Uncharted Thoughts.

Every couple of months, there is a new online trend. Sometimes ‘influencers’ will ask their audience to preform wild and outlandish things in an attempt to start a trend. A way to bring revenue and viewership to their profile. While most of these online trends usually begin with a single entity, that is attempting a quick rise to fame, some of these trends have humble beginnings in online reddit posts, or twitter questions.

Back in the day, these trends were normally dances, social experiments or silly gags like planking or the Harlem Shake. They rarely involved anything dangerous or outlandish. However, with the internet being the internet, these challenges became much darker.

Back in 2011, the cinnamon challenge ruled supreme. Teens and adults alike were filling their mouths with cinnamon and attempted to talk before coughing their lungs out. This, to me, is an innocent challenge where very little could go wrong. Friends were usually there to help the cinnamonated person and the vast majority of participants came away with little more than a sore throat.

Today however, challenges have become dangerous and in some cases vile and outright melodious. For example, the Tide Pod challenge circulated across the internet in 2017 and continued into 2018. Resulting in eight deaths. The challenge was simple. You had to eat a Tide Pod… a poisonous chemical pod, designed to clean our clothes.

Although, this challenge was most likely a joke that got out of hand. To prove the depravity of some of these challenges I will list them below.

1. The Fire challenge. Participants will blindfold themselves and have flammable liquid poured onto part of their body and have it ignited. This resulted in a number of hospitalised young teenager and children.
2. The Kylie Jenner Lips challenge. It’s an easy challenge where people will suck on a cup creating a vacuum. When the cup is removed their lips are inflated, resulting in a lip surgery look. This resulted in damaged lips and bursting blood vessels.
3. The Blue Whale challenge. Possible the worst challenge ever created on the internet. If not, it is by far the worst in popular internet culture. Meaning it was projected further than any smaller horrifying challenges, The ‘challenge’ was a 50 day challenge that would result in the murder/suicide of the participant.
4. Sunburn art. It is in the name. You or a friend will lay in the sun and get roasted, all a while having a penis or smiley face sun creamed into your back.
5. Birdbox Challenge. In 2018 a horror film starting Sandra Bullock was released to the public. The film was centred around a world were you were unable to unblindfold yourself or see while outside. If you did, you’ll be forced to commit suicide by some strange otherworldly being. Well, this became a challenge and people walked off cliffs and into traffic.
6. The Blackout challenge.

Most online challenges are harmless fun. Some result in injury due to peoples own lack of common sense but overall, the challenges are for the ‘fun’ of those taking part. Recently however, a new challenge of sorts has been created, one that is more a social experiment than a physical challenge. Rather than having the people of the internet preform strange dances or swallowing poisonous chemicals. The ‘challenge’ asks a hypothetical question to woman.

Would you rather be stuck in the woods with a man or a bear?

Examining the question…

Why is this question being asked? Why has it taken the internet by storm? What is the context?

Well, just in case you have been living under a rock these past couple years I will explain why this question is spreading across the internet like a wild fire. The truth is, violence towards woman has become a very real, very terrifying social epidemic across the world. With some terrifying statistics.

It is suggested by UN Woman that 1/3 woman experience violent or sexual assault. However these numbers are debated to be much higher, as most violent and sexual crimes are not reported to any authorities.

Unfortunately we live in a world now where questions such as, would you rather be stuck in the woods with a man or a bear? have become the norm.

As a man, it upsets me that a large percentage of the worlds population would rather encounter one of the largest and most terrifying animals on the planet than me. Obviously not me personally, at least I hope not, but you get the point.

I have been a witness to two assaults on woman, one violent and one sexual. I am no superhero, but I got involved with both of these instances in an attempt to minimise the potential damage. One time I was on a bus and a boy was physically assaulting his girlfriend by pinching her thighs and verbally intimidating her. FYI, for men who are confused what to do in this situation its easy. Take a breath, feel the adrenaline rush through you and tell the man to stop. Do not become violent towards him, no matter how hard it is to restrain yourself. Create a diversion and publicly humiliate him by calling him out. Additionally, I’d phone the police when you have an opportunity to do so.

Moving on. The statistics given by UN Woman and WHO are astoundingly high. However, I would also like to point out that there is no evidence if this is, the percentage of woman being assaulted, is high or low in comparison to previous decades. Something to consider.

The scenario… and a questionnaire.

When I asked the participants of my questionnaire, Would you rather be stuck in the woods with a man or a bear? the majority of them responded with an additional question. What man? What type of bear? Do I have a weapon? What time of year is it? Is the guy hot? How big is the woods?

Valid questions no doubt. However, with any alteration to the question, the dynamic changes. I was considering adding additional details to the question to make the scenario more realistic or balanced. However, with each added detail, the entire question would become warped. For example, I considered notifying the questioned participants that both where out to kill you. This would have made the question… how would you like to die? mauled to death by a bear or strangled or beaten by a man?

I also considered adding a scale to the woodland. That it is 50 miles in each direction. Once again this just made the chances on running into the man or bear less likely and tactical plays could be made.

If I added a weapon into the mix, this would have made them weigh up the odds of their survivability with the weapon granted to them. A knife would be almost useless against a bear but a man?

I thought about applying a time limit in the woods. Maybe 48 hours. This would add a dynamic of survivability. Could you outrun a man for 48 hours? Or hide from a bear for 48? Would you be able to just climb a tree and hide from the man for two days? or stay clear from the bear…

So, to stop all of these hypotheticals I asked simply… Would you rather be stuck in the woods with a man or a bear? And the results are in, I asked some girls in my WhatsApp contacts list and here are the results, they are rather shocking.

I asked 18 woman. Would you rather be stuck in the woods with a man, or a bear?

13 woman stated they’d rather share the woods with a bear than a man. Meaning that only five woman said a man.

Let’s delve into the hypotheticals of the question shall we…

Bear

Pro’s

1. Bears are far more predictable than a human.

2. There are procedures in place that can minimise an attack. If its a grizzly, become small and look less threatening. If its black, become big and scary.

3. The bear is more likely to avoid a person than come into contact.

4. A bear isn’t going to make you suffer needlessly. They will kill you. That’s it.

Con’s

1. If you are attacked, you will die.

2. A bear can not be out ran.

3. A bear can smell you… you can not hide.

4. A bear can not be out climbed.

5. A bear can not be beaten in combat. (Yes, some men think they could kill a bear… cringe)

Man

Pro’s

1. Most men (Yes most) are good people and will not harm you.

2. Men can be useful for survivability.

3. You will have a friend in this strange situation and some social stimulation.

4. Your chance of running, hiding and fighting a human male and winning is far higher than with a bear.

Con’s

1. Human’s are far more ‘creative’ in ways you can be killed.

2. Maybe, killing isn’t the only plan they have for you.

3. They could be really annoying.

Before continuing even further… Couldn’t this question be similar to fear mongering? I mean… Imagine if we changed the wording here just a little. Would you rather be stuck in a woods with a Muslim or Catholic? I mean… Anyway, back to it.

It’s not about the bear.

The truth is, it’s not about the bear. A lot of people online are looking at this hypothetical question with too much emphasis on the bear. Of course, if the question was. Who would you rather be stuck in the woods with, a man, or a fox. There is no doubt we’d all pick fox. Not only are they cute, but they will avoid us at all costs and they will not be able to kill us.

The question is about violence. About the female perspective. It’s about how our (male) presence is viewed through the narrative of a female.

I think there is a lot of heat when discussing this scenario due to the current social relationship between men and woman.

Woman see men as a threat. Men are insulted that they are seen as villains. Woman are fighting for their lives in marches for justice and reform in law. Men on the whole have been the victim of prejudice and social outcasting. Woman are being killed, by the thousands each year. Men are becoming lost in their everyday lives due to masculinity shaming. This listing goes on and on…

America used to be obsessed with a race war. Extreme black and white groups proposed that one day, they would fight it out in a massive conflict that would result in a ‘winner’. That ‘winner’ would control the country. Europe was once convinced of a class war, resulting in communism and a number of conflicts. Hundreds of years ago religious wars shattered the middle east. Now, with the rising tensions of male and female relationships. Are we in a gender war? While men are attempting to cling onto their masculinity, to be the dominant figure in society. Woman are pulling men into a more feminine age, to create further equality and safety for themselves.

Although on the surface the question is simple. Below the muddy woodland earth there are miles of historic, social, political and gender roots that stretch into the past, present and future.

Is there a ‘right’ answer.

I suppose there is no right or wrong answer. That’s not the point of the question. The question is a social experiment that divides us into two groups of thinking. I know I have stated before, it’s not about the bear and I believe that whole heartedly. However I thought I’d throw in my two pennies and explain my school of thinking.

To me, although I am not a woman and have had no experiences with sexual assault or bear attacks. The answer is relatively simple. Who would I survive and attack from… A bear or a man.

The answer… I would most likely survive an attack from a man than a bear. So I will pick the man.

Which death would be more painful? Well that is a whole barrel of fish we haven’t touched on. I think being mauled by a bear will be an awful experience, but, I feel it would be quicker than being killed by a man. Does this change my choice? No. I would rather have a better chance of surviving than not have a chance at all. No matter how painful the death.

Maybe I am wrong here, maybe a mauling will be worse, in which case, my vote remains the same. Yes, I think a one on one fight to the death with another man will be a harrowing experience. Specially if we have no weapon. But at least there is a larger chance I’d live to tell the tale.

I often wonder if people understand how large bears are. I was recently in a online debate with a man who said he could kill a bear with an axe if he had too… I don’t care who you are. You could be a seven foot body builder with boxing experience and have an axe made from Valyrian steel. You will not beat a bear. Maybe you will wound a black bear or some of the smaller bear family members. But more than likely, you’d die. Again, there are so many ‘ifs’ and ‘what’s’ but no man can kill a grizzly bear with a hand weapon… let alone with his hands, and tbh, you’ll more than likely fail with a gun as well.

I choose to be stuck in the woods with a man…. even if the question was ‘would you rather be stuck in the woods with a murderer or a bear. I’d still probably choose the murderer.

Have your say… Leave a comment or email me at Jackclivesmith@gmail.com

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