Harem Scare 'em

As a buildup to Halloween, I have resolved to do a series of posts regarding things that are scary (and some things that aren't, like vampires). You could say that this series is a continuation of the two previous posts regarding Bigfoot and those lame-ass bloodsuckers. Consider this the Frasier to their Cheers.

We of course can't delve deeply into this subject matter without addressing the common denominator here: fear.

Fear has a certain allure to it. I loved how it was a central theme to Batman Begins. I never felt that the Scarecrow got enough credit. Fear is such a primal feeling; it could be interpreted as motivating almost every single human action. We date because we are afraid to die alone. We eat because we are hungry and afraid that there may not be food around later. We believe in God because we're afraid that life ends when we die. We're afraid to be afraid because it makes us look weak. A bit pessimistic with a touch of nihilism? Maybe, but there is still a grain of truth to it.

Fear drives our need to survive. Things scare us because our fusebox of a brain tells us that we are about to end up in a serious world of hurt unless we do something...and fast. This usually manifests itself in "GYAAAAAAAAH!" Although not a psychological anthropologist, I presume that it is a desperate effort to scare away the potential threat. What usually happens though is that you just end up looking like an ass in front of everyone else, which leads me to my next point:

Just like everything else in nature, we humans have gone made a very simple thing wa-hay too complicated. Take the simple fact that the only too innate fears we have are of abandonment and sudden, loud noises. Everything else is learned, and of course our huge friggen' noggins have gone and messed things up to the point where some people are afraid of the most rediculous things (i.e. the color blue and the letter "Q").

It will be interesting to see where I end up going with all of this. We'll look at some more of the classic monsters, whether they are scary or not, the funny side of fear, and, if there is time, what scares me. After all, if I can't take it too, why bother with this at all?