Yeah, most people are going to be encountering a black or brown bear and the bear will just move off on its own or give you a threat display because you're near its cubs. (Just back away slowly for either bear)
Juvenile black bears can be aggressive when they're trying to make territory, but usually that just makes them dumb teenagers that are trying to scare you. It's very easy to scare them back. Otherwise they will bluff charge you to get you to run away.
I'd choose a brown bear because "If it's brown, lay down." All I have to do is pretend to sleep and he goes away. No murder, no rape. Just a nap & peace & quiet. Sounds ideal to me!
I know more about polar bears than the others. But I've heard the saying; if it's black, fight back. If it's brown, lay down. If it's white, good night.
Does anybody know the cheat code for Panda? Cuz the moment I figure it out I am choosing bear for absolutely goddamn everything.
Lost in the woods? Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start - Panda time bitches!
Lost in downtown? Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start - Panda time!
Lost in thought? Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start - PaaaAaaNnnnnDdaaaa!
Sitting on the shitter and browsing the Internet? Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start - PANDA!!!
Being single and sticking to your guns i.e standards when it comes to dating. Don't be flexible. Don't be lenient. Don't compromise. Showing either means exploitation and people will want you to do things that'll undermine your standards.
Our stories have been pretty bad lately and selling fear and power fantasy still works as well as it always did.
I know it feels like bullshit and we all just say that people should just know and act better but they don't and they won't. They operate on what they think in their head is right.
I dunno. Maybe we need less stories maybe we need to tell better ones to inspire better. Maybe we do just need to BE better. I don't see it happening. We love the bad just way to much. Far more interesting.
Louis CK has a bit about how women have to take a terrible risk when dating, since men very often can be aggressive to the point of violent. In the 70s and 80s this was just accepted as a thing (and there was still a debate whether wife-rape was a thing). Since then, we've been trying to push the notion that romantic relationships should be consensual, not something that women should just have to weather, like it's an act of nature. And we're seeing the pushback from the Christian nationalist movement / transnational white power movement, to the point where rolling back women's suffrage is on the table.
This is that dominance hierarchy thing again. It seems our society likes men with prowess, especially sports chops, though money chops or political chops are also enjoyed. Our school administrators favor schoolyard bullies over their victims, which is only one example out of dozens how we favor men who are more bestial than civil.
So yeah, having to contend with a bear in the woods may not be worse than having to contend with a man in the woods.
Although, this is about the choice between a strange man and a strange bear, and the scenario comes down to hoping the beastie doesn't get too hungry / horny or otherwise is willing to respect you and your personhood. If not, it's a problem of escaping, and while the bear is way faster and stronger (we're assuming one of the larger ursine species) the man is smarter and may have tools. Given a strange man in the woods, we cannot automatically assume he has the manners of a New York family man with a robust office-clerk résumé.
A related question can be applied to a lot of our elected officials. Would the public be served better if we replaced our current official with a bear? There are a lot of them -- people who are allegedly exemplary citizens of our society to which our kids can aspire -- who behave worse than a bear might in their position.
It could be a good place for introspection. If you are a guy, and ended up stuck in a survival situation with a woman, would she be lucky she encountered you and not a bear? Similarly, if a woman drank to much at a social gathering and was too inebriated to think clearly, or even needed a place to rest, would your presence improve her safety or pose an additional risk? Not being a threat to our fellow humans is a very low bar, but it is a bar that a lot of people fail to clear.
I opine this is not fully their doing. US society really resents its teenagers and young adults, and did so even when I was a kid in the 1970s-1980s, which drove a lot of guys towards the alt-right even before Steve Bannon worked to turn it into a voting bloc. Here in the States we have a longstanding tradition of letting our young men turn into War Boys, join up with Immorten Joe, ever looking for an opportunity to go out in glory all shiny and chrome. ( Witness me! ) I got out by pure luck in the early 1990s, never quite finding my divine wind moment.
A woman saying yes to a date with a man is literally insane and ill-advised, and the whole species’ existence counts on them doing it, and I don’t know how they– How do women still go out with guys when you consider the fact that there is no greater threat to women than men? We’re the number-one threat to women. Globally and historically, we’re the number-one cause of injury and mayhem to women. We’re the worst thing that ever happens to them...
How do they still do it? If you’re a guy, try to imagine that you could only date a half-bear, half-lion, And you’re like, “I hope this one’s nice. I hope he doesn’t do what he’s going to do.”
I mean yeah, Louis is a putz and a predator, but he did make a valid point.
This whole thread is absurd lol. Like always these are extremist arguments that most than not paint a black or white scenario that is created to be divisive.
It's not just about whether they're safe for statistically, although of course that's true, but also to point out that there's the extra mental burden of keeping track of that safety aspect.
I couldn't care less what you're bored with. Ignoring problems doesn't solve them. Just fuck off and keep your mouth shut if you're so bored with people calling you out for being a misogynist.
One day you'll understand, but right now you are calling all the male members of your family rapists. I have a feeling you don't have children but if you did, well...
No I'm not. I will say all men are capable of rape, especially those who don't listen to or respect women. Amongst any other issues men will shrug off because it hurts their feelings. If you have an issue with that, it's a personal problem.
Where I'm from only men are capable of rape in legalese. So to me your first statement is obviously correct and yet creates the lie.
Also you just said your son(future?) is a rapist.
It creates a vacuum where men (even male children) are not seen as victims, and provokes hostility.
I absolutely have a problem with the way women can be treated within society yet I can see that it is within a bigger problem of general dissatisfaction. If you help create strong and confident men, you get less creeps.
The sooner we realise that both sexes together can work to solve this horrid issue, the better. That starts with much less generalised finger pointing.
The question is designed to be as divisive as possible. It categorizes large swathes of people into just 2 groups - man or bear. The man group contains mansplainers, but it also contains regular people who simply view humanity as naturally altruistic. The bear group contains people with concerns about men overpowering women, but also contains people who earnestly believe that most if not all men will try to do it if given the chance.
The problem is that people either are unable to or unwilling to acknowledge that these categories are not monolithic. And in claiming that all people in the man group are incels, you are inadvertently insulting everyone in that group. Likewise, in claiming that all people in the bear group are misandrists, you are inadvertently dismissing everyone in that group.
It is not productive to make claims about people based only on their answer to the question. In fact, it appears to be entirely the intention of the question to divide even rational people by exploiting the general human inability to see subgroups within larger categories
My only issue with that mentality is it completely ignores reality. I understand that most women have had a bad experience with a guy here or there. What they don't seem to understand is that the types of guys that are doing these things are a small percentage of the population.
The guys that are pulling this crap aren't even gonna get offended by this whole "man or bear" thing in the first place. At the end of the day it just makes the rest of us feel even more dejected and apathetic about it all. Why should I champion for any woman when I'm going to be seen as a predator regardless?
It may ignore your reality, but the thing about experience is that it defines our realities, and the experiences of the women who responded make up reality as they see it. If they've had more negative experiences than positive ones, their reality is that the bear is a better option.
Based on so, so much of what I've heard/learned from my wife, female friends, co-workers, daughters, stories from numerous personalities from tv, film, and radio, MAGA, Andrew Fucking Tate, etc., I can't say that I disagree with the choice.
That's a fair assumption from what I said though that's not how I meant it.
I treat everyone equally regardless of what is or isn't between their legs. I'm generally just that helpful guy that's always offering help to people even if they don't outright ask for it. I just try my best to make sure everything is going smoothly for everyone around me.
But I bet not a single woman I've interacted with would ever remember me helping them. They'd never remember me going out of my way to make sure they felt safe and were having as good of a time as possible. But they'll never forget that guy that made them uncomfortable. And that's all they'll think about. They'll ignore every single man they interacted with. They'll ignore all the men that didn't do anything to them. The men that treated them like normal human beings.
I'm not gonna change how I treat everyone. But it's really fuckin annoying to constantly hear "all men" when I'm actively going out of my way to be as helpful as possible.
The only people I've seen saying "all men" are men who are butthurt that women calculate the risk of being in the woods with a bear as less risky. None of the women who are choosing the bear say that.
I'll admit I've only heard a few say it here or there online but I've had several experiences irl with women who actually think and behave that way.
I've had a coworker get pissy with me because I was getting excited and loud and her "apology" was "Sorry I just hate men. Like all men".
Idk maybe I just got (un)lucky enough to live in an area where we have a lot of outspoken women who actually act like all men are fucking monsters and it's exhausting especially for me because I actually look like the type of guy that would do some of the shit I hear about.
I'm 6'3" covered in tattoos and scars. I look just like the type of guy women are afraid of. And as a result I get hit with all the bullshit from it. Despite being an ally and doing my best to try to be a light in the darkness.
I’m so sick of hearing about this bear thing. I don’t care. It’s a thought experiment. A reminder that humans are easily controlled by the internet. Everyone has an opinion about this stupid shit.
