Posts
The rules are:
Sign up, grab the banner and make a list.
Keep your list to between 5 and 25 items.
You can list whatever you feel like (except for adult type content.)
Post on October 26 and visit fellow participants.
WHAT FRIGHTENS AMERICANS MOST
1. PUBLIC SPEAKING
2. BLOOD/NEEDLES
3. CLAUSTROPHOBIA
4. STRANGERS
5. BUGS, SNAKES,& OTHER ANIMALS
6. HEIGHTS
7. CLOWNS
8. DROWNING
9. FLYING
10. DARKNESS
11. STORMS
ON A POLITICAL NOTE --
Democrats are nearly twice as likely as Republicans to have a fear of
clowns.
They are also significantly more likely to fear bugs, snakes and
other animals,
as well as blood and needles.
Democrats are slightly
more likely to be afraid of ghosts.
{Based on the Chapman University Survey on American Fears)
In what order are those in your ranking of fears?
Glad I'm not a Democrat.
ReplyDeleteI would think death would be high on that list. Although I can relate to needles.
Death is the chief thing we in which we are in denial. I guess that makes it the top of the list for things feared, too. :-)
DeleteReally interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe thought of speaking in public also terrifies me.
Because I can't swim, drowning is high on my list. (yet I live 5 minutes from the beach, in a sub-tropical climate which is the perfect 'beach weather')
I can float, and that saved my life when I worked at the local refinery! :-)
DeleteSquirrels should be on that list!
ReplyDeleteRatatoskr, the Asgardian squirrel heard that! Be prepared to have your sugar bowl raided, Holly! :-)
DeleteInteresting list, lol.
ReplyDeleteJuneta Writer's Gambit
I tried to make it seasonal! :-)
DeleteIt's always interesting to me that public speaking is so high on the list!
ReplyDeleteYvonne
You probably do well at it is why. But most never have to speak before a group -- many revert to elementary age emotionally when facing a large unknown group. :-)
DeleteI fear drowning, but not the water. However, we had a whale watching expedition ship sink here a day ago and 4 people are recorded dead so far. I've been on one of those. One never knows what is in store. Perhaps fear makes us more aware or does it increase probability?
ReplyDeleteI fear being underground - cave-ins, etc.
I was lost in a cave as a young boy so caves, claustrophobia, and darkness give me the shivers.
DeleteI almost drowned when working at a refinery so drowning is an unsettling thought, too.
It is so sad about those lost in that expedition ship. :-(
Thanks for visiting and chatting. It means a lot.
Some of those things (public speaking and snakes) make me uncomfortable, but I don't think I am really afraid of them. I can also avoid them.
ReplyDeleteI am afraid of bad things happening to the people I love. Things I cannot change or make better (illness for example).
Yes, illness is something that threatens us all. Sigh. And not being in control is unsettling, isn't it?
DeleteMother passed on her fear of snakes to me which is why I used snakes in HER BONES ARE IN THE BADLANDS. I creeped myself out on that scene!
I'm a democrat. The only one of those fears that bothers me are the needles. It is more of an aversion. Big laugh in that I prick myself on a regular basis as a diabetic.
ReplyDeleteI'm a country girl in that darkness and critters do not bother me. However, I have a healthy respect for wildlife.
Wise of you to be have respect for wildlife for they have none for us!!
DeleteIi hate needles as I was in intensive care as a young boy three times for double pneumonia, and all those needles left me wary of them!!
I'm a registered independent so maybe my fears are different. Needles are probably on my list, but I don't think of myself as being afraid of them so much as just hating them!
ReplyDeleteNope. I'm afraid of them. :-) I think that Dem vs. Rep. was just done for the laugh of it.
DeleteAre you sure that Democrats' list wasn't compiled by Republicans...or would Republican's biggest fear be Democrats...or Donald Trump? Hmm. I never understood how Public Speaking could be the world's biggest fear, but it always tops the list. Give me a glass of wine and I'm not at all afraid! My biggest fear isn't on the list--knives of the type used for stabbing, cutting or slicing human beings in movies. Give me a blast of a good ole American gun any day to that knife thing. Urk!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the same thing about that Dem. vs Rep facet of the study, :-)
DeleteThere are a lot of shy people in this world (I am one of them) so I understand why public speaking is up high on the list.
The devastating trauma associated with bullet wounds (especially high caliber ones) is frightening -- yet, you are right the thought of a knife slicing along our flesh is not a happy one!! Ouch.
I feel like the dark should be higher on the list. There's valid, primal reasoning behind it. Funny that it's public speaking. Can't say I'm a big fan, but I'm growing increasingly comfortable with it.
ReplyDeleteI see and agree with your point about the dark. The racial memory within us (which science has recently endorsed) remembers when the dark hid only predators.
DeleteThe more you do the thing you fear, the more you grow accustomed to it, right?
I'm going to put drowning at the top of the list because of the whole, you know, dying thing associated with it. The rest I can deal with.
ReplyDeleteAnd I kind of like storms.
Having almost drowned, I see your point! :-)
DeleteHaving endured and survived the horrors of Katrina and Rita, I am not very fond of storms!!!
I worry about running out of ammo in the dark while shooting flying clowns in a storm.
ReplyDeleteA natural enough fear. LOL.
DeleteSo do these statistics mean that Democrats are afraid of each other?
ReplyDeleteMy top fear in this list would be claustrophobia. I begin to panic in a tight place. I hate flying because I don't like being cooped up with others and not being able to stop and get out when I want.
The other night I was watching an interesting documentary about researchers going down into a cave to retrieve fossils. I actually had to leave the room during some of the scenes when they were crawling though tight passages.
Arlee Bird
A to Z Challenge Co-host
Tossing It Out
I actually had a dream last night of going down an alley that kept getting narrower. I woke up when it got too tight. I know what you mean.
DeleteIt is loss of control of flying for me. I hate not having my fate not in my own hands.
I think every politician does not trust a fellow politician!! :-)
Thanks for listing with me, Roland! I'm surprised death isn't on that list! The only one on it that I can say is scary for me is heights, which is odd because as a kid I was a tree and rock climber with no fear. It seemed to develop as I got older. And the thing is, it's not really a fear of high places. When I'm on a high place I get a VERY strong urge to jump because I want to FLY! But I know I can't fly, that I will fall. But that urge to leap off, to spread my wings... that's why I'm a bit anxious in high places.
ReplyDeleteDeath would be on the list if most of us did not deny it coming for us! There is that odd phenomenon of being pulled towards the edge, isn't there? Maybe our souls know we are meant to fly in the next stage of our lives. :-)
Delete