Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/05/03/man-or-bear-team-bear-over-here-especially-if-theyre-as-adorable-as-these-bears-caught-on-the-fairview-critter-cams.html
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I was just thinking about making some memes featuring that actor.
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This is what I wrote earlier this week on FetLife in response to this discussion:
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If a bear is going to attack me, it will do so without deceit.
Even if it’s not a quick, clean kill, a bear won’t intentionally prolong it and inflict cruelty just to express that little bit extra hate because I differ from it. It won’t imprison you somewhere and slowly draw out your death as long as possible.
The bear will attack you as a source of food or in defense of cubs; it won’t gang up with its homophobic bear friends to attack you because it decided you’re some freaky weirdo that needs to be taught your proper place, leaving you tied up against a fence in rural Texas to die frightened, hurting, and alone.
I’ll take the bear, please.
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And maybe most importantly:
Heaven forbid, if any of us are ever attacked/killed by a bear, we can be sure that the bear will most likely be put down… not given umpteen chances to do it again.
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I’ve lost track of the number of people, none of them cis men, who’ve stated “people will believe me if I say I’ve been attacked by a bear.”
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#YesAllBears …generally want to be left alone to eat berries, or maybe the occasional honey comb.
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Oops, I completely missed the actual Man or Bear discussion, so I’ve deleted by comments now that I’ve seen what the question was. Sorry for any offence I caused.
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A literary work that looks too literal for my tastes. 
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I get that this is hypothetical, but the solo man (me) / solo woman occurs every time I’m in the woods. It is hard to signal safety. Usually the women are runners so I step off the path to give lots of room to fly by me. What else to do?
What should a running man signal to a slower woman? When I was younger and faster I’d call out early, hang back and let her form a plan, then pass when she was ready. Is that enough?
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There’s no 100% right answer, but these are good actions to take. I personally recommend doing those for anyone regardless of their gender. I’d also add the standard list of don’t catcall, don’t try to get them to take off their earphones, etc, but I’m assuming you already know those, else you probably wouldn’t be asking.
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Agreed. For brevity I simplified. There are many more layers to the situation as well including bikes, elders, kids, dogs on and off leash, groups, early days of covid, cognitive status. All the situations require some adjustment to closing behaviour. For bikers I call out “Just me, no dogs” or “Two hikers, one dog”. The best of the bikers will reply with “3 bikes” or whatever.
Why anyone would wear headphones in bear country is beyond me. But I make noise as I approach. If they are startled, perhaps they should think it through.
It seems standard that trail users have a simple greeting as they pass; some sort of acknowledgement that we are sharing a wonderful thing. A curt head nod is a great no nonsense and neutral signal. It says I have power, I’m in control yet I acknowledge you. What do the rest of you teach the people around you to do in those situations?
Small edits
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My running trails are far from bear country, although I have seen the occasional fox or coyote bound across the path ahead of me. It’s always situational, though. I wear different clothing when I run in the Winter than when I do in the Summer. If I did run in an area with bears I would adjust accordingly.
Also, in case you didn’t know, sometimes those earphones are on a much lower volume or there’s nothing playing at all. We’re wearing them so people (i.e., men) won’t try to talk to us. (Alternatively is “pass through” mode, so you can still hear your surroundings.)
Usually to let slower people ahead of you know you’re going to pass them “On your right!” and to generally leave other people alone, hoping they’ll do the same for you. You also teach them to let someone (e.g., my nesting partner, in my case) know where you’re going, the running path you’re taking, and how long you expect to be out.
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I’d wager that the number of people killed by bears they didn’t see coming due to wearing headphones wouldn’t even amount to a rounding error compared to the number of people killed by humans (especially humans driving cars) that they didn’t see coming due to wearing headphones.
Even excluding death-by-human you’re statistically much more likely to be killed by a dog or a swarm of bees or a stroke of lightning than by a bear.
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