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 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

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 0 points 6 months 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.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 0 points 6 months ago

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

[–] jsomae@lemmy.ml 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Skkorm@lemmy.world 0 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

Actually a bear is very unlikely to come after you. I come from an extremely rural part of Alberta, Canada, and large bears would sometimes wander in and near town. They wouldn't run around swiping people up and murdering them, they would just basically wander around eating garbage and looking for food. The reality is that if you were in the woods with a random bear, unless it was starving or you were near its Cubs, it likely wouldn't see you as important.

I'll tell you what though. The bodies of indigenous women would get found in the woods sometimes. Bears didn't put them there, men did.

[–] Grumpy@sh.itjust.works 0 points 6 months ago

Actually statistics show that an encounter with a bear is orders of magnitude more dangerous than an encounter with a man. Obviously. I encounter 1000s of men as I was down the street and I'm not dead yet.

Yes, it's very unlikely to run into a bear. But if that's the point you're making, you're missing the predicate of the question where the encounter is already assumed.

[–] jsomae@lemmy.ml 0 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Statistical error. Unlikely to encounter a bear; but per bear encounter, less likely to survive than per men encounter.

Serial killers and rapists are very clever and because there exist serial killers who want to kill indigenous women in the woods, they will likely succeed. Bears have no such desire, and because indigenous women are clever they will avoid the bears.

But I'm willing to bet that the odds of a random man being a rapist/murderer are much lower than a random bear deciding to kill me.

It's hard thing to think about because our brains want to rephrase the situation into taking account how likely it is to encounter men vs bears in the first place. That's why this isn't very applicable to, say, staying safe at night or in bars.

...except it is. This is why, if you have to take a ride home with a strange man, it's much safer to go with an arbitrary man of your choosing than the one who offers.

[–] Alaskaball@hexbear.net 0 points 6 months 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

[–] apotheotic@beehaw.org 0 points 6 months ago (1 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.

[–] liuther9@feddit.nl 0 points 6 months ago

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?