable than the song about a nice, handsome, family-friendly rapper-actor loving his son in a non-homicidal way.
Self-Demonstrating Article: This index may be obsolete and under threat by that evil new media! You Can Panic Now! Yep, that's how it's used.
Strawman News Media: Sometimes the media are given a shallow, even vapid, appearance. They are shown as caring more about celebrity hijinks, sensationalized violence and crime, and missing white women than about things like wars, poverty, and corruption that are affecting far more lives. These news desks will be staffed by men and women who look like they came out of a fashion magazine rather than a journalism school. These are likely to display a bad case of Worst News Judgment Ever and simply selling out for ratings, and only say what people want to hear because people don't want to be told that they're living in a Crapsack World; they want to escape from everything. Or they will actively promote the idea that the world is a Crapsack World (because If It Bleeds, It Leads), try their best to scare people into continuing to watch the news, and blame all the woes on political opponents. Pothole checks out.
Televisually Transmitted Disease: When a news broadcast starts freaking out about two Hepatitis A cases, the hospital gets overrun with people who think they have it. Cox pretty much says it happens every time:
Dr. Cox: And you know what happens next? Every hypochondriac with the sniffles is gonna come thundering through those doors. So enjoy the next few days of peace and quiet.
The '90s: Everyone attended music festivals like Lollapalooza or Lilith Fair — or at least, claimed to their friends that they did, as they were just as likely doing either "Lambada" or "The Macarena". In the US Grunge dominated the real life soundtrack for five years, before collapsing into an identity crisis. Kurt Cobain continued chart-topping for two years after his death, alongside Alanis Morissette and Alice in Chains, eventually replaced by pop music, which had managed to reinvent itself following the Milli Vanilli lip-syncing scandal (which itself played a partial role in Grunge's rise), during the latter half of the decade. Across the pond, meanwhile, Britpop and the Cool Britannia movement soared; Oasis and Blur had their famous chart war, while the Spice Girls became cultural icons. In academia, modernism was out and relativism was in; the magazine Social Text published a word salad hoax by an angry physicist as the "Culture Wars" smoldered between scientists, anti-abortionists, and radical academicians. Alternative Rock took over rock music, along with the Perishing Alt-Rock Voice. Boy bands and girl groups began to dominate the market, and two major Gangsta Rap stars were killed within months of each other following a war of egos between the east and west coasts. Electronic Music continued to refine itself over this decade, spawning numerous different genres (and sub-genres) and growing massive fan scenes across the globe (except in the USA which took longer to catch on), with all-night dance parties, AKA "raves", becoming the new target of moral panic among politicians and moral guardians (not helped by the deep associations with drug use).
The Rule of First Adopters: * It's believed a similar dynamic was at work with the quick adoption of camera phones. Not long after their introduction, "sexting" — sending nude pics to friends (specifically when done by teenagers) — became the latest moral panic du jour.
Eureka Seven: Dewey uses the fear of a Coralian attack and the Strawman News Media to gain public support and topple the government.
Scarfolk Council: Nearly every publication is commissioned by Scarfolk Council for the sole purpose of instilling fear in the populace, though some of the threats definitely seem to be real.
ConspiracyTheories.HToN: One form of subliminal message used in music is "backmasking," or recording a sound or message backwards so that it is audible only when played backwards. Many bands, most notably The Beatles and Pink Floyd, used backmasking for effect and as a way of putting easter eggs into their music^note, and it is also used by radio stations as a crude way of censoring explicit lyrics. Conspiracy theories surrounding backmasking are often religious in nature, the idea being that rock bands and other popular musicians are using it to, among other things, encourage devil worship, sex, drug use, and suicide. Much of the religious angle was started by rumors that there was a backmasked homage to Satan in Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven". Psychologists have pointed out that listeners can't understand words heard backward, let alone be subliminally influenced by them, and Rob Halford has pointed out how bad a business model it is to brainwash your fans into killing themselves. This theory was at its height in The '80s, as a part of the general hysteria over Satanic ritual abuse. There is a second example from this page. See "General misuse/unclear usage/other" below.
Seanbaby: Moral Guardians: Discussed in "5 Techniques Fearmongers Use To Create Moral Panics", using the 1980s' moral panic against rock and roll music as his source.
The Last Podcast on the Left: Very much averted for most of the show, as there have been many informative, factual episodes about real-life Satanism in its various forms. However, this trope was discussed at-length during the episodes about Satanic Ritual Abuse, and how it was exploited in order to convince Americans in the 80's and 90's that evil wicked Satanists were out to steal their children.
The Simpsons S 5 E 11 Homer The Vigilante: You Can Panic Now: Kent Brockman's initial report on the Springfield Cat Burglar — which suggests that mass murders may happen next, and that the burglar may be a Wolf Man — ends with him asking a professor if it's time for the town to panic over the matter. The professor says it is! Yes, I'd say this fits. Also notably the only correct example found in the Recap/ namespace.
Dateline: Dateline drew infamy with its constant stream of fluff stories, You Can Panic Now stories, and screw-ups — most notably, an early 1992 segment got into hot water when it falsely claimed that 1973-1987 GM pickup trucks had leaky and explosive gas tanks (when in reality, the only reason they exploded for the cameras was the remote controlled explosives the NBC crew put there). This resulted in the firing of a couple Dateline producers and led to Michele Gillen (the correspondent involved in the segment) getting transferred to NBC's affiliate in Miami, where she became an anchor of the station's evening newscasts.
Subcultures: On the other hand, some people want to be normal and won't understand why others would pursue something else. They argue the problem can't be that it just doesn't work for those people; no, there must be something weird, laughable, or even dangerous about those people. This meme then gets reused by the media, in the form of investigative reports and special episodes.
Jreg: In "Do NOT See Joker!!!!", Liberal Media warns the viewer of the movie Joker (2019), saying it glorifies violence. He predicts that an incel will shoot up a theater because of it. When weeks pass and Joker becomes a box office success, Liberal Media decides to put on a clown wig, grab a gun, and take matters into his own hands.
YMMV.FatalAttractions2010: Don't Shoot the Message: While the show does have some pretty flagrant Double Standard for reptiles and a questionable tone, many exotic animal experts think the message of responsible pet ownership is an admirable one. The pothole would make little sense to someone who hadn't read the trope description, but whoever put it in seems to understand it.
YMMV.Superbad: Unintentional Period Piece: The film burlesqued the much-ballyhooed loose morals of 2000s-era teenagers (contrast this with the fact in the 2010s many would actually claim that millennials were becoming relatively prudish).

Erroneous association/confusion with This Is No Time To Panic (3)

Tempting Fate: "This Is No Time to Panic!" — Something's going to give you permission to panic real soon. Pothole makes some sense here, but that's still not what You Can Panic Now means.
Friendship Is Magic: Twilight Sparkle: In "Party Pooped" when Twilight is a nervous wreck over the arrival of the yaks, Pinkie Pie tells her not to be nervous. After their first attempt to make friends with the yaks results in them ransacking the main hall of the castle, Pinkie asks if now would be a good time to be nervous. Not only misuse, but as neither You Can Panic Now nor This Is No Time to Panic is a character trope, I'm not sure if this entry should exist on the page in question at all.
Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog S 01 E 42 Mass Transit Trouble: When Robotnik first reveals his bomb plan, Sonic insists to Tails that they can't panic. Then Robotnik goes on to explain that the bombs will detonate simultaneously in five minutes, gloating that, as exhausted as he is now from dealing with Scratch, Grounder, and Coconuts, even Sonic can't be in three places at once.
Sonic: Now we panic.

Looks like it goes here, but as no references to This Is No Time to Panic appear on the page, I could be wrong.

General misuse/unclear usage/other (28)

Acceptable Religious Targets: Often goes beyond "LOL" and well into "EEEEEEEEEEK!". Practitioners of voudon and other Yoruba-derived faiths, such as Santeria, Candomble, and Obeah, are often portrayed as magical and mystical at best. At worst, they're portrayed as murderous, morbid, half-Satanists and practitioners of necromancy and dark magics the likes of which would make Voldemort soil his robes. Most media portrayal bears little to no resemblance to the actual religion. See Hollywood Voodoo for details. Not entirely sure what they mean with that pothole. There seem to be a few ways it could be interpreted.
The Big Rotten Apple: In the parody J-Men Forever, New York City is about to be inundated by a Stock Footage Giant Wall of Watery Doom, so the Mayor handles the crisis by urging the populace to flee mindlessly and calling on the police and fire brigade to assemble for union negotiations. At the end of the movie, the J-Men celebrate the destruction of the Supervillain Lair and New York City as a double victory! Close, but no cigar.
Training Montage: Love Hina has one ticking down the days till the Tokyo U Entrance Exam. Naru is doing well—Keitaro, on the other hand... This one just flat-out makes no sense.
Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F': Now despair begins. This is the page quote. This is a very vague interpretation of the trope name.
GTA Radio: Only a caption/quote exists:

I'm Bryan Wilkinson, Weazel News. We're all screwed!

Not completely inappropriate, given that this is a radio host saying this, but it's a bit of a grey area.

ConspiracyTheories.HToN: A common claim is that United Nations peacekeeping soldiers would move in and round up people for the camps/eliminate the resistance, presumably as a way of explaining where the manpower to undergo this massive undertaking would come from. This is usually followed by claims that they are amassing at the borders and nearby countries, ready to invade... any day now. The editor who made the pothole seems to have taken the trope to mean a very general "you should be worried about this" statement.
☯utlaw St★rr: Initially being a guitar driven Hard Rock & Soul band, the sound changed when more members were added to the line up whom had experiences with different styles. Eventually the band's style pretty much became unclassifiable, Genre-Busting, and Genre Roulette. The band debated on what genre was going to be the bands sound. After a small debate Tish just shrugged and asked why can't we just do them all?, and the band made that Ascended Fanon. Of course if you must categorize them they're a progressive rock/metal/industrial/synth band with a rapper/soul singer as lead vocalist. With heavy emphasis on song writing, rhythm, melody, turntable breaks, vocal harmony and solos....LOTS of solos. They also double as a production team, helping produce albums for other artists. Themes and topics of the band range from sociopolitical issues regarding gender, race & racism, spirituality, classism, sexual liberation, empowerment, speculative fiction (horror, fantasy, science fiction), Black Female & black/African-American pathos, and just simple violence. The band is also very media savvy, embracing online media and social networks before other artists understood the potential. Despite the occasional performances here, and there, the band went on hiatus starting in the spring of 2012, and the fans freaked out. However, after an admittedly longer than expected hiatus the band started recording again in early 2019. Again, the trope is used to mean a general panic.
FanficRecs.Vocaloid: Synopsis: On the afternoon of Saturday, July 10, 2010, the Vocaloids held a concert at the Tanabata festival in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa. The decision would prove to be disastrous. Right in the middle of the concert, Miku and Rin were savagely and mercilessly attacked on stage in front of more than 16,000 fans by Miku Zatsune and Rin Arakawa. And what provoked this attack? The fact that Zatsune and Arakawa were dating Mikuo and Len, respectively. When they were dumped because of their rotten behavior, they convinced themselves that the girls were somehow responsible for it, and that they would have to pay dearly, even though that is clearly not the case. Unbelievably, it actually gets much much worse than that. Too much to really list, but I will tell you it involves an electric barrier, a wall of fire, massive audience panic, and towards the end of the fanfic, a prison escape. Even though Miku and Rin are both seriously injured in this attack, they will eventually recover, and their assailants will get their comeuppance. Without context, the pothole makes no sense with this misuse-prone trope. For all I know, this is actually correct usage. Also a Chained Sinkhole.
The Devil Wears Prada: Emily gets a message that Miranda's going to arrive early. Nigel calls to everyone to "gird your loins" as the entire building starts turning itself upside down. A character literally telling those around them that they can panic is not this trope, but perhaps it should be a trope?
Fridge.YandereSimulator: Japanese society in general takes a rather hands-off approach to children, in direct contrast to the near-hysterical "Protect the Children!" fetish seen in the West, especially the USA. It's not beyond the pale that a wood-chipper would be left unsupervised. Most importantly, just repeat to yourself, "It's just a game. I should really just relax." A borderline case. It almost fits, but not quite.
Monsters, Inc. The news monster says, "It is my professional opinion that now is the time to PANIC!", flailing his extremities about at the last word. Then Boo accidentally pushes the TV over and smashes it. Hmm... It's certainly close, but this doesn't quite fit the trope's definition of media scaremongering and/or moral panic.
Missing Since Monday: Sort of. According to this Kirkus review, although the author "somewhat exaggerates the danger [of child abduction], her prescriptions for safety are sensible." It is notable that, despite the moral panic of Stranger Danger that gave rise to works such as this, in this story, the abduction was carried out by someone who, although not known to the victim, was connected to her family. Is it acceptable for a troper to claim that the work itself is guilty of this?
Norse Mythology: The Fimbulvetr or Fimbulwinter is an especially harsh winter that lasts trice as long as usual and signifies the beginning of Ragnarök. It's believed that this myth was actually developed as a explanation for a real disaster that occured in the early 6th century, due to volcanic activity which would have caused the sunset to appear bloodred and robbed sunlight of the power to cause photosynthesis which in turn made it appear that winters came with no summer between. You can freak out now. This may be the most egregious misuse yet, being effectively a troper using the trope name in its most literal possible sense, similar to how You Bastard! is often (mis)used.
NightmareFuel.FarCryNewDawn: The Final Boss is pretty nightmarish. A gigantic shadowy monster with creepy red eyes, basically a recoloured version of a Yeti from Far Cry 4. And just like the Yetis, this monster Was Once a Man mutated by a mysterious supernatural plant. Who was it? Ethan Seed. You Can Panic Now. Again, a troper using the trope's name in the most literal sense.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer S3E11 "Gingerbread": * You Can Panic Now Zero-Context Example.
How I Met Your Mother S 9 E 21 Gary Blauman: You Can Panic Now: Robin at first welcomes Gary Blauman with a surprised expression, once he leaves, Robin starts to panic to Marshall. Once Marshall managed to calm Robin down claiming that he would take care of Gary Blauman's seat, Marshall started to panic to Ted once Robin left. Another particularly egregious example; this time it is apparently being used to mean "a character panics".
Mystery Science Theater 3000 S05 E12: Mitchell:
Gypsy: You think they'll send us a new guy?
Servo: Oh sure, it's bound to happen. But until that happens... PANIC! AAAAAAAAAARGH!!!

Quote-only example, which I'm fairly sure qualifies as a ZCE, also misuse of the "character tells another they can panic" variety.

Odd Squad S 2 E 22 Haunt Squad Safe House In The Woods: Olympia's excited statement about how there's a ghost in HQ inadvertently serves as this, as agents begin to panic all over again, including Olly.
Olly: If you don't mind, I'm also going to run away!

It appears that a troper has taken this to mean "something that causes someone to panic".

Refractions Brief Story Of Known Space: Distraught to see that he had no recollection of his past beyond last year's events, the man went to seek mental help. When the news of the Chen Atah incident became public, all the inhabitants of the planet noticed the same issue of that man: Nobody in Arras Chanka could remember a single thing from a year ago. And to make matters worse, no one remembered how all aspects of their culture, from the most basic to the most advanced technology, existed in the first place, beginning with the fact that all the inhabitants of the planet were so different from each other, even genetically. Obviously, the population of the Arras Chanka fell prey to panic as they realized such a global mental gap among their people. Seems like correct usage, but as no reference is made to any sort of media being involved, I'd say it occupies a grey area.
Sponge Bob Square Pants S 1 E 16 Valentines Day The Paper: "Attention everyone, there's a chubby pink starfish on the loose!" This is just someone giving an alert, and not an example at all. Also a quote-only example.
Sponge Bob Square Pants S 2 E 12 Pressure The Smoking Peanut: When Clamu's emotional rampage starts up, the announcer on the P.A. instructs the zoo patrons to "scream and run around in circles." Another "character literally tells others to panic" misuse.
The Good Place S1E01 "Everything Is Fine": During the Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever, Michael gives Tahani permission to run. More literal misuse.
Tearjerker.TheOnion: Kelly's cartoon that day was surprisingly poignant too. He usually employs some measure of You Can Panic Now, but this one was just his Author Avatar with a Single Tear asking "When is it okay to laugh again"? Insufficient context to judge validity of example. NOT a ZCE.
Tanz Der Vampire: Running Gag: "This is 1880-something!", "If that means what I think it means..." and "SUNSET!!!" Based on the admittedly limited context, this seems to be a misuse along the lines of, "character panics".
Australian Gun Politics: As of 2013, however, the total number of guns in Australia reached levels equal to that prior to Port Arthur. In spite of this, gun crime is still decreasing, gun deaths have halved and 90% of those gun deaths are single fatality incidents like domestic violence and suicide. This is a particularly Egregious misuse, being essentially a troper telling readers that they can panic. May also be on thin ice with the Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement.
American Conquest: Probably the biggest change from Cossacks is introduction of morale. All units have their natural capacity for withstanding stress, but after crossing the threshold they rout and panic, screaming around. Not only you lose control over routing unit, it can trigger panic of other units. Or your routing unit will be easily picked by enemy and that will cause other units to rout too. It takes an entire string of defensive upgrades to increase your units' resistance to fear. Setting up formations also helps, just as using units that have already fought and survived. Formations further benefit from having both drummer and standard bearer. Another general "characters panic" misuse.
Crash Twinsanity: After telepathically removing Cortex's brain from his head through his ear, Victor lets him go with this line as Moritz gestures for him to go.
Victor: This Is the Part Where... you run away screaming.

Another literal "example".

Pasila: You Can Panic Now: An episode concerning bootlegged booze with poison in it eventually culminated in forbidding all alcohol in all of Finland. Kontiovaara hosts an expert on his show, and asks if they ought to panic now. The interviewee's response to his question is, "You get one fuckin' guess". Seems to be an example in there somewhere, but the way this example is written, it is not accurate.

Edited by MacronNotes on Jun 17th 2022 at 10:15:11 AM

themayorofsimpleton Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him from Elsewhere (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Abstaining

Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him

#76: Jun 16th 2022 at 5:04:12 PM

155 left. Been working on these.

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themayorofsimpleton Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him from Elsewhere (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Abstaining

Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him

#77: Jun 17th 2022 at 5:41:22 AM

71 left. There's a wick on Recap.Spongebob Squarepants S 2 E 25 Wormy Patty Hype that just redirects to another page where I already removed a wick.

I assume that's a ghost wick? And if so, I assume I go to the Locked Pages thread and report it?

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Amonimus the Retromancer from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle

the Retromancer

#78: Jun 17th 2022 at 5:58:28 AM

Fixed that for you. Some ghost wicks come from non-empty redirect pages.

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup

themayorofsimpleton Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him from Elsewhere (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Abstaining

Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him

#79: Jun 17th 2022 at 6:07:32 AM

Thanks Amonimus!

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themayorofsimpleton Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him from Elsewhere (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Abstaining

Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him

#80: Jun 17th 2022 at 6:17:30 AM

And we are good to go! The only wicks left are the Trope Report sandbox, the wick check (which I cutlisted) and the You May Panic Now redirect, which I'm assuming we're keeping. This thread can probably now be closed.

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mr_c Thing unspeakable from Sotland Since: Jul, 2020 Relationship Status: is commanded to— WANK!

Thing unspeakable

#81: Jun 17th 2022 at 6:31:43 AM

Before we go, is there any specific protocol for what to do with old wick checks?

[Edit] Wait, sorry, didn't quite read the last post properly. I'm going to miss it, but yeah, that sounds like the most sensible decision. Well, it's been fun. Thank you, everyone, for all your help. Anyway, see yee.

Edited by mr_c on Jun 17th 2022 at 2:36:24 PM

I was a germophobe before it was cool.

themayorofsimpleton Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him from Elsewhere (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Abstaining

Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him

#82: Jun 17th 2022 at 6:34:51 AM

I already cut listed it. That’s what we do with old wick checks. Usually the mods preserve the old one in the thread too if they feel it’s worth preserving.

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