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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

  • @gmtom@lemmy.world
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    01 year ago

    That post frustrated the fuck out of me. Like I get and agree with the point you’re trying to make. But no, if you were actually given that choice no reasonable person is actually going to pick the bear.

    • MubelotixOP
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      01 year ago

      I’m not trying to make a point tbh. It’s one of those questions where there is no right answer due to many details not being said in the question

    • Why wouldn’t a reasonable person pick the bear? Plenty of people have just ordinary, totally safe experiences with bears in their normal lives. Meanwhile, they have ordinary SV committed against them by men in their normal lives. Why shouldn’t they pick the group that hasn’t been a constant threat to them? Its not asking you to try to pick a fight with the bear.

      • @gmtom@lemmy.world
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        01 year ago

        Why wouldn’t a reasonable person pick the bear?

        Because you’re comparing a wild animal that can easily kill you with a single swipe, with a random normal person?

        Plenty of people have just ordinary, totally safe experiences with bears in their normal lives.

        I can, with 10,000,000,000% certainty tell you that way more people have vastly more ordinary, totally safe experiences with random men in their normal lives than with bears.

        • Because you’re comparing a wild animal that can easily kill you with a single swipe, with a random normal person?

          Can easily kill is different than likely to. Plus, the same is true of any human, but they’re also much more likely to have outcomes far worse than quickly being just being killed. Its a random person in the woods, not just a *normal *person (whatever “normal” is supposed to mean). But honestly, I don’t think I’d put it past many “normal” humans (men and women) to commit at least minor SV in the “right” circumstances.

          I can, with 10,000,000,000% certainty tell you that way more people have vastly more ordinary, totally safe experiences with random men in their normal lives than with bears.

          Sure, but I’m just as certain that women have far more experiences with SV from humans than any violence from bears. Even if they’re actual survivors of bear attacks, they’re likely the victim of far more SV by men.

  • KillingTimeItself
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    01 year ago

    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.

  • @Landsharkgun@midwest.social
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    01 year ago

    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.

    • @Soulcreator@lemmy.world
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      01 year ago

      Totally agreed, the question is so vague it’s absurd. Are we talking a panda or a grizzly? Is the man a locked-in paraplegic or an violent ex con?

      Regardless how you answer there’s always another possibility that makes your decision look stupid.

      • Yeah but that’s a different scenario all togther. Not all men are dangerous rapists, obviously. But enough are prone to assault and SA that it’s statistically safer to have some random bear (possibly grizzly or teddy) than some random man. If you don’t feel like the random guy walking down the street is dangerous, that’s probably because random men on the street don’t regularly harass you, which is unfortunately still a very common occurance to most women.

        • @Soulcreator@lemmy.world
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          01 year ago

          While I understand and respect your viewpoint, I’m not quite sure you understand what I’m saying here… The question is designed to be a no win scenario, it’s phrased in such a vague way that no matter how you answer someone else can chime in and say oh no, your not imagining the terrible scenario I’m imagining. There’s literally no way of answering it in a way that someone is going to chime in and tell your wrong.

          It’s literally designed to be a test designed to gauge your reaction more than it is to be answered seriously.

          Without more info one can’t possibly respond in a legitimate manner. And any responses without additional information is more of a mirror to your own personal disposition and fears than it is a legitimate response to the question.

    • @Ragnarok314159@sopuli.xyz
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      01 year 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.

    • radiofreeval [she/her]
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      01 year ago

      Brown bears aren’t human killing machines. They adjust their territory not to see people. Bears in general stay away from people and don’t care enough to attack.

  • @Auzy@beehaw.org
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    01 year ago

    This was one of those toxic questions designed to cause people to argue. That’s really its ONLY purpose. It really only has 2 answers, and both can be interpreted as toxic.

    My 2 cents though, here in Australia, you’ll occasionally get a question about staying safe when hiking for women.

    You’ll have a huge majority of women saying its safe to hike in Australia, and then 1 or 2 women encouraging women to bring knives or weapons. The ones who claim this then get a huge negative response by both women and guys pointing out it makes things more dangerous for everyone and that nobody needs them.

    As a male guide also, I’ve actually found it difficult to find other guys to hike with, but it is incredibly trivial for me to find women to join me (in fact, doing one this upcoming weekend). So, interpret that as you will, but… It really is such a stupid discussion lol

    • @Darkenfolk@dormi.zone
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      01 year ago

      But at least I could reason with a bear.

      Sure you can Steve Irwin, I somehow doubt that the bear can reason with you though.

  • SharkEatingBreakfast
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    01 year ago

    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.

      • @lud@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        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
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          01 year ago

          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
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            01 year ago

            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
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              1 year ago

              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
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                1 year 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.

          • @berkeleyblue@lemmy.world
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            01 year ago

            Bear: Couldn’t tell you what he’s up to even if it wanted to

            Men: Can actually listen and talk their intentions.

            Why is a man less predictable in this case? You all just claim things without the slightest bit of argument behind it… so please tell my why that would be the case.

            Thanks.

          • @Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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            01 year 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

    • @beardown@lemm.ee
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      01 year ago

      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

  • Alaskaball [comrade/them]
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    01 year ago

    I’d rather do neither but at least I know all the safety guidelines for how to not get a bear to tear my ass apart

    • Right, this is what folks aren’t understanding.

      Yes a big ass bear is clearly more dangerous but like in reality the random man is much more variable and there are WAY more examples of what we’re capable of as opposed to what a bear does.

      A bears nature is understood.

      • @OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml
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        01 year ago

        Yes a big ass bear is clearly more dangerous

        If it is a black bear, which 99 percent of the time it would be, nah, the man is more dangerous. Black bears are scaredy cats.

  • @VinnyDaCat@lemmy.world
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    01 year ago

    The irony of men not understanding why women would choose the bear is insane.

    Last I checked men killed other men just as much. Ask yourself the same question, and empathize a little bit.