So who should be afraid of who?

molested_cow

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A spider? Or the girl who's scared by the spider?

The recent spider photos on the forums reminded me of a recent incident.

At work sometimes we sit around a table outside under the tree for lunch. There is this girl who is always "over exited" by bugs. A few weeks ago was the cicada season and she hated it.

Personally, I have nothing against bugs. In fact, I am pretty intrigued by them. I believe that as long as you respect them, they won't harm you. So when there is a bee flying around me, it doesn't bother me. As long as I don't try anything stupid, it will eventually go away, and I haven't been proven wrong.

So one afternoon we were at the table. Then suddenly she jumped up and pointed right at where she sat. It was a little spider, a jumping spider if you will. So the gentleman next to her kindly picked up the spider with a tissue and tossed it onto the grass. She was still worked up.

Then moments later, we noticed another similar spider around the area. So she started to get frightened again, stood up and... well, if you can use your imagination of a girl who's afraid and yet tries to step on the spider.

Very often in life, some moments leave greater impression than others.

For a split second, her facial expression really imprinted into my mind. I can see hatred, and a determination to kill. It was for a split second, but I saw it.

Then I said," Who should be afraid of who?" Some others agreed.

And then I just watched the movie Minority Report on DVD, which also made me write this thread. In the world of the movie, should we be more afraid of future murderers, or should the "murderers" be more afraid of us accusing them of conducting futuristic murder?

So that bothers me. We will all side towards to the frightened girl, but what about the scary looking little spider?

The most fragile and weakest part of the human being is the mind. Think about it, an animal does what it's supposed to do. A human, seldom.
 
it's a complex and interesting story. i hope we get a good discussion out of this one :)

i would have just kept eating and ignored them both (spider and girl)
leave it to her to get over her phobia, and leave it to the spider to not get squished!

as far as humans not doing what they're supposed to, i think the question should first be whether humans can be supposed to do anything in particular.
 
In general our fears and phobias are not based in any sort of realistic premise. They are illogical and in so being tend to come across as absurd to observers. There are very few animals or insects that can seriously harm us and we have far more to fear from each other.

With that being said, Insects don't bother me much as long as they obey my commands :D Actually the only bugs that bother me are silver fish. There is something about them that creeps me out.
 
Interesting story, I so wonder what the spider is feeling.

I think people just learn to be afraid of some insects/animals. When you are growing up and whenever there is a spider around the people around you are scared you would begin to think that you should be afraid of them.

P.S. molested_cow are you the same molested_cow as the one on the Core77 boards?
 
molested_cow said:
The most fragile and weakest part of the human being is the mind.

And yet it's the mind that separates us from all other animals in the history of the planet. It's what ranks us the superior predator to any other animal. The tiger's claws, the shark's teeth, the bear's size--all pale and insignificant next to the power and ingenuity of the human mind.
 
Shark said:
molested_cow said:
The most fragile and weakest part of the human being is the mind.

And yet it's the mind that separates us from all other animals in the history of the planet. It's what ranks us the superior predator to any other animal. The tiger's claws, the shark's teeth, the bear's size--all pale and insignificant next to the power and ingenuity of the human mind.

well said.
 
Shark said:
molested_cow said:
The most fragile and weakest part of the human being is the mind.

And yet it's the mind that separates us from all other animals in the history of the planet. It's what ranks us the superior predator to any other animal. The tiger's claws, the shark's teeth, the bear's size--all pale and insignificant next to the power and ingenuity of the human mind.

But surprisingly we are still amazed and surprised by what some of them can do.

Also, in the scared girl's case, what made her feel intimidated by the spider?
 
cowbert098 said:
I think people just learn to be afraid of some insects/animals. When you are growing up and whenever there is a spider around the people around you are scared you would begin to think that you should be afraid of them.
that pretty much sums up what i think. it's very unlikely that there's anything inherently scary about something that isn't dangerous.

about the "power of the mind" stuff, i think that what cow was originally getting at was the possibility that individual parts of the mind, when they fail, can bring down all the rest in a heartbeat. With this said, there's still room for great intelligence and genius or what have you.
 
molested_cow said:
Also, in the scared girl's case, what made her feel intimidated by the spider?

Good question. I'm in the same boat in a lot of ways--I used to have terrible arachnophobia. I mean, I would see a pin-head sized spider on the other side of the room and would be paralyzed by fear until (someone else) killed it. This was all the way up through my 20s! I've conquered a lot of that fear, but I'll still freeze up, break out in sweats, and be jumpy for an hour if I walk out into the garage barefooted and there's a big wood-spider on the floor. Even now, just talking about it, I want to look under my desk and make sure there's nothing there. :shock: :|

I can't remember a specific instance from childhood where a spider frightened me; I just remember always having this fear of them.

I also loathe snakes of all sorts, but that goes back to a definite childhood memory--walking through the grass barefooted to my grandmother's house and stepping on a big bull-snake that was sunning himself in the thick grass. He didn't bite me, just slithered away, but that feeling of putting your foot down and then feeling that...thing...move out from under me. :shudder: :pale:
 
I was bitten by a big dog, 5 stitches, but I still love them. It's those situation when it's all based on your luck, cus they are definitely not in the wrong.
 

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