It’s time for a discussion post!
In my Personal Essay class, we’re working on our second paper, on fear. Part of this includes going to people we know and discussing it with them.
So what is fear? How does the media use fear? Are humans naturally fearful — is being afraid in our genes — or are we conditioned by society to be fearful? Where does it come from? How do we overcome it? And why are we afraid to face it?
A couple of questions/prompts he gave us to help with the though processes: Are you afraid of terrorism? Also, would you like to carry around a gun?
This is my initial input (though you can expect me to comment responses and whatnot to ya). There are two different kinds of fear. There’s the natural survival instinct that causes us to fear things that threaten our lives. The second kind of fear develops in response to a traumatic event. Like, for example, I’m afraid of trusting new people because of what happened back in high school. Things like that. Can it be overcome? It can, but it’s very hard to do. Facing something you fear is obviously not a pleasant thing to do.
Now, am I afraid of terrorism? Not particularly, but it pisses me off. Look, U.S., people hate us and are trying to kill us. Did you all ever stop to think WHY? Maybe we could DO SOMETHING about it, instead of trying to kill them in response.
Would I carry a gun? Nope. And I could care less. The NRA, according to my professor, has the notion, or something, that “the ONLY way to feel safe is to have a gun.”
So… NRA… My feeling safe more or less my entire life has been a delusion because I’m not armed? Um, here, I have a better question for ya; uh, are ya fucking stupid?
But anyway, that’s my two cents for now. Let’s make this an INTELLIGENT DISCUSSION please, for fuck’s sake. Aliens are irrelevant. Plus, this is for a class, damnit. I wouldn’t be making this blog post in the first place otherwise.
I agree with you, and have virtually no thoughts on the subject. Sorry, G.
I’m not really afraid of terrorism but I do want to carry a gun…does that make me a terrorist? :3
Well, I think you’re on the right path for starters. Fear is connected with our instinct for self preservation and, as such, it is one of the most powerful and important emotions we’ve got.
Put as simply as possible, fear is the emotion that keeps us safe.
That goes for any kind of safety, too — including emotional and psychological safety. In that case, when we are feeling threatened emotionally or psychologically, the natural reaction of denial is also a fear reaction.
Sometimes we believe we can’t handle things when we can. That produces fear. And sometimes, we fear things that perhaps won’t kill us but will hurt us. Just like we fear the consequences of sticking our hand into the open flame, we also perhaps fear the consequences of trusting people … possibly (in both cases) because of the past we have either experienced or observed.
So, being afraid is definitely in our genes (and in the genes of other animals, too, although we have no way of knowing whether they experience their instinct for self preservation in quite the same way that we humans do).
On the other hand, being afraid of all the things we are afraid of is societal conditioning. In much the same way that cats do not recognize mice as food unless they are taught to, so humans don’t recognize certain things as threats unless they are taught to.
(For the record, I have never owned a gun and, in most situations and most circumstances, I feel quite safe.)
I didn’t realize that this would be a failure in a discussion. I practically hate this. Is the majority of people who read my blog just a bunch of mindless, brainless, idiots?
Anyway, Nat, Kimmie, Mom, thank you for your comments at the very least.
So we are socially conditioned to fear things. I think the media capitalizes on this, as well as causes the fear in the first place. I wouldn’t have been afraid of flying in an airplane if it weren’t for the new stories that covered plane crashes. They don’t do new stories on car crashes, even though those and more common and likely, and I don’t have a problem at all with driving.
I can’t say the media’s propaganda has totally affected me; like I said before, I don’t fear terrorists. I’m not afraid of Obama (though the people spreading these stupid rumors need to get their asses kicked), etc etc. I think what it comes down to is whether or not you have the common sense to look at what’s being said, and what the facts are, and what makes logical sense. I mean, you can clearly tell who the retards are. Look for the “Obama = Hitler” signs…