We all have our own fears whether its of spiders, snakes, or heights. Some of them are justified while others are just irrational, either way they tend to dominate our life oftentimes in a negative way because certain groups use those fears to push for ineffective laws or to sequester their members from the general public.
The second most phobia in the U.s.a is ophidiophobia (fear of snakes) if you would talk to them and ask of facts about snakes most of the time they would tell you myths and legends as id they were facts. They will often say snakes will stretch out their bodies to size up their food, while no herpetologist have seen wild snakes doing this behavior nor do private keepers notice it while feeding their pets.
There is alot of misinformation being spread by animal right groups trying to ban reptiles, while they unknowingly spread more fear around snakes throughout the public. Such as humane society of the United states (hsus). https://www.humanesociety.org/search?keys=Snakes . They said since 1976 17 people were killed by their pet constrictor but on this page https://www.humanesociety.org/animals/snakes (edit hit the link saying about large constrictor deaths) they contradict themselves ,even on the page,
Says that snakes aren't a threat to humans or their pets.
They also neglect to mention the circumstances that led to people getting bit and killed by their pet snakes, most keepers actually read the snakes body language to see if they are defensive or in a food mode failing to properly read the animal (any animal really) can lead to a dangerous situation. https://youtube.com/watch?v=ie5Iauc3Q9E
Shows what to do if a snake bites out of a food response and why it happened to him.
In ny opion fear can be a result of a bad experience, but more likely it is taught to us by our parents and society.
Sorry for the word salad sometimes i don't say much others i can't shut up. Picture just cause.
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Genetic memory, in many cases.
https://futurism.com/memories-can-inherited-scientists-may-just-figured
In other cases, it's the subconscious mind's way of telling you that you're doing something that's about to get you fucked up.
@terraphon it could also be a meme instead of genetic memory
The sources are in the description they explain it better then i could.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=HV9WEqLeBuo
edit: couldnt post more at work
https://www.susanblackmore.uk/articles/the-power-of-memes/
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/what-defines-a-meme-1904778/
Yeah, I'm done with you.
All living animals are genetically programmed to survive and propagate. To survive, we must have fear as the alarm bells that indicate that something is wrong and to be more aware.
Infants are born with two fears, of falling and loud sounds. All other fears are imprinted on us through our environment and learning. The problem is that in this learning phase, a person can be taught irrational fears. And for each culture or community those fears can be different.
IMO it appears that the OP was half a defense for snakes. Yes, they can be misunderstood. For example, I live in Canada where freezing temperatures are hostile to snakes and other lizards. And since I am not exposed to snakes, they are foreign, and thus not readily accepted.
@david killens i used snakes because alot of people are afraid and compared to other common fears i know more about the subject then others. Also the parents can be afraid of snakes like ny younger sister but their kids like my nephew barely under a year old loved my first snake the first time he saw it nearly 4 years ago thar led me to think fear for the most part is taught.
scotty the snake, since I am very unfamiliar with snakes, I am very ignorant of them. And since what little I know is that they may be dangerous (they are carnivores) my personal initial impulse is to steer clear of them.
And no, I am not going to make any effort to learn and understand these creatures. My interactions with them is exceptionally rare, the only snakes I encounter are on TV, the zoo, or cowboy boots.
Fear comes from being married.
LOL
Fear is a brain function. Primal.
@chimp3 Agree. An innate survival mechanism. Without it we would all be dead. Type one error: We see a bush move and we think "TIGER" and run away. Type two error: We see a bush move and think "WIND." We continue on and are eaten by the tiger. Not only is it innate in the human species but the gene pool has been culled over and over and over to perpetuate it within our species.
@Cognostic
You are talking about "agent detection", and some scientists think it could have a role on religion.
The litany against fear is an incantation used by the Bene Gesserit throughout the series to focus their minds and calm themselves in times of peril. The litany is as follows:
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
(source Wiki)
Once I read that I realised I could conquer myself....words in books have real power.
Old man shouts ...: And its so much easier when one does not believe in supernatural nonsense.
@Old Man
Powerful verse, but don’t the French use “little-death” as a euphemism for an orgasm? “Fear is the orgasm that brings total obliteration”?
Brain recognizing possible danger. But, fear originates as a wavelength who's origin comes from MACS0647-JD and the shape of the waveform looks like a snake. It is hypothesized that this snakelike waveform is a naturally occuring pulse from the star of this very young system, and projects fear directly onto the brains of living things in the universe. Fear is projected because this system is the last to encounter heat death, and will initiate the last black hole that will collapse the universe and compress it into another singularity. The researchers have coined the system Cap'n Crunch. They also hypothesize that it is proof of an extraterrestrial intelligence as its signal is one of fear that is warning us of Cap'n Crunch. The researchers also say that if the Cap'n Crunch solar system ever meets with the Milky way system, we will likely have a wholesome breakfast.
Q: Fear, where does it come from?
A: Instincts. Primal animal instincts.
Now to read the other replies.
rmfr
@ scott with snakes
As far as my acrophobia, it is the result of PTSD. While I was in the Navy and our ship was in dry dock, I had to be the fire watch when the robotic plasma cutter cut the hole in the side of the ship so the boiler engine could be replaced. During my maneuvering, a piece of the block and tackle system broke and sent me falling, then to swing and smack against the side of the dry dock. I awoke in the hospital a couple of days later. When I was OK'd for duty again, I could not get to my ship because I could not cross the gangplank due to the impossibly severe fear of heights. I was later given an HUH discharge with Medical Conditions and returned home.
As I have since learned, it is not the actual "fear" of the heights, it is the "startle/fear" response of "thinking" about "falling" again. And it has been something I have never been able to get rid of. I can function at heights as long as "I KNOW I am safe" from falling.
Good example: I could be in an office building 80 floors up, stand right next to the window, look down, and not have any response because I know I am safe behind the glass. Go to the roof with only a waist-high guard rail of a one-story building, if look down standing next to that guard rail, just do not be standing behind me or I WILL plaster your ass to the roof getting away from the edge. However, put me on that same roof with a harness system that I secured and I have no problem going to the edge.
Hell, just thinking about standing on the edge of a height without safety equipment gives me a severe case of willies and goose pimples and spine tingles.
Others, who have not suffered a fall like mine and are scared of heights are just woosies. Sorry and acrophobes, but that IS my honest opinion.
Otherwise, I have no fears. I startle very easily due to suffering two severe cases of PTSD. However, I do NOT scare easily. What is the difference between startle and scare? Startle is instantaneous, like a gunshot. It only lasts for a split-second. Scare is similar but is sustained over a much longer period of time, such as having a gun pointed at your head that you cannot dodge.
rmfr
I'm scared of owls, don't know why.
Yes, you shouldn't be really, they're a hoot!
I'll get my coat!
I'm afraid of Randomhero1982.
@ Random
You really are a twit sometimes.....you are just waiting for raptor that GH goes on about...anyway sorry for sticking me beak in I will leave after just winging it...
I have heard of this before...there was some research done at the university of prague, with infants of varying ages, that were shown both live owls, and pictures of owls, intermixed with other creatures likenesses. The children acted negatively to the owls, with an almost certainty, crying at the sight of the beasts. Somewhere in the 90th percentile, if I remember correctly. The study went further by narrowing down features of the bird, feathers, claws and the like, and found the highest negative response to the beak. At one point the pictures were varied to other things with beaks, and a picture of Horus which had the highest negative response...wait a second, could it be? You are afraid of a god. :P I am really bored today.
@scotty the snake OP
Snakes are misunderstood and not nearly as dangerous to us as some people's fears over snakes are. Especially non venomous snakes.
Constrictors like the one you pictured very rarely kill humans. Sure they have a nasty bite, and if you let them actually encircle you (if they mean you harm) can certainly kill even an adult human. Many many more humans die every year to their pet dogs then to pet snakes, (mostly due to the sheer numbers of pet dogs vs pet snakes.)
I live in colorado and we have rattlesnakes. If I am out on a long hike deep in the wilderness If I ever hear a rattle I immediately retrace my steps and get out of there. That is a healthy fear. Rattlesnake venom is quite deadly and I would be far from help.
Additionally there is parts of the world where venomous snakes do regularly kill people especially farmers working fields by hand, there is a reason for some people in some parts of the world to greatly fear snakes. It actually means death there.
And that gets to the main point, fear, we have fear (sometimes of snakes) because it was needed for survival. Just these days in modern 1st world countries fear of snakes (or other things) are no longer needed for survival.
We also fear what we do not understand or are familiar with. Snakes are pretty unfamiliar to lots of people these days.
I travel a lot, so one irrational fear I see in lots of people is of planes. Statistically you are more then 100 times more likely to die on the car drive to and from the airport then you are on a plane. Yet I see people say prayers or act nervous all the time when the plane takes off and lands or gets bad turbulence.
The boeing 737 max crashes has made world wide news and now the plane is being grounded world wide, even though the chances you will die on the next 737 max plane you ride is still 1 in a million and still far safer then your car drive to the airport. /shrug.
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Fear - Where does it come from?
It comes from your Amygdala.
I fear that when I fart, it may not just be a fart. A usually unsubstantiated fear.
Fear of the Dark... Iron Maiden!
@scotty the snake
Fear - Where does it come from?
From the unknown and from Hollywood movies.
That's where my fear of snakes came from until.... I went away for 3 months in the Mediterranean and saw them for the first time. I walked about the poisonous snakes with absolutely no fear. Sometimes I would walk on walls that separated vegetation gardens and I would notice over 6 foot snakes sleeping or just staying still at the bottom of this 5 foot wall.
Don't get in their way and they won't get in yours.
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OK. Backing up. One thing I have never feared was anything that normally scared people like snakes, spiders, whatever. In fact, my mind was so damned insatiable for knowledge, I use to go out and catch snakes, spiders, whatever, and bring them home, put them in a cage and study them. As a kid, I have raised a whole mess load of frogs from eggs releasing them into the wild once they could hop around. I have raised birds from eggs found out in the woods. My father got me an aquarium when I wanted to have some fish. Even bred Siamese Fighting Fish for over a decade, as a child. As an adult, I have had a wall sized aquarium that separated the kitchen from the dining room. A very large sun room (about 100 m^2) with a literal rain forest inside with birds; 2 love birds, macau, cockatiel, 3 parakeets; but none breeding. I had 4 dogs, 5 cats. A horse slated for slaughter, but saved it. A boa that got 12 feet long. An iguana. A pair of chinchillas. The list goes on.
Basically, the only thing that truly scares me today is that Islam may indeed win and slaughter the world. That is why I am fighting against Islam now. I am even trying to learn Arabic so I can post on their websites. Those that do accept English mostly ban me because I disparage their ideas too badly. But I end up hacking back in.
Christianity must still be fought here in the US. It has too much of a strangle hold on this country. Of course, our idiotic problem is education. We ain't got none if look around at the larger population. Us intelligent and rational atheists must keep up the fight to lobotomize religion from humanity.
rmfr
I spent several years doing a great deal of recreational skydiving. (Not counting all my military training jumps.) There was a well-known saying in the skydiving community that we would often tell newbies and/or non-skydivers when they asked, "Isn't skydiving dangerous?" My reply would most often be, "You're damn skippy it is dangerous! Driving to and from the drop zone can sometimes be incredibly hazardous!" (It's all a matter of perspective, ladies and gentlemen... *chuckle*...)
Spent many years as a rappelling instructor for Jr. ROTC kids during their annual summer training camps. After my demonstration of descending the tower "Aussie style" (face first) at high speed, the opening of my introduction speech would always be my asking the group, "Show of hands! Who here is scared about stepping off my tower?" And I would always raise my hand along with all the other kids in the group who raised theirs. I would then go on to explain that if there was anybody in the group who did NOT have a little bit of fear in them, then I did not want them on my tower. I then told them that it is perfectly okay and natural to be afraid, because what they were about to do was not a "natural" act that one would normally do, and it WAS indeed a dangerous activity. And that is why it was so important to have that innate fear, because it was that fear that kept you from becoming lax and lazy. It was that fear that made you double-check your equipment and pay close attention to the instructions and procedures. Basically, it was that fear that kept you safe while performing a dangerous activity. And the only time that fear was a bad thing is when you allowed that fear prevent you from doing a task/activity that needed to be done. Fear is a good thing, but only as long as YOU control that fear, and do not let that fear control YOU.
@LogicFTW is it the same type of fear as what 1st world fear or is it more about surviving a great threat to their lives. As in do they try to indiscriminately kill all snakes or just venomous ones?
@arakish sorry to hear about your accident, let up on thinking that all who are afraid of heights are wusses i slipped off the repelling tower in boot camp got lucky didn't get hurt even though i am still afraid but i don't let that fear control me anymore, until they face their fear(forced like me, or voluntarily) they let that fear consume and control them.
@Tin-man wished my JROTC had a summer training camp like that only had it for drilling. It is natural to have fear keeps me from trying to climb down from the metal coverings at work on a unsteady ladder without someone to hold it, but alot of people will let their fear control them and their thoughts.
Sorry if it seems if i did a hit and run my shyness tend to keep me from talking to people even those online. Trying to overcome come it but sometimes it causes me to keep quiet even when if i wanted to talk or need to.
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