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Position:Home>Books & Authors> Physical/Mental symptoms that would terrify you?Question: Physical/Mental symptoms that would terrify you!? What are some mental/physical symptoms that would terrify you if they occurred in masses!. Such as a whole town hallucinating!.
I am looking for an idea to expand upon and make my own to write about!. I need to practice writing and I figure something with mass panic could be interesting!. I have several ideas incorperated but need more!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Pregnancy!. Or menopause!. Or early menarche, except that's too creepy to bear thinking about; if they're not too young it seems prurient; if they're extremely young it's just horrible and sick!. I don't usually think along such girly lines, but these sexual/reproductive traits go to deep hopes and fears, and they reveal themselves sort of slowly because they're private!. I guess the male equivalent symptoms would be priapism or impotence or lack of libido!. Though the alien-baby thing has been done, there's lots of room for angst around abortion, prenatal care, superstitions, and the unstoppable, unhurryable gestational clock, not to mention resources (as exemplified by some people's near panicky interpretation of the current global food crisis)!. With menopause of course, maybe humanity would die out!. Maybe that's more sad than terrifying!. Mentally, the worst things I can think of at a mass level are memory issues!. The worst on an individual level are communications issues, where the mind is active but can't express itself!. I wish I could think of something technology-related, because tech is still such a big emotional focus in our lives today--the hot new thing that'll make all our lives more rewarding, yes, but also scarily absorbing and open and unhuman!. Anything normal may be terrifying if everybody starts doing it, and if it's normal you can build slowly!. Abnormal but barely perceptible things are really scary too, like how ants are--because they're so small!. You notice one ant and think, "Okay, I can deal with that," but just a couple of beats later you see there's a whole army doing laps around your chair and it's terrifying!. Or (famously) birds!. What if everybody suddenly got a new puppy!? Like--you thought it would be fun to get your kid a dog, sure!. You feel a little less like a hero when you see the neighbors got a new dog at the same time, but when you start realizing _everybody_ has a puppy, you have to start doubting your sanity--did you really choose to get yours, or did something make you do it!? You start mistrusting your poor innocent (!?) dog too!. Plus it's much funnier than the pregnancy thing!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I would be terrified if a whole town, or crowd of people, were to start believing something foolish on a chain-reaction basis!. Oops, I just described humanity!. "Conspiracy" is the word for that!. Sometimes a group of people act as a flock, but only the ringleaders are aware of the purpose of their action!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I'd lock myself in the house if people started committing crimes while!.!.!. "asleep" isn't the right word, but they're not exactly awake!. I'd say "in a trance state", I guess!. Anyway!. Terrifying, because everyone would be afraid of waking up and having hurt their loved ones or committed a terrible crime!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Everybodies fingernails, toenails, teeth rotting, hair falling out!. I dont know!. Would be weird, though!. Biological terrorism would be in the front of their minds!. Huge mass panic!.Www@QuestionHome@Com If I found out my bosses - boss was really the smartest person in the world!. It would be a bad life Dilbert comic strip to live in!. Morons all over!.Www@QuestionHome@Com |