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…

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.)