Poll: Arachnophobia/phillia

[emeraldrafael]

I do, but I think I'm rather entitled to. I got bit by a black widow when I was five and it sent me on life and death for three days (cause no one knew what bit me, so they just gave me every anti venom they had). Now, will I become useless if i see a spider?

... sometimes. depends on the spider and how big it is. Though I would like ot think I'm getting over it, since I dont freak out so much seeing garden variety spiders any more.

 

[Andrew_Mac]

They may go oshitaspider but they don't break down and cry when they see one.

speak for yourself...

 

[EHKOS]

They may go oshitaspider but they don't break down and cry when they see one.

speak for yourself...

True that, I've lost a girlfriend cuz of that...

 

[MasterOfWorlds]

Wikipedia: A phobia (from the Greek: φόβος,phóbos, meaning "fear" or "morbid fear") is an irrational, intense and persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, animals, or people.

Being "irrational", it is expected that relatively few people suffer from the affliction, however, fear of spiders is very common.

This technically means its the "Norm", and not so irrational.

If this is the case, Arachnophobia itself is an oxymoron, and Arachnophillia is the obviously irrational form.

To test this theory, I ask you, Are you Arachnophobic?

I think you're somewhat confused about what a phobia is.

Even though you've put up the definition, when it says "irrational" it means that even though you know that something likely won't harm you, you're terrified of it.

For example, you've chosen arachnaphobia. That means that if the person were to see a spider, they might freeze up, start shaking uncontrollably, run from the room, or any number of other actions. It's irrational because they take the usual discomfort that most people have about the subject and take it to an extreme. I had a friend that was arachnaphobic, and we were driving somewhere when he saw a spider on the dashboard. He immediately pulled over, jumped out of the car, and started brushing himself off because he thought it might have been on him.

That's arachnaphobia. Not just, "Eww, spider." or "Holy crap, Black Widow!"

 

[Andrew_Mac]

They may go oshitaspider but they don't break down and cry when they see one.

speak for yourself...

True that, I've lost a girlfriend cuz of that...

same. i'm personally not scared of spiders. (i don't like them, but i can pick them up and put them outside if need be (i don't like squishing things))

 

[OctoH]

I do not fear spiders. I do not like them either.

 

[Lieju]

I keep tarantulas, "true spiders", scorpions, and other arachnids.

I handle few of them, never potentially dangerous ones, and obviously have no fear of them.
However, not being afraid and being irresponsible with them is completely different.

As for me, I guess you could say I'm arachnophile.

BTW, wouldn't arachnophobe mean someone who is afraid of arachnids?
Shouldn't the fear of spiders be called araneidophobia or the more grammatically correct version of that?

 

[SammiYin]

I'm not scared of spiders, so I wouldn't call it arachnophobia [as I doubt most people should]
I just find them incredibly unnerving to be near, this all depends on size, speed, location and whether it's looking at me or not.

 

[Aris Khandr]

"Yes, Very" does not even begin to cover it.

 

[Leg End]

I hate bugs. Hate them.

I'll release them into the wild green yonder if possible.

Also, title. Why the hell is there Philia?

 

[Carnagath]

I used to be terrified of spiders up until recently because I had been traumatized by some shitty movie when I was really young. Like, if I saw a spider, even a small one, I would just freeze and stare at it in horror. Of course then I joined the army and there were spiders everywhere, but that was the least of my worries in there, I was too busy trying to avoid heat exhaustion and dehydration during our training and then passing out the second I hit my bed at night to care about spiders. Now I don't care at all.

 

[LarenzoAOG]

I like spiders, they keep my house clear of flies and in return I do my best to not murder them, but they had better not lay eggs in my house, that shit don't fly.

 

[Ladette]

I'm not scared of them, but I will murder them with extreme prejudice if they try and roost in my house. Butterflys are the only bugs i'll tolerate.

 

[Denamic]

No.
Actually, I kinda like spiders.
Of course, I wouldn't want to snuggle with a highly venomous species.
But they kill insects, and I hate insects.
An enemy of my enemy, as they say.

 

[soul_rune1984]

I like spiders. Some spiders are beautiful to look at and I think jumping spiders are adorable. I used to be afraid of them when I was little but as I learned more about them I learned to respect and apreciate what facinating ceatures they realy are.

 

[Haydyn]

I was, until sitting down at this very computer I turned on the light and there was a spider hanging down right in front of my face. Ever since then I have had no problems killing spiders on sight instead of freaking out.

 

[New Troll]

Spiders give me the shivers. Can't stand seeing them anywhere near me, no matter thier size though the bigger, the more disturbing. But I can generally tolerate them. Not nearly as bad as my mother is with snakes. She can't even see one on TV without freaking out.

Funny story, I was really young and my mother and I where going somewhere in the car. She pulls it out of the garage when all of a sudden she slams on the brakes and locks the doors. There had been a little garden snake under our vehicle. So here she is yelling at me to go get my step-father to kill it, meanwhile not letting the doors unlock long enough for me to get out. Finally I do get out and start walking through the garage to get my dad when she starts honking the horn. I can hear her yelling through the car for me to stay out of the garage and go around to the front door. I couldn't help but laugh hystericly.

Another funny, but not at the time story. I'm a teenager and sitting in the living room watching TV. My mother is on the front porch talking to a nieghbor. All of a sudden she starts screaming bloody murder. I jump up and start running outside as she comes barreling through me inside. I finally get outside to find our nieghbor rolling on the ground with laughter. I calm her down enough to find out what had happened and she tells me a snake had fallen off the room onto my mom's head. Extremely pissed, I find the snake in the front yard and hurl it with all my strength across the street. I was hot. With how scared my mother was, I thought someone was trying to kill her and all I wanted to do was kill them instead. Didn't mean to take it out on the poor little snake who had probably already been in freak-out mode of it's own. Don't think I killed it though. Though my cat probably did later and probably returned that same snake to my mom's porch for her along with all the other presents. She really liked my mom. So much so that my mom just stopped going out on the porch anymore.

 

[Arenari]

If I ever see a spider on me, I'm pretty sure I'll shit myself and cry.

 

[DragonBorn96]

No, I sort of find them fascinating. I always wonder why it is such a wide-spread fear. I know some will damage a person and the only time one freaks me out is when one catches me by suprise.

 

[xmbts]

Completely, I have knee-jerk reactions to the damn things. I woke up with one directly in front of me and propelled myself off of my bed, realizing on my way down that I was just seeing things.