dagblog - Comments for "Fight Flight Freeze"

I had a friend back in Muncie

Elusive Trope — Sat, 16 May 2015 13:48:26 +0000

In reply to Yeah, but...I'd rather come

I had a friend back in Muncie who was from a holler who made a god living catching rattlers by hand. They would get the venom from the snake and sell it for good money. They would only do this in the Spring when the snakes were just coming out of hibernation, so were just a tad slower.

And some ideologies tells them any black male in a hoodie is a threat as dangerous as any rattler.

Yeah, but...I'd rather come

NCD — Sat, 16 May 2015 05:50:15 +0000

In reply to I agree with you and Krugman,

Yeah, but...I'd rather come across a rattler on a remote desert trail (and often have, once a massasauga rattler crawled between my feet, my wife told me not to move) than some nut toting a gun. My ideology says guns are more dangerous than snakes, death rates back it up.

I was just telling someone

Elusive Trope — Sat, 16 May 2015 04:57:02 +0000

In reply to A great subject, Elusive.

I was just telling someone about my reaction when I was trying to dive into the irrigation canal and saw that I wasn't going to make the cut out section, going head first into about three inches of water (I could see the little rolling hills in the mud that a stream makes). I just thought very calmly, "This isn't going to be good."

People respond to threats in different ways. A person may be able to kayak wild rivers with having his or her nerves shattered, but come unglued at the office if they think someone is trying to compete with them for the boss' affection. Another person may be the complete opposite.

Those who don't deal with existential threats just are baffled by those who do. Reminds me of a scene from Monty Python's Meaning of Life.

I agree with you and Krugman,

Elusive Trope — Sat, 16 May 2015 04:37:07 +0000

In reply to Your point is well taken, but

I agree with you and Krugman, and I don't think there is any conflict between what is being said about ideology and my take on FFF syndrome.

Krugman writes:

Just to be clear, I’m not calling for an end to ideology in politics, because that’s impossible. Everyone has an ideology, a view about how the world does and should work.

So what ideology does in many cases is informs one as to who is a threat and who isn't. Most people agree we need to modify our immigration policy, but it is ideology which dictates whether you view the illegal immigrant as a threat, or the extent of that threat. You can agree there is some negatives in terms of tax dollars being spent etc, but not a threat to one's way of life. Are those two men holding hands kick in the fight flight freeze response? My brother while attending Seattle Central Community College to get his welding degree was put on sedatives because seeing all the gay people was creating this response. He knew enough not to fight, and couldn't flee, as when he was on the bus going up to Capitol Hill, so he had left was the Freeze, the heart racing, the body preparing to fight or flee.

Ideology is not the only factor that determines what we consider a threat. Walking down a path and seeing a king cobra rear up causes the FFF response regardless of ideology.

Your point is well taken, but

NCD — Fri, 15 May 2015 22:52:09 +0000

In reply to Fight Flight Freeze

Your point is well taken, but you neglect to mention a prevalent problem in America today, supported and nurtured by media empires and the fortunes of billionaires. Ideology, which Krugman describes in his op-ed today as tribalism.

Ideology acts as a filter for facts. It kills the process of assessing reality. Adherence to the ideology trumps critical thinking, or the need to evaluate or change lifestyle. Republican ideology obviates the need for fright or freeze, it channels output exclusively into an all out 'fight' with the target group of the ideology.

It's why in extreme cases, which give stark insight into the darker recesses of human nature, ideologues of the right in WW2 Prussia polished their inlaid wood floors hours before the Red Army rolled into town and burned them to the ground. Ideologues of the left defended Stalin even as they were sent to slave camps or execution, fight, flight and fear were nullified as ideological loyalty was seen as deliverance.

A great subject, Elusive.

Oxy Mora — Fri, 15 May 2015 21:57:06 +0000

In reply to Fight Flight Freeze

A great subject, Elusive. Thanks for the reference to the book.

I'm usually surprised afterward at how cool I seemed to be in the face of a physical threat. I have a reaction like, "when it's over it's over but I'm going to try to get out of this if I can". It's the existential threats I have the problem with but I have learned to just ride them out.

The job interview is always a great example and you may remember the days of "stress interviews" (the chair with one short leg) and psychological counseling. Here, a little self disclosure can be a good thing: "You have me stumped there, Madam, and I don't know if it's because I don't have a ready answer or that the question itself strikes me as so irrelevant---may I ask why you would ask such a question?"

I think my point is

Elusive Trope — Fri, 15 May 2015 12:45:30 +0000

In reply to I don't watch much news. It

I think my point is regardless as to the means by which a persons keeps him or herself "pretty well informed," there are some who have a Fight Flight Freeze reaction to this information. Some will get a sense of hopelessness, which is different in regards to the physiological reaction. Hopelessness is the result of abstract reasoning in the frontal lobes and generally one just becomes listless when they experience such a state of mind. For many people, I am proposing, when some do make an attempt to keep informed experience, to put simply, the experience adrenalin rush of the Fight Flight Freeze response. Since most of the information is about events and things (such as bacteria that has evolved to be immune to antibiotics) they can't they can't fight or flee, they have a persistent state Freeze, which is not a pleasant experience (it is after all a response to a threat). So they actively avoid this experience by avoiding information that would make them a "well informed individual."

I don't watch much news. It

trkingmomoe — Fri, 15 May 2015 06:04:02 +0000

In reply to Fight Flight Freeze

I don't watch much news. It bothers me when the local news covers the death of small children. I am in a large TV market so this kind of news is too often for me. I read most of my news on the internet and watch the clips I want to. I think I stay pretty well informed.