this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2026
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You acknowledge that external factors affect our reactions and then seem to blame us for said reactions.
Some people have an irrational fear of X. They know it's irrational. But they still experience abject terror every time they encounter a picture or even a mention of X.
They are not "making their world smaller." Sure, you can argue that it is smaller. I'm just saying that the verb "make" there seems to be assuming a choice that those people won't have without a lot of therapy.
If we're being honest, people who fear spiders are not missing out on any more than someone who simply hasn't learned about a different kind of creature that exists in the world.
You make a good case for being kind to people with phobias.
This guy said "spiders are gross". That is a dumb judgment, not a phobia.
Part of being an adult human in a modern society is the expectation of controlling your reactions regardless of external factors.
Downvoted by people who resent being expected to act like adults
Within reason. It's also about accepting not everyone can do this all of the time, and we should be offering each other grace.
Not everyone can get certain vaccinations, so the rest of us do a little more so the involuntarily-vulnerable can be protected.
Not being able to get vaccinations is a matter of medical necessity, actual life and death. Being creeped out by spiders is absolutely fucking not. I'm willing to accept that people have irrational phobias as long as they don't act on them.
Another part is letting people be
And letting animals be, even gross ones