So which of these applies if you are afraid of putting your hand in fire? I put it to you that only A is an intelligent choice. But you are adamant that it is always wrong to be afraid.
You seem to have a phobia about fear. I don't know if that counts as irony.
You certainly have a definition of fear that is blown out of all proportion and you treat it as a more dreadful thing than it deserves. It is basically just an instinct for self-preservation. Call it that if you prefer, if it will get us out of this pointless argument.
But I know the real issue. You are one of those people who've been taught that you can fix a bad situation by viewing it differently and redefining your vocabulary. Hence your use of the word "challenge" when what you really mean is a problem or difficulty. (Honestly, I hate that word. There are always better words that are more specific and more accurate.)
You are welcome to avoid negative terminology if you want, to make you feel better about a bad situation. But I call that delusion. Personally I think it's infinitely better to face up to a bad situation being bad (e.g. dangerous) and then do something about it. It's difficult to fix a problem if you don't acknowledge it first.
You talk as if fear and common sense are mutually exclusive. They are not. Both are useful, and fear especially so since it triggers the common sense that we need. It also heightens your senses and reaction times.
The problem nowadays is that so many people are lacking in BOTH.
It's foolish to argue that fear is unnecessary if common sense is better. Because fear is useful - no, critical - to those who lack common sense.
I really don't care which of them road users apply. I just wish they would pick either one and stop doing stupid things.
P.S. I don't really want this to drag on, but I'll make this final point and bow out.
Here's why I'm against the premise that "people shouldn't need to be afraid."
While you may take that argument and conclude that intelligent behaviour makes fear unnecessary, that isn't how most people are applying it.
They are thinking:
"I shouldn't need to be afraid."
"Therefore, if I am afraid, someone else must be at fault."
"Therefore, if I proceed and something bad happens, I am not to blame, the other person is."
"Therefore, I can do whatever I want, no matter how reckless. I'm ENTITLED to do so without fear."
That really is how people are behaving nowadays. I see it every day on the roads. The more vulnerable the road user, the more they apply this soft-minded thinking and put their own lives at risk.
And whether you like it or not, when you express your opinion that people shouldn't be afraid, you are encouraging that behaviour.
Sweet lord , you really put this drivel in print , good for you !
The hand in the fire thing .................. Seriously ? ( Didn't bother reading any further )
copy / paste from another thread this BS followed me !
For the last time , fear is a negative , it is not good ..
The only time fear is good , is when we learn to overcome it ...
I have seen people afraid to drive a car out on the road .. They are not safe , they dont drive smoothly , they are a serious threat to everyone around them ..
Through training , and repetition , we learn to deal with challenges .. We learn situationall awareness , and what we can and can't do ...
We learn not to be afraid , we learn how to drive and do so safely ( well some do ) .
Fear does not make good drivers , it does not make good cyclists , nor does it make good pedestrians .
If anything I believe you are confusing a lack of fear with STUPID !
Idiots think they can't die ( or wont die ) , they also think they can drive as well as the professional drivers even though they have never had professional training ...
They play car games and then go out and try to replicate what they do in a game ...
Stupid Speeds , stupid drives under the influence , stupid drives and texts or uses the phone ..
Stupid has no situational awareness , stupid does not look where they are going , stupid blindly follows GPS instructions and drives into a lake ...
I think you are confusing lack of fear with stupid !
Stupid does not do risk assessment , stupid is not cautious , stupid does not think about the possible outcome ...
The word you are confused over is " stupid " .
And everyone has their turn at doing something stupid ..
Think about the last time U were stupid ( with a car )
Did you stop to think about what you were going to do ?
Did the possible negative outcomes cross your mind ?
Did the possibility of not being stupid enter the equation ?
Or did you simply do ( What ever it was ) and then afterwards think about the possible outcomes that may have resulted in the negative ?
Most of the stuff that happens on the road , is due to " Stupid " , people simply stop using their brain ..
U can call it fatigue , brain fade , lack of concentration , distraction , anger , road rage , what ever ! ( The brain stops working )
Some people might actually give thought to what they do , speeders for example .. They know that at a certain speed death or mutilation is a certainty ..
But they obviously think they can deal with the risk ( Stupid ) . So they hammer down the road @ 150mph at night because no one is around , but a white tail deer bounds into the middle of the road and ( death or mutilation results ) ...
If stupid survived , they are probably lying in a hospital bed thinking , how stupid was that ! ( Not how brave was that )
Was it because of a lack of fear ? Was it because they are stupid ?
You perspective is that its due to a lack of fear !
My perspective is that they were stupid !
Because an intelligent , mentally well balanced person , would not do something so stupid ...
But there is the flaw in humanity , everyone is capable of being stupid , and it has nothing to do with fear ...
If fear was that prevalent , we would not have car racing , motor bike racing , horse racing , Reno Air Races , well any kind of racing ..
We probably would not have airline pilots , combat pilots , aircraft carriers , submarines , how about Astronauts ..
We would not have soldiers , police , fire , ambulance , doctors , nurses , ...... And so forth ... Its a massive list of activities that would not exist if people were afraid !
A lot of these people obviously don't know fear as you do !
Honestly , I don't understand what your on about .. I haven't lived your life , so I have no idea how you see the world ...
Do I know fear ?
Yes ...
For years I was a florklift driver , and where I worked the IDIOTS always tried to race past the back of the fork when I was unloading trucks ...
Because I had situational awareness , I never killed or injured anyone ..
Oh I came close , damned close to squashing people more times than I care to remember ..
And every time my heart skipped a beat , these idiots missed out on death or serious injury by a fraction of a second ..
And in that moment I knew fear ... But only in that moment ...
I knew these people were stupid , I knew that they would risk death to save themselves 5 seconds ...
So I never , ever reversed without checking my mirrors and glancing behind me ... I have lost count of the number of people I did not kill or injure because of my training , my skill , my situational awareness , and because of the procedures I put in place to counter stupid ... I did not drive a fork being afraid , I drove a fork with care , with concentration , awareness , skill , training , and caution ..
So even though people ( Office people usually ) did what they could to get killed , I refused to co operate with their suicide plans ..
Were these people afraid of the fork ( hell yes ) , but they were in a hurry , and they thought they would just slip quickly past me ... ( How stupid )
I know because I would pull them up and ask them what the hell they were thinking ... And you know what , they really were not thinking and admitted as much ..
And do you think for a moment they learned anything ? No , because a few months latter I would nearly kill or injure them again as they tried to sneak past the back of the fork .. ( Idiots , Stupid FKN idiots )
What is an idiot , some one that can't learn .. No matter the close calls , no matter how many accidents , they never learn a damned thing , because they are idiots ( Stupid )
When I did my fork license , we had a accident investigator ( industrial ) teach the OH&S course associated with the license ..
He had a book full of pictures from fork accidents and deaths ...
Did he have some tales to tell I can tell you ...
I think doing that course was good for me , because it showed me the consequences of stupid ..
And everything since then has simply reaffirmed my belief system ... Do the best you can to avoid stupid . ( Be it me or some one else ) I mean , really try hard , seriously hard , to avoid stupid .
Don't be afraid to avoid stupid .. And for the last 25 or so years , I have done the best I can to avoid stupid !
