#GOD people have no clue what a phobia is like #what the fuck is with people who protect bugs like me killing some spiders isn’t going to change the ecosystem #and if you’re gonna say we need spiders to kill flies and shit why do they have to be so SCARY#bugs would be chill if they left everyone alone and didn’t look like that
Hi @haml3t! As someone who used to have a severe phobia of dogs after being attacked twice as a child, I don’t appreciate your implication that I “have no clue” what it’s like. I very much do. However, we live in a world where hurting or killing dogs on sight is not encouraged or remotely socially acceptable, even if you hate and fear them intensely. If I were to say “HENNYWAYS I’m cynophobic and I hate dogs and they should all die”, nine out of ten people on the goddamn planet would be absolutely horrified, if not asking for my head on a platter.
No one is saying that you should feel ashamed for your phobia or just need to “get over it”. It’s rarely that easy - I spent years working through my panic reaction to dogs and am fortunate enough to have conquered it. I now really like dogs and am comfortable in my ability to discern between an active threat and a sweet pupper.
“I think it’s gross and scary because of the way that it is” is not an acceptable excuse to kill something that you can easily avoid and which is not posing a threat to you. If you think it is, then beating a dog I pass on the street would not be much different. After all, they’ve harmed me in the past, and might do harm to me again - and unlike spiders, they tend to run towards you seeking physical contact.
This dog recently showed up on my Facebook newsfeed. It looks very much like one that attacked me when I was a kid. It would be tasteless and offensive of me to comment something like “OMG KILL IT WITH FIRE!” and tell the owner how much I wish I could kill it, even if that’s how I felt. When I feared dogs, I avoided them, and did not feel the need to tell everyone who owned one how I thought the world would be better if they were all dead.
It sucks to have a phobia. It really does. I know this, and I know that it can impede your ability to enjoy and function in your everyday world. But while killing a spider in your bedroom or in your car is understandable, going out of your way to destroy them when they could easily be avoided, and telling everyone who likes them that they should all die is not an excusable expression of a phobia. It’s just being an asshole.
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