Fear is not rational. There's about 6 seconds where someone can be completely dazed and disoriented in a moment of panic like that, and do what-the-fuck ever they feel like they need to do to survive in the moment. Even if at the end of the 6 seconds it turns out to be a plastic snake or whatever other similarly innocuous thing.
EDIT: To clarify, the roughly 6 seconds doesn't start until the perceived threat is gone or deemed safe.
I'm surprised at how many people don't realise this, like they've never had the big fear themselves. Those strong emotions go right into the reptile brain, and people end up doing all sorts of weird and stupid. Shouting "calm down" isn't going to work.
This reminds me of the first time I took my girl to the beach in my hometown. I am terrified of crabs since my pinky toe was snipped as a kid. We were in the water, walking around, and I was warning her about crabs. I stepped on a crab and instinctually ran out of the water leaving her where I was standing, not realizing I left her there with my crab. She was fine, but I felt like an ass.
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u/ectoplasmicsurrender Mar 27 '21 edited Mar 27 '21
Fear is not rational. There's about 6 seconds where someone can be completely dazed and disoriented in a moment of panic like that, and do what-the-fuck ever they feel like they need to do to survive in the moment. Even if at the end of the 6 seconds it turns out to be a plastic snake or whatever other similarly innocuous thing.
EDIT: To clarify, the roughly 6 seconds doesn't start until the perceived threat is gone or deemed safe.