Mad Doug Biker
Just a damaged guy.
- Location
- Craggy Island
I'll shout for you
What if you are alone and it is something harmless like a Corn Snake that just wants to say hello??
The Supression of Fear.
- Thread starter Crandoggler
- Start date
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What if you are alone and it is something harmless like a Corn Snake that just wants to say hello??
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Crandoggler
Senior Member
Here's a twist then. Is fear taught/learnt?
Hill Wimp
Fair weathered,fair minded but easily persuaded.
What if you are alone and it is something harmless like a Corn Snake that just wants to say hello??
in my head no snake has a purpose on this earth therefore they shouldn't be here even to say hello.I feel sick at the thought.
Hill Wimp
Fair weathered,fair minded but easily persuaded.
Yes.
My fear of snakes comes from my mum. She was always banging on about them and how awful they were and I remember her reaction to one when I was little. She grabbed me and screamed. I am convinced that caused my fear and no amount of rational thinking will change that unless I go for snake therapy.
vickster
Legendary Member
No, human
Mad Doug Biker
Just a damaged guy.
- Location
- Craggy Island
A phobia starts at being scared at something, and then, with confirmation bias if it happens again, the fear is either upheld or discarded....... And then you get kids who's parents are scared at something, so they learn it from their parents, again using confirmation bias (Mum and/or Dad is scared of it, therefore it must be scary!). Sad if you ask me, no offence.
snakeperson has a purpose on this earth therefore they shouldn't be here even to say hello
Every creature on the planet is here for a reason (although I do seriously have to wonder about us - We are more like a virus than anything else), it is called nature.
I feel sick at the thought.
If the very thought makes you feel sick then do something about it!!
Classic example of what I said above, and why we as a species are seriously zarked up!
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Crandoggler
Senior Member
We as a species are incredible, in every sense of the word.
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Crandoggler
Senior Member
[QUOTE 3880862, member: 9609"]I would have thought we were all hard-wired to be scared of stuff like snakes and spiders, it is amazing how quickly we spot them, people who didn't spot them or had no natural fear didn't get to procreate. I think many animals are, I remember my dogs first encounter with an adder, he suddenly stopped then slowly took a wide berth - he just naturally knew this was not a toy.[/QUOTE]
You know, we as humans don't give ourselves enough credit.
If you were to remove all the bullshit, all the technology, clothes, fast food, cars, medication etc. you would be left with the most horribly savage and relentless predator on the planet. Maybe with a lifespan of half of ours, but what a feat of evolution. A creature that can outlast any animal on the planet, a creature which has painstakingly evolved to run, and run, and run, and run, until that poor bastard we're running after falls down and collapses due to exhaustion... And the human? Not a chance. That bastard can recover whilst on the move, a feat no other animal has achieved yet. It can track your footsteps, find the feathers you've dropped or the fur you snagged on a branch. It can hunt you for days, every time you look behind, it will be there, constantly pursuing you.
We can sustain the most horrific injuries and live. We have invredibly hardy bodies and have the mentality to physically operate on ourselves to remove offending injuries, we can eat almost anything without dying. We are impressive bastards. We train other predators to do our dirty work for us, we create tools and tactics to trap and slay other animals. We consciously kill other animals and insects just for being in our presence, without any real threat to us at all.
Might not look like it from behind your beer belly and your computer screen. But there's a bloody good reason we're top of the food chain.
You know, we as humans don't give ourselves enough credit.
If you were to remove all the bullshit, all the technology, clothes, fast food, cars, medication etc. you would be left with the most horribly savage and relentless predator on the planet. Maybe with a lifespan of half of ours, but what a feat of evolution. A creature that can outlast any animal on the planet, a creature which has painstakingly evolved to run, and run, and run, and run, until that poor bastard we're running after falls down and collapses due to exhaustion... And the human? Not a chance. That bastard can recover whilst on the move, a feat no other animal has achieved yet. It can track your footsteps, find the feathers you've dropped or the fur you snagged on a branch. It can hunt you for days, every time you look behind, it will be there, constantly pursuing you.
We can sustain the most horrific injuries and live. We have invredibly hardy bodies and have the mentality to physically operate on ourselves to remove offending injuries, we can eat almost anything without dying. We are impressive bastards. We train other predators to do our dirty work for us, we create tools and tactics to trap and slay other animals. We consciously kill other animals and insects just for being in our presence, without any real threat to us at all.
Might not look like it from behind your beer belly and your computer screen. But there's a bloody good reason we're top of the food chain.
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Mad Doug Biker
Just a damaged guy.
- Location
- Craggy Island
[QUOTE 3880862, member: 9609"]I would have thought we were all hard-wired to be scared of stuff like snakes and spiders, it is amazing how quickly we spot them, people who didn't spot them or had no natural fear didn't get to procreate. I think many animals are, I remember my dogs first encounter with an adder, he suddenly stopped then slowly took a wide berth - he just naturally knew this was not a toy.[/QUOTE]
But you do see phobias being passed from parent to child when no real danger exists if at all, and is the dog in your example really scared, or is it just they haven't yet encountered something like that, are they watching you and your body language (not always done consciously), or, has something happened to the dog when they were younger that you don't know about?
But you do see phobias being passed from parent to child when no real danger exists if at all, and is the dog in your example really scared, or is it just they haven't yet encountered something like that, are they watching you and your body language (not always done consciously), or, has something happened to the dog when they were younger that you don't know about?
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Mad Doug Biker
Just a damaged guy.
- Location
- Craggy Island
Yes, and still zarked up - We are both the most intelligent and most stupidest species on the planet. Both the safest, and most dangerous, both the.... You get the idea.
Sorry, you will soon realise that I can be quite misanthropic at times.
...... Unless you mean 'incredible' in the terms I mean above??
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Pro Tour Punditry
Guru
[QUOTE 3880862, member: 9609"]...people who didn't spot them or had no natural fear didn't get to procreate. [/QUOTE]
I so hope the same is true for those who have contributed to this thread.
I so hope the same is true for those who have contributed to this thread.
Mad Doug Biker
Just a damaged guy.
- Location
- Craggy Island
Mad Doug Biker
Just a damaged guy.
- Location
- Craggy Island
[QUOTE 3880879, member: 9609"]It naturally knows to keep away, so it has a natural fear - is that not being scared?[/QUOTE]
I am not saying it isn't necessarily scared, I am just questioning the origin of it. Some behaviour will be subconscious/instinctive, yes, but how far does that go before environmental factors kick in??
In the wild, yes, but even then, what has been learned from the parents/watching others (if applicable)?
When we lived in caves and all that, I am sure we learned similar things, but in this day and age, surely we can find out about such things and realise what is harmless, and what fears are silly/irrational, therefore many if not all phobias are just that. It is why I say to @Hill Wimp, don't let it control you.
That is what should sort us out, and yet.....
I am not saying it isn't necessarily scared, I am just questioning the origin of it. Some behaviour will be subconscious/instinctive, yes, but how far does that go before environmental factors kick in??
In the wild, yes, but even then, what has been learned from the parents/watching others (if applicable)?
When we lived in caves and all that, I am sure we learned similar things, but in this day and age, surely we can find out about such things and realise what is harmless, and what fears are silly/irrational, therefore many if not all phobias are just that. It is why I say to @Hill Wimp, don't let it control you.
That is what should sort us out, and yet.....
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Crandoggler
Senior Member
I'd find it more believable that a dog was to play or kill a snake than back away from it. Instinctively it knows to eat it. Not fear it.
Tin Pot
Guru
Hmm...That's your second post alluding to something that you're hesitant to iterate clearly: what is it that you think you may need to do, that the society you live in will ostracise you for?
Distraction activities and 'self medication' are types of coping mechanisms I suppose. And I'm not entirely for or against therapy, but there isn't the evidence to support the old notions that avoiding issues causes greater problems. Sometimes ignoring "it" and time passed makes daily life easier to cope with.
