this post was submitted on 05 May 2024
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Tap for contextSome woman on the internet said she would feel safer spending a night in the woods with a random bear rather than with a random man

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[–] SharkEatingBreakfast@sopuli.xyz 52 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Context: Some woman on the internet said she would feel safer spending a night in the woods with a random bear rather than with a random man

Some woman

Not "some woman" — quite a few women. Lots of women.

[–] SuperSaiyanSwag@lemmy.zip 40 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I’m a man and even I would pick a bear

[–] lud@lemm.ee 12 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

Really? What people do you usually hang around with?

Bears are incredibly strong and dangerous and will kill you just for fun.

I would honestly prefer a random man to a fucking moose.

[–] SuperSaiyanSwag@lemmy.zip 19 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Man is more unpredictable than bear. I know A bear can kill me, but I have no idea what a random man has in mind for me.

[–] lud@lemm.ee 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Sure. I guess it depends on what odds you are comfortable with. I prefer the very small odds of something worse than death or anything happing at all with Man than the high odds of death with a bear.

[–] SuperSaiyanSwag@lemmy.zip 9 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Where are you getting these odds from? For how many people live in bear regions, go camping/hunting/biking etc, there have not been that many bear attacks. Source

[–] lud@lemm.ee 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

From this scenario I'm obviously assuming you have to be close to the bear for the entire day.

It's not like the bear/man is at the other side of the forest.

And as to where I got my odds from? Well out of my ass. There are no statistics on this extremely specific scenario.

[–] Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 5 points 6 months ago

This has a strong "at least they're honest about wanting to kill me!" energy lol.

Or maybe the whole thing is a joke. I honestly can't tell

[–] Darkenfolk@dormi.zone 2 points 6 months ago

The random man probably hasn't anything in mind for you, just minding his own business.

[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The scale is shark > bear > man > moose. Don’t fuck with moose.

[–] OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml 3 points 6 months ago

Large prey animals in general. I see a hippo im running

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[–] beardown@lemm.ee 2 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Some woman on the internet said she would feel safer spending a night in the woods with a random bear rather than with a random black man

Changes their answers considerably

[–] Arcturus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Why do you feel the need to make this racist

[–] Mammothmothman@lemmy.ca 6 points 6 months ago

Don't feed the troll.

[–] apotheotic 11 points 6 months ago

"If you change the context, the context changes"

[–] ondoyant 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

beardown

did... did you make this account just to insert racist bullshit into the bear meme?

[–] GiveMemes@jlai.lu 2 points 6 months ago

Even more surprising is that it's a reference to a show that makes fun of racism and racist people all the time. 'Bear down for finals'

[–] apotheotic 34 points 6 months ago (3 children)

I am unironically bearpilled in this context. Men can be fucking scary with women. At least I'm unlikely to be SA'd before I die, with the bear.

[–] cows_are_underrated@feddit.de 9 points 6 months ago (3 children)

You're right. A bear wouldn't sexually assault you, he would simply kill you.

[–] apotheotic 21 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Yes! As opposed to the man, who would SA me and then kill me!

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[–] SaltyIceteaMaker@lemmy.ml 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

A polar bear likely

A brown bear maybe

A black bear unlikely

[–] liuther9@feddit.nl 8 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Why by default man is a serial killer and sa? What are the odds that dude is a psycho? What are the odds that bear is a killer? Do you understand how hard it is psychologically to murder someone if you are a normal person?

[–] apotheotic 16 points 6 months ago (3 children)

The man is not "by default" a serial killer and sa, its just a possibility I don't want to entertain.

And yes, hello, I am normal person. I understand how hard it is psychologically to murder someone. I also know how hard it is psychologically to SA someone. And yet...

This is a "this is the option I would take" situation. I didn't insult anyone, I didn't say YOU have to take the bear. If you disagree, that's perfectly okay, but you can't tell me how I should feel, despite many men thinking that's acceptable.

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[–] Enkrod@feddit.de 12 points 6 months ago

Odds of a sexual abuser need not be high for the man, they're simply 0% for the bear.

[–] ProgrammingSocks@pawb.social 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Somebody's consumed too much tiktok paranoia porn

[–] apotheotic 5 points 6 months ago

Are you referring to me? I wouldn't touch tiktok with a 10 foot pole, or any of the infinite scroll short form video things for that matter. I'm not on twitter either. Or tumblr.

My POV is based on my personal experience and the experiences of women around me. And statistics!

[–] beardown@lemm.ee 2 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Weird that you're so afraid of black men that you'd prefer a bear over them.

This is how George Floyd happens

[–] apotheotic 24 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

What the fuck did I say about black men? White men (men, regardless of race, for that matter) scare the fuck out of me my guy

E: You wouldn't happen to be a... man would you? Would be very fitting with the whole "derailing a conversation about women feeling unsafe" thing.

[–] MrBusiness@lemmy.zip 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

That's not a man, that's a troll.

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[–] OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml 4 points 6 months ago

You're thinking Emmitt Til and that wasn't because the white woman was afraid, it was because she was willing to go along with the white men.

[–] Landsharkgun@midwest.social 22 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Are we talking brown bears or black bears?

Brown bears are violently territorial and will attack you for being in eyeshot.

Black bears are basically giant racoons and will move away from people - especially if you're making loud noises and making yourself look big - because they don't want that smoke. They'll only get aggressive if you surprise them or get anywhere near their younglings.

I'd probably take a black bear over a lot of dudes. As long as we got a good hundred feet or so of distance, Mr Bear and I ain't gonna bother each other.

[–] Ragnarok314159@sopuli.xyz 4 points 6 months ago

I was in the smoky mountains with my kids camping, and we heard a bear digging around. My kids started crying, they for sure knew they were dead.

I got out of the tent, stomped my feet so the bear heard me and wasn’t startled, and then went “boogaaboogaaa” and raised my arms. Poor little black bear went running off and kept looking back.

And my kids had a really cool story about when their dad chased away a giant scary bear.

[–] jsomae@lemmy.ml 19 points 6 months ago

I get the sentiment, but realistically I'll still pick the random man. A man could kill or rape me. A bear is likely to kill me.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 12 points 6 months ago (5 children)

The bear discourse is the true measure of whether a given man is a red or green flag.

[–] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

A colored flag means a sign giving a clue on something. It doesn't define a person, and can only be used to describe some abstract fact. You can say "getting angry when talking about the bear discourse" is a redflag, but saying "a man is a red flag" is not correct

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Yes, that's my point. The response to the bear discourse reveals red or green flags.

[–] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Just saying you didn't know how to use those words

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 4 points 6 months ago

i'm aro/ace and have an intense aversion from interacting with people. I'm pretty sure that's a green flag?

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[–] DSTGU@sopuli.xyz 10 points 6 months ago

I m losing faith in humanity any time this conversation resurfaces and I believe it would be a massive benefit to everyone involved if it never happened

well, after having thought about it for hours. And i really mean hours (please help me, also don't mind me, i'm just autistic as fuck and think about these sorts of things a lot)

I have finally put together my ultimate conclusion on this topic. And it is as follows:

For starters, why am i in the woods? Presumably in this example i was just teleported out there at random, with one other entity, either a human or a bear. Now idk much about bear psychology, but if i were a bear, and a human popped up out of nowhere in front of me, i would lose my shit. So chances are im probably going to die.

As for a human, assuming a statistically random sample from the world, lets assume for the sake of this example, someone from within the same geographical area that i am in, because it makes logical sense for the statement here. The chances of them being 1. significant deviant enough that the second they see me, and decide they want to be a problem, is low enough that i'm willing to take it. Paired with the fact that often times abusers and rapists tend to be people you already know (it's just a basic fun fact about being around people) and in this case, it's probably someone i've never seen before, much less interacted with. I'm assuming the chances of me getting my shit fucked up are probably between 0-5% i feel like that's pretty reasonable. i can't imagine much more than like 10% of any given western population are active rapists. So we'll go with that. And like i said the bear? Probably going to flip it's shit. And even if it doesn't it's still gotta be higher than 10% i would assume.

Now, moving on to the secondary factors, we're lost in a forest. The very obvious factor here is that being there with another individual greatly increases your odds of being found/getting out, both due to collective knowledge accumulation between the two of you, and the likelihood that other people realize you're gone being twice as high (roughly) but we won't consider that aspect significant. So moving back to the productive aspects of having two people. Assuming we're the female in this case, and the other person is a male, as per the statement rules. That means we have someone who is more likely to be stronger, and more capable of exerting themselves, which could prove useful in a situation like this. However more people is still more better, so we'll say about a 100% productivity bonus just to be safe here. As aforementioned, we have a secondary source of knowledge here, so we can collectively decide on things, as well as think about them, which often leads to more correct/better solutions/outcomes. As well as the obvious benefit of having someone to socialize with, this is a natural morale booster. Humans are social creatures. Nuff said.

One more thing though, since we've established that there are potential benefits to this situation, we must now compare those benefits to the downsides of the other situation, so let's do that

  • being alone (having no additional help, assuming we aren't immediately mauled and eaten by the bear)
  • not being alone (the likely potential that you DO get help, and quite significant amounts of it, with the small additional chance of being raped and killed) Ok i think that pretty much sums it up.

Alright, now moving on to the tertiary aspects of this, let's modify the original statement. And say that we didn't just randomly teleport, and that we walked into the woods with someone else (we aren't counting kidnapping because then this statement wouldn't really apply would it?) Anyway, now that we've pulled foul play off of the table. You're walking into the forest with someone you probably already know, or someone who you've gotten to know thus far. They aren't a stranger or at the very least, not a complete stranger, presumably you don't just wander into the forest randomly for no reason, so lets assume you're going on a hike or something. It's good exercise after all, so for one thing, you've got some level of equipment with you. Probably some level of self defense capability (depending on where you are and how much you care) you did not come into this with the intent of being lost, and you are with someone that you know.

I feel like i don't have to expand on why picking the bear in this option would be a bad choice...

alright, that concludes my lengthy essay on my opinion of this "thought experiment" feel free to yell at me or whatever, or engage with this, i probably missed something. New information always adds to the fun :) The whole point of a thought experiment is trying out new thoughts and weird ideas after all. Also just for the record, since some of you are probably curious. I have no opinion about these sorts of situations what so ever, because they aren't real, and don't exist, so the only valuable thing i can glean from them is through stats and situational analysis.

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 5 points 6 months ago

Men seriously feeling the need to convince the world that they are not as dangerous as a wild bear.

[–] Sauvandu60@lemmy.id 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

According to science, logical and rational thinking, meeting a random man in the Woods is much better option than meeting a random bear. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aOOuMQkIzU

[–] roscoe@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

The thing these arguments never take into account is a fate worse than death.

That's the point you're missing.

Think about why someone would prefer the much more likely bear mauling to the much less likely worst case scenario with a man. If you can wrap your head around that, then consider why these women had that answer ready to go with very little thought. Considerations of a fate worse than death is something that women live with from the age where they first notice grown men noticing them. That averages 11 or 12 years old by the way. Maybe younger if their parents were a little more candid with them than the generic "stranger danger."

[–] Ragnarok314159@sopuli.xyz 4 points 6 months ago

I knew I had to have the talk about men when my girls turned nine. They were playing basketball and one of the dads made a comment about a girl and said “she is going to grow up and look like Mia Kalif (I don’t know how to spell her name, the porn star) and be a hot piece of ass.”

Oh, yeah…you mean that nine year old? The fuck is wrong with you.

Think about why someone would prefer the much more likely bear mauling to the much less likely worst case scenario with a man.

the only reason i can think why someone would take that decision, is that they have no apriori knowledge of the situation, and simply assume something they have no knowledge about is going to be easier than that that they do have knowledge about. (which is often naive)

Or, and this is my theory, this is actually one big metaphor about the problems modern society faces, and it's not actually based on rational thought or decision making, and it's supposed to be, because the point is to point out the problem as i already stated. The question that leaves is why nobody seems to be talking about the fundamental underlying problem, and instead seems to be talking about bears.

I get it, there's a problem with this shit in society, why aren't we talking about it? Like if you want to make change happen, to improve society, we need to sit down and have a two sided discussion, instead of saying that you would prefer to be eaten by a bear, than be around a man "because a thing could potentially happen" this accomplishes almost nothing unfortunately.

Anyway, that's my current theory, maybe i'm wrong as fuck, idk, i'm welcome to any ideas, i don't understand why people keep talking about this the way that they are so i could use some background info (and don't tell me that it's because men sometimes rape women, and women don't like being around men as a result, i understand what the thought experiment is for, you don't need to explain that part to me, unless i'm wrong about it and misunderstand it lol.)

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