“Fear is contagious. You can catch it. Sometimes all it takes is for someone to say that they're scared for the fear to become real. Mo was terrified, and now Nick was too. ”
In this quote, Neil Gaiman explores the concept of fear being contagious. The fear that Mo is feeling spreads to Nick simply by Mo expressing his fear. This highlights the powerful impact that others' emotions and words can have on our own emotions and state of mind. It serves as a reminder of the importance of being mindful of the emotions we express and the influence they can have on those around us. Furthermore, it also speaks to the idea that fear can be just as easily spread as courage or positivity.
In today's world of social media and constant news updates, fear and anxiety can easily spread like wildfire with just one viral post or message. The quote by Neil Gaiman highlights how fear can be contagious and quickly escalate when individuals express their anxieties to others, causing a ripple effect of panic and uncertainty. This idea is particularly relevant in the age of mass communication, where information (and misinformation) can spread rapidly and affect large populations.
"“Fear is contagious. You can catch it. Sometimes all it takes is for someone to say that they're scared for the fear to become real. Mo was terrified, and now Nick was too.” - Neil Gaiman"
When have you experienced a situation where fear spread from one person to another?
How do you think fear can affect individuals and groups in different ways?
What can be done to prevent the spread of fear and create a sense of calm and reassurance in difficult situations?
“I think I've got Fear down, but how do I take it all the way up to Terror?”
“To say that Richard Mayhew was not very good at heights would be perfectly accurate, but would fail to give the full picture; it would be like describing the planet Jupiter as bigger than a duck. Richard hated clifftops, and high buildings; somewhere not far inside of him was the fear – the start, utter, silently screaming terror – that if he got too close to the edge, then something would take over, and he would find himself walking to the edge of a clifftop and then he would just step off into space. It was as if he could not entirely trust himsels, and that scared Richard more than the simple fear of falling ever could. So he called it vertigo, and hated it and himself, and kept away from high places.”
“Now, Anansi stories, they have wit and trickery and wisdom. Now, all over the world, all of the people they aren't just thinking of hunting and being hunted anymore. Now they're starting to think their way out of problems--sometimes thinking their way into worse problems.”
“The only advice I can give you is what you're telling yourself. Only, maybe you're too scared to listen.”
“He had heard about talking to plants in the early seventies, on Radio Four, and thought it was an excellent idea. Although talking is perhaps the wrong word for what Crowley did. What he did was put the fear of God into them. More precisely, the fear of Crowley. In addition to which, every couple of months Crowley would pick out a plant that was growing too slowly, or succumbing to leaf-wilt or browning, or just didn't look quite as good as the others, and he would carry it around to all the other plants. "Say goodbye to your friend," he'd say to them. "He just couldn't cut it. . . " Then he would leave the flat with the offending plant, and return an hour or so later with a large, empty flower pot, which he would leave somewhere conspicuously around the flat. The plants were the most luxurious, verdant, and beautiful in London. Also the most terrified.”
“Sometimes I think that the truth is a place. In my mind, it is like a city: there can be a hundred roads, a thousand paths, that will all take you, eventually, to the same place. It does not matter where you come from. If you walk towards truth, you will reach it, whatever path you take.”