Ron Collins
Jul 25, 2017 · 2 min read

Fear manifests from unfamiliarity and incomprehension.

I don’t agree with this, not stated exclusively this way anyhow. It rings a little too left-of-center for me to find useful as any explanation for the genuine origins of legitimate fear. By legitimate, I mean fear that manifests from plain old common sense added to an ordinary degree of self-preservation.

The only thing I fear in other human beings, has nothing to do with race or gender or politics or national origin or religion. What I fear, and have no intention whatsoever of not fearing, is cowardice. I am neither unfamiliar with nor uncomprehending of it, I know it all too well. And what I know, is that a coward is capable of any level of calumny, treachery or betrayal, because that is what cowards do. I know it when I see it, and it is my fear of it which allows me to handle it in a way that doesn’t get me harmed by it.

Maybe I’m misreading you here, but your statement sounds too much like the sort of leftist propaganda that first accuses people of being afraid of something or someone (whatever-”phobia”), then postulates that they can and should be “educated” out of their fears because their fears are allegedly groundless. This is the reasoning that sums people up as “deplorable” for not wanting men in the ladies’ room or sanctuary cities packed with dangerous foreign criminals. If this wasn’t what you meant, then do please clarify.

But my rightful and sensible fear of a coward and what one might be capable of, isn’t curable by means of education. It is my education of a lifetime of experiences which instructs me that to fear a coward is no less reasonable or informed than to fear a rabid dog or a cornered rattlesnake. Not to fear them, is a fool’s errand.

    Ron Collins

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    Recognizing that women have no need of any special status granted them by men is as respectful of women’s abilities as it is protective of men’s