Terror Is Irrational; What Terrifies You?

By Phil La Duke

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Every sane person fears something. Fear is a hardwired life preserver. We fear those things that have a reasonable chance of seriously harming us.  Sure there are people who engage in dangerous activities because they enjoy the thrill of the adrenaline rush, but even in most (if not all) of these cases people fear things that are likely to cause them serious harm.  

Our fears go even further, fear of the unknown is also a biological imperative. I explore fear of the unknown in my (as yet unpublished) boo, Why Do We Tell Our Children Not To Take Candy From Strangers When Everyone Knows That Strangers Have The Best Candy?  Experts estimate that up to 95% of the information we receive about our current circumstances is nonverbal—sometimes something we can’t even articulate “gives us the creeps”.  The reaction to the unknown is essential to survival.

Sometimes our fears become dysfunctional many people are phobic, that is, they fear something for no rational reason and phobias can impede their enjoyment of life. People who fear heights will rationalize the fear by saying that what they really fear is the sudden stop. Triskaidekophbes (people who fear the number 13) really can’t make a rational argument as to why this number is spooky or unlucky, but many buildings don’t have a thirteenth floor so this phobia has had a somewhat profound mark on our society.

But when fear rises to the level of terror it becomes dangerous—causing pogroms, witch burnings, and mass hysteria. A friend of mine was working his way through college as the late shift cashier at a gas station when an armed man tried to rob the gas station. The safe was locked and there was less than $20 in the register. The man, a two-time felon, was enraged and stole his car and kidnapped him.  The man drove down a deserted road and told my friend that he was going to rape and murder him.  The man went into graphic and minute detail about exactly what he was going to do to my friend and how he was going to do it.  At this point, my friend realized he had nothing to lose. He surreptitiously unlocked the door and flung himself out of the moving car.  Fueled by adrenalin, my friend jumped up (he miraculously had only suffered minor injuries) and ran as fast as he could as far from the man as he could. Unfortunately, in his panic he ran to the very same gas station from which he was abducted. In a panic he flagged down a passing motorist who took my friend to the police station.

I asked him about how he felt during the ordeal and he told me he was terrified.  He said once he saw the gun terror seized him and from that moment he would have done anything the man told him to do.  He wasn’t in control; terror controlled him.  I remembered a case where a person robbed a fast food restaurant with a banana and asked him about it.  He said that he completely understood how a person being robbed could be so terrorized that they could be led to believe that a banana is a lethal weapon. I asked him why he took such a reckless, nearly suicidal risk in jumping out of the car when it was traveling at least 30 mph (I recognize how stupid a question that is) and he explained to me that the guy’s graphic description of his intentions eventually just struck him as ridiculous and whatever the risk it was worth taking.

When terror reaches a certain threshold, people typically respond to it in one of three ways:

1. Deny it. When some people are terrorized they literally can’t believe that the thing terrorizing them exists.  They will even justify why they won’t take reasonable precautions. Denying the very existence of the thing that terrorizes you is an effective way to cope but it is dangerous.

We saw this during the COVID-19 pandemic this mysterious disease seemed to be constantly changing and everywhere was killing God knows how many people.  For some, it was just too much and too horrific and denying that it was real helped people cope. 

1. Laugh. Did you ever notice how the scariest movies are often the funniest?  Horror film script writers know that if the film builds too much tension the audience will essentially reach the terror threshold and mentally check out.  One of the reactions is to laugh at the very scenes that are supposed to horrify you. So, to relieve the tension the filmmakers add some humor to break the tension (I do the same thing in my writing, although I admit this particular piece isn’t a laugh fest).
2. Normalize.  I read and hear a lot about the new normal and I detest it.  Normalizing something that terrorizes you is irrational.  We shouldn’t throw up our hands and say, “Oh well that’s how it is today, we are just going to have to live with it.”  I have heard too many people dismiss the dangers of COVID using this argument and I believe we are starting to do the same thing with mass shootings.

Having recently published a book about mass shootings and being tasked with my publicist with compiling statistics and trivia about Americans’ fears about mass shootings.  Two days ago, I read that more Americans now fear mass shootings more than they fear Islamic terrorists (and believe me a lot of Americans are terrified of Islamic terrorists) two-thirds of Americans won’t go to a specific place or event because they fear a mass shooting. A similar percentage of parents fear for their children’s safety because of school shootings.

I wrote a book that I spent years researching and in the time it took the statistics have been updated. 18 times more mass shootings have occurred in 2022 than I reported (there were 600).  An article in Psychology Today, that I read last week debunked the widely held belief that the majority of mass shooters are mentally ill.  The article said that only 25% of mass shooters had a history of mental illness.  The article did not say how many of those mentally ill mass shooters had an illness that might actually CAUSE them to go on a rampage.  Some psychologists are comparing mass shootings as a contagion, while the most prevalent theory (which is growing in popularity) is a stress snap. People, stressed beyond their limit, are snapping and many of those are resulting to violence.

I sent a copy of my book to all US Senators, the POTUS,  the VP and key members of the media. I wasn’t expecting much and I wasn’t disappointed. Mike Lee,  very quickly had a staff member call me and thank me for the book. Jon Tester returned my books with a letter explaining that he could not accept gifts for ethical reasons (so I called him and recommended that he purchase a copy). Mitt Romney ignored my phone calls, as did Debbie Stabenaw, but Lisa Murkowski’s office called and said that ALL books go directly to the Senator. None of them had much to say on the subject of mass shooters; not even whether they were for or against it.

Could it be that the Senators believe a terrified constituency will make foolish voting choices? Why not call and ask them?