Also...
Why are people afraid of themselves?
The prompt for this thought is the recent row over Tom Cruise's talk show outbursts (which I've been getting through meta-reporting channels, not actually ever watching TV news) - specifically a quote in Newsweek about people making a fuss over his "Howard Dean moment" or some such. So, basically, the public derides people who make genuinely-felt emotional outbursts on TV. (I'm not willing to count partisan "anger" a-la Crossfire as an emotion.) By extension, they fear genuine emotions in general, probably in themselves. This seems rather sad.
Edit: my example seems to have been out-of-date; see comments, especially reply to dolohov.
The prompt for this thought is the recent row over Tom Cruise's talk show outbursts (which I've been getting through meta-reporting channels, not actually ever watching TV news) - specifically a quote in Newsweek about people making a fuss over his "Howard Dean moment" or some such. So, basically, the public derides people who make genuinely-felt emotional outbursts on TV. (I'm not willing to count partisan "anger" a-la Crossfire as an emotion.) By extension, they fear genuine emotions in general, probably in themselves. This seems rather sad.
Edit: my example seems to have been out-of-date; see comments, especially reply to dolohov.