These images are part of what Berger and Luckman refer to as the ‘conceptual machinery that accounts for the deviant condition’, and as such, perform a basic function in justifying a particular view of the world: ‘… the deviant’s conduct threatens the societal reality as such, putting into question its taken-for-granted cognitive and normative … operating procedures.’ … The only way to make sense of vandalism is to assume that it does not make sense; any other definition would be threatening.

Cohen, Stanley, Folk devils and moral panic…, loc. 335