As finals week creeps closer and closer, there’s a certain desperation that starts to kick in for many students right around this time. While a lonely few of you have managed to stay on top of everything for the past eight weeks, not everyone at RIT is going to be looking at straight A’s when they pull up their Fall 2008-2009 grade report on SIS. Although we’d certainly all prefer to that perfect 4.0 GPA, that isn’t necessarily what will be driving us as we approach finals week. For many of us, there’s one reason and one reason alone that we will be working ourselves into a zombie-like state over the next couple weeks: fear.
From fear of failure and bad grades to fear of creepy, crawly insects (see “Terrifying Creatures”), fear can be a very powerful motivator. Indeed, very little else compares.
Every day, fear motivates our behaviors. Why do we back away from the edges of cliffs and shirk from snarling animals? Why is it that we avoid of dark alleyways and shy away from sketchy looking strangers? Rational security concerns, yes, but first and foremost, fear. It’s everywhere.
Every time I write an article for Reporter, there’s a part of me that’s, well, terrified. What if it’s stupid? 6000 copies will be floating around campus — and worse, it’s going to be available online every time someone Googles my name. Scary.
Even when it comes to politics, fear plays an important role. Whether people vote or not (see “The Uselessness of Voting,” and “Go Out and Vote”), their support for a particular candidate is not determined solely by their confidence in that person’s abilities. People are also motivated by their fear of the other candidate. Why do you think negative campaigning is so prevalent?
And as if we didn’t have enough to fear in real life, people across the globe have been working overtime for centuries to dream up other things for us to be afraid of. We now get to add fear of zombies, vampires, and werewolves, and other creatures (see “The Medical Mysteries of Dr. William M Moran”) to the mix.
Fear may not always be a pleasant (or positive) force, but it’s certainly a motivating one. Sometimes — especially around this time of year — it’s even kind of fun.
I hope you all get at least one good scare in this weekend.
Happy Halloween.
Laura Mandanas
Editor in Chief
