It's a load of rubbish. Shotguns work in real life.
Yeah, I picked the gun scenario at first too.
the gun didnt work because apparently this person was too idiotic to keep it cleared, loaded and working...
Meh, apparantly not only do I fail to maintain my weapon, but the bear spray I bought was useless - I was conned! If I wasn't dead I'd ask for my money back.
Now who's going to own up to what they'd actually do faced with a polar bear (the "stand frozen in fear" option...)?
I went for the "run away, run away!" option. I was lunch!
I didn't "stand frozen in fear" when I was attacked by a large dog. Why would I do that when attacked by a bear? If anything, I may have never felt a deeper and more profound calm than when I was actually in danger of injury from another creature. Everything was crystalline in perception and thought.
Mmmh, well after fishing I would say that someone wants to remind me, that we (humans) are not allways the end of the food chain. We have to consider that when we walk in wild places.
I would have picked the 'throw the fish' option if there was one.
I survived with a serious injury on my legs.
I curled up into a ball, got bitten, passed out, wake up seeing the bear sniffing through my stuff, threw away the fish and slowly walked away as he was eating the fish.
I didn't "stand frozen in fear" when I was attacked by a large dog. Why would I do that when attacked by a bear? If anything, I may have never felt a deeper and more profound calm than when I was actually in danger of injury from another creature. Everything was crystalline in perception and thought.
I had that calm and clarity of perception and thought thing happen two or three times, but I can only remember the details of one at the moment. It's too bad that only happens when you're in mortal danger. The one I remember well was when I went into respiratory arrest due to a medication reaction. I was paralyzed when it hit, so it was kinda useless as a self-preservation tool. Another one was during a car accident. That one was useful and prolly saved my life. The other I can't remember at all.
About the bear, I tried the "run away" thing in real life once, with a dog. I found out later that I shouldn't do that because dogs and other attacking animals instinctively go for fleeing targets. I picked "stand there frozen in fear". It would really be more like "stand there desperately trying to think of what to do EXCEPT run, 'cause that worked really badly last time". Then I picked the get rid of the fish option. I survived, but it was cheating, really, 'cause I read the the posts above before I clicked the link to the bear site. (Thanks, Ivar. I wouldn't have survived without you 
.
I clicked 'freeze in terror' twice and ended up surviving uninjured twice. The gun works if you get knocked over first for some reason.
I think running away from danger is a natural response. I did it too when there was a vicious dog near me and I got bitten because of it. I did manage to at least get the dog away from my younger sister's though...
I've heard other people talk of thinking clearly in emergency situations... I was in a practical philosophy class once and there was talk of personal experiences of having superhuman strength in situations where it was required, like rescuing people who were stuck underneath really heavy things.
Oddly enough when I remember my own car accident, there was no pain until I had actually gotten myself out of the car and out of the immediate danger. Perhaps shock is a necessary tool for delayed pain so we can rescue ourselves sometimes...