Welcome to Talk About It Tuesday! Hope y’all have been enjoying the unseasonable, wonderful weather. Lat week we talked about Sexist Laundry Instructions and Stalkers. Peoples is the craziest peoples!
This week I found some really interesting stuff. You know how when you’re talking to your friend and she says she saw a huge spider under the sink and you go to get it and it is about the size of your fingernail (pinky) and you’re like, “he’s not so big” and she sees it and goes running into the other room screaming “it’s freaking huge!” and you look away uncomfortably?
Yeah, well, she really thinks it’s as big as she says. Spiders look much bigger to those that are terrified of them. There was a study published in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders that says (ad-libbing here) that the more freaked out people are over spiders, the bigger they look. I am not afraid of spiders, so I couldn’t say. However, any of my readers.. are you afraid of spiders? Do they look bigger to you than what others say? Feel free to share!
In Texas, a couple of teenage boys were messing around with a Ouija Board when the Ouija Board told Friend One (15 yo) to stab Friend Two (14 yo). The bizarre part of the story is that Friend One believed that the Ouija Board told him to stab his friend (or maybe kill him?) and that the friend was causing his problems. The Ouija Board is retailed by Hasbro for amusement purposes only. But, do Ouija Boards really work? Have you ever used one to communicate with the dead or after life? Did you get results? Tell us! 🙂
Extra! Extra! Hot Dogs Cause Butt Cancer! In Chicago, the PCRM (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine) is putting billboards up that warn of the dangers of eating hot dogs. According to the PCRM (and the billboards) hotdogs cause colon and other cancers. They don’t only say they cause cancer, they say they are the leading cause of colon and other cancers.
Janet Riley, president of the hot dog council (yes there really is one) says that hotdogs are part of a healthy, balanced diet. Uh, healthy, balanced diet? I know when I was a kid, I loved hot dogs and baked beans. Even better? Hot dogs with the sideways slices on them cooked up on the grill. Now I know that they are processed foods which are never, ever good for the body. But butt cancer?
What are your thoughts on these findings? Is this another scare tactic from hardcore vegans?
Thanks for joining me for another edition of Talk About It Tuesday! Enjoy the rest of your week. 😀
Darlene A. McGarrity 
What an interesting post. Irrational terror that exists within the unconscious (usually because of symbolic representation) is projected onto a trigger. In other words, it is not the event in itself that causes stress, but the way in which we appraise it. I suggest the lady who fears a spider should look within for the real cause of her phobia. I think it might prove an interesting journey of self-discovery.
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Wow, that is an interesting way to look at it! Maybe there is a deeper reason for things we fear. Thanks for commenting.
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I am not a brain surgeon so I don’t know all about how this works, but my understanding is fear is caused by a traumatic event that is stored at the core of the brain. When a similar event occurs it does not process through the gray matter of the brain, but instead goes directly to the core. So we don’t think or rationalize it. PTSD happens in same way.
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Hey Deb! Yeah. I read a lot about fear, phobias and PTSD.. I just thought it was a neat story. 🙂
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I’m not afraid of spiders either, so can’t comment. I mean, nobody enjoys having them around (do they?) but I don’t run from the room screaming. But I do know my daughter freaks out when there is one. I’ll have to ask her how big it is next time she finds one and we’ll compare…lol Great topics this week Darlene 🙂
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I have to confess.. I enjoy having spiders around.. Yeah, call me crazy. 🙂
I would be interested to see what your daughter says about their size..
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I’ll let you know when I talk to her….of course you’ll probably hear her screams…lol…she has a bit of an issue with them!
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I trapped a giant spider once who told me that his Ouija board said to stop eating hot dogs or I’ll get butt cancer.
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LOL! Sounds like a spider to hold onto!
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I’m not afraid of spiders. I’m the one who has to take care of them whenever my brother is around as he is scared of them. He’ll scream like a little girl and yell at me to get rid of it before he will go anywhere near the area where the spider was. I find it amusing.
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That is very amusing… maybe you could ask him how big it is the next time it happens..
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Hi, Darlene –
Ok, I cannot even talk about bugs in general, because they are ALL so HUGE!!
Patricia
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Hi Patricia! I understand… there are a few bugs I feel that way about..
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I’m scared of spiders and they do grow bigger the longer I look at them which is why I don’t look at them while I’m trying to kill them. I know (shrug) I make it hard on myself.
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I don’t look at water bugs (also called shad roaches) (YUK!) when I try to kill them.. fortunately, I moved out of the city a few years ago, so I don’t see them anymore..
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Huh! I thought water bugs were different than roaches. Learn something new every day (so says the country girl)…
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Thanks Darlene! I’ll never eat another Hot Dog without getting crippling visions of chemotherapy being used to treat my Butt Cancer…… Just don’t EVER try to tell me that Skittles or Chocolate causes Cancer!!! 🙂
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Fortunately, chocolate and skittles are safe.. along with coffee! *phew* When are they going to come up with chocolate skittles? 😀
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I am not a fan of spiders, but since we have SO MANY in our house, I have gotten used to them and I don’t scream anymore when I see one that is 2 inches wide with teeth.
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2 inches wide with teeth!!? Ooh, you should name him Bert. I think he’d seem way less threatening if you named him after a rigid, frugal Sesame Street character.. 😀
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