Are You Really Afraid Of Death?

[The Angry Intellect]

Greetings.

 

I have a question for all you mortals.

 

I have been pondering if others are really afraid of death/dying, or if they are more like me, afraid of an accident or situation where you know the chances of instant death are not 100%, and you're more afraid of being seriously injured and surviving, that or having an accident where it leaves you in an immense amount of pain and the suffering you would go through before finally dying... Or even the thought of being permanently (mostly) disabled.

 

If I am on a plane and we are way up high in a 747 traveling from one country to another for instance, if the wings were to suddenly snap off, that wouldn't really scare me much, because I know the chances of surviving for even a few seconds after impact would be close to 0%.

 

But, if I am traveling on a light aircraft as I have done many times and we are in an emergency situation not far from the airport, that scares me the most. Because my brain knows there is a good chance of survival, but the chances of not being seriously injured are slim.

 

After the years of self-analyzing, I have come to realize that I am not afraid to die, death doesn't scare me at all. It's the thought of going through something terrible and living for a while longer to suffer before dying, to feel all the pain or to choke on your own blood and deal with the broken ribs or spine with your eye hanging out and your brain half smashed open while having to wait for death to finally come around.

 

So which are you all really afraid of?

 

Are you like me, not afraid of death but you're more afraid that you could live through some sort of tragedy/accident with horrible consequences..

 

For instance if I'm up high on a building and I were to fall off, on the way down I wouldn't be thinking "Oh no! What if I die?!" - I would be thinking "Oh sh*t! What if I live?!"

Edited April 30, 2016 by The Angry Intellect

[Sirona]

You can take some precautions to decrease your chances of dying at any given year, for example the leading causes of death for those aged 15-24 (in Australia) are land transport accidents (motorcycle/car predominately), accidental poisoning and suicide. By not driving and catching public transport you could decrease your chances of death slightly in any given year, however, this might be offset by depression, smoking or drinking excessively. I personally don't see the point in the 'what if' scenarios as there is always that random chance you will be in an 'tragedy/accident with horrible consequences' as you say. I generally support the principle of not worrying about things that are beyond your control, not to mention the health implications which arise as a result of increased stress and anxiety. Also, traveling by plane is a relatively safe mode of transport compare to land vehicles, so the scenarios you've listed above are extremely unlikely and not worth worrying about. You would waste a lot of your intellectual potential if you spent a great portion of time thinking about unlikely 'what if' scenarios. If you were unlucky and did survive a tragic accident, then you would deal with that when and if it happens; what is the point in worrying prematurely about something that only has a small chance of occurring?

[zapatos]

I am not afraid of death or dying, but I look forward to neither. I'd certainly prefer death to many versions of being alive, and I hope if it comes to that, I will be in a position to choose. I find myself more in line with Sirona's thoughts on the matter; I don't find myself worrying about unlikely events.

[The Angry Intellect]

Uhm, yeah... Thanks for the story Sirona, that's not what I was getting at.

 

I don't sit here all day thinking about what if's, I just wanted to know if other people actually fear death it's self or rather the thought of living through a horrible accident/experience.

 

I don't think about the what if's, it was merely a question to get other peoples perspective on the subject.

 

I like learning about other humans, what they think, what they personally feel about a particular subject or question etc..

 

FYI, I've been in 2 plane crashes, both in light aircraft in PNG hahaha, the worlds best place to fly!

 

But otherwise yes you are correct, car crashes are a leading cause of death compared to flying, which is still the safest mode of transport to date.

 

Not living in a big city however, limits the "not driving" part for a lot of people, where even buses don't go to and there are no trains or trams, so driving your own vehicle is a must for work in such places and generally a requirement for some jobs.

Edited May 1, 2016 by The Angry Intellect

[Sirona]

Nice, the next time someone is right, I'll use the 'that's what I was getting at' escape too.

[The Angry Intellect]

What?

 

You completely avoided my original question.

 

You're the one escaping by saying you don't think about death, then you rant on about decreasing your chances of death, again all completely irrelevant to the question.

 

You literally danced around the question by responding with something else.

 

I'm asking you to think about the thing you don't think about, then tell me what fears you most in your own mind.

 

Is it the thought of dying? Or is it the thought of living after a bad experience?

 

For me, it's not the thought of death, dying doesn't worry me at all (when you actually try think about it hard)

If you don't want to answer the question, then please don't comment with something else again.

Edited May 1, 2016 by The Angry Intellect

[Sirona]

Firstly, don't tell me what to do; feel free to report me if I've done something wrong though. Secondly, while I may have avoided your question, I was still on topic and chose to focus on the aspect of not worrying about things you cannot control, which I believed to be a logical response and provided an explanation. I personally still don't see any point in answering your question because it's a moot point. I am both somewhat confronted by the idea of death an suffering, yet I know there is not much point in focusing on it unless was faced with it, in which case I would deal with it. I can't predict what tragedies may or may not happen and therefore preparing my emotional response before it occurs is just a waste of time.

[The Angry Intellect]

So why bother commenting if you didn't want to answer the original question...the entire point of this thread?

 

What exactly is wrong with you?

 

Go use facebook

[Sirona]

So why bother commenting if you didn't want to answer the original question...the entire point of this thread?

 

What exactly is wrong with you?

 

Go use facebook

Nothing, that I know of. I was trying to highlight that your question was illogical and therefore not worth discussing.

[The Angry Intellect]

then why be here discussing it?!?!?!?!

 

WHY?????

 

Humans!!!!!

 

This is why I must understand you all better, you're all illogical, not me!

 

[iNow]

I was going to answer, but the OP has convinced me not to bother.

[Phi for All]

Uncivil behavior, the death of any thread. "Please, come talk to me while I beat you over the head".

 

I don't mind the angry part, but being rude is a choice.

[The Angry Intellect]

I'm pointing out the obvious, it's more like thread hijacking.

 

Referring to my original questions, if someone goes off on a wild tangent that's only mildly related to my question I point it out.

 

I believe you're all sticking up for her instead of me because I'm male, and she's female.

 

She was the one being rude and annoying, are you all seriously blind?

 

What the heck is wrong with you.

[Sirona]

Everything you do or say is intended to elicit negative emotional responses; don't turn this into a gender war when it has absolutely nothing to do with gender.

[iNow]

What the heck is wrong with you.

I dislike volatile rage monkeys blind to their own immature behaviors or too narcissistic to care how others will naturally react to them.

 

Or, you know, I'm swooning like a horny teen because she might have lady bits and you're too awesome for words. I suppose that's an option, too.

Edited May 2, 2016 by iNow

[The Angry Intellect]

It does when the other people will only support you mostly because your female - I see through them like glass.

 

Also, I was asking some questions that I wanted to get some other peoples thoughts on, I wasn't trying to annoy anyone.

 

You however, come in and try hijack a thread, just throwing in your 2 cents worth of unrelated comments whilst avoiding the original questions.

 

It's very simple.

 

If you don't want to join in a discussion by answering or helping the original poster, then seriously, why bother commenting?

 

Saying you don't think about the question I asked is not helpful, I wanted people to think about it and get back to me with what they actually feared most when they have to think about death.

 

How is what you responded with any different from the following scenario:

 

OP asks "Do you like the new McDonald's cheese burger?"

 

Someone responds with "I don't eat cheese burgers".....

 

You're commenting for the sake of commenting, it's a waste of the OP's time & doesn't provide any useful feedback in relation to what they were looking for.

 

If anyone else out there can see this as well, instead of just abusing me for the sake of joining in, please say so.

 

What Sirona is now trying to do is called "defamation", others are joining in.

 

Let me make this as simple as I possibly can, read what I type:

 

Don't just comment about something in here if you don't want to assist me by providing your personal thoughts on the questions at hand at the beginning of this thread.

 

Don't go spinning off in a tangent that's mildly related to death, please just think about the original questions and get back to me with your thoughts.

 

I'm a curious person, I like hearing what others really think when they are confronted with the thought of death, I don't care if you do or don't think about death often, don't provide me with statistics or ways to help avoid dying, that wasn't the point of this thread.

 

Thanks.

[Sirona]

If you've not noticed, there is this lovely feature called 'report'. I suggest you use it if you believe I hijacked your thread instead of wasting everyone's time with insults.

Edited May 2, 2016 by Sirona

[The Angry Intellect]

Wasting "everyone's"?

 

Your trying to twist this around on me, please, kindly stop commenting in this thread.

 

I created it, no one has to read it if they aren't interested.

 

No one is forcing you to be here.

 

What you're doing is not helpful and you know it.

 

Stop with the abuse, please leave.

I'm getting tired of the relentless "negative" down votes on anything I say, some of you are clearly doing it on purpose because you're immature pricks, your just negative Nancy's.

 

I rarely negative vote something, I either don't vote or else I "up vote" if I generally agree with or support someones comment, usually when it relates to the thread and not just random comments.

[hypervalent_iodine]

!

Moderator Note

We're done here. The Angry Intellect, please aim for more civility and maturity in your posts in future. We won't tolerate your insulting words, and please do keep your posts a little more family friendly.