This week’s reading (pgs 211-214) talks about Fears and Phobias. Bates shows Larry a reenactment video of Larry’s hostage attempt in the SHU (Secured Housing Unit) in 2000. They reminisce about the video and Bates asks Larry if there is anything that does not seem accurate. Larry mentioned that not all prisoners are dangerous. Bates asks Larry if there is anything that he is afraid of. “He shouted,”Yes!”, smacking the table with his hand for emphasis--a common gesture.”Spiders”! He said with a shudder.”Always have been”” (Bates 214). This was odd for Bates because to her, Larry seemed fearless. “Another lesson learned: even the toughest of criminals has his weakness” (Bates 214). This proves that not anybody is too big of a person to not have fears. Everybody is human and everybody has some kind of fear no matter what it is. I believe it is very upsetting to see somebody get treated different because of what kind of situation they are in or for what kind of person they are. Everybody has feelings. What makes people treat people bad and not equal? And what can we do to prevent it?
According to google, a phobia is a type of anxiety disorder. It is a strong, irrational fear of something that poses little or no real danger. What known phobia do you think you might possess? A phopbia that I have is tryphobia. Tryohobia is a phobia where you are scared of holes. Ever since I was a kid I did not like dark holes. It took alot for me to even go down slides. To this day, I dislike holes and it would take a lot for me to get into one, but I will never get into a dark hole no matter what. Is your phobia similar to mine? If so, please share some of your examples.
Last year, I started to read this book called “The Science of Fear: Why We Fear the Things We Should Not - and Put Ourselves in Great Danger”. This book describes the fact of us fearing things that we should not. It describes how we are the safest creatures on this earth, and we should not fear as much as we do. We are all human and we all have fears, but do you think your fears are not worth fearing? Even though you think your fear is a “weak” fear, why do you think you still fear it? Do you think you can get past this fear?