Some fears are good. Today we live in a world of tv-zombified simpletons who don't recognize the wisdom that grew from the analogy of a youngster touching a hot stove. The punch line that flowered from that tiny proverb, of course, is that the child learned the hard lesson of not touching whatever experience warned him not to touch. Simple enough.
A couple of decades ago a very popular ad campaign generated enough two-worded bumper stickers to make any teenager on earth deathly afraid of admitting to having any fear. Living with unfounded fears is not good, certainly. But dismissing or ignoring the fears that keep us alive and healthy is just as bad or worse. The hangover from that stupid anti-fear trend gave us a crowd of people today who truly don't understand the very legitimate value of caution. No, these days the quickest way to get the world to line up for and fully support ANYTHING is to put the word 'phobia' behind whatever is being promoted. Everyone then cringes at being the target of ridicule that will be aimed at the 'phobes'.
