The bear or the man social media craze-my hot take

It seems like you can’t peruse social media right now without seeing a meme or reel referencing the viral question. “If you were alone in the woods, would you rather see a man or a bear?” The question sparked controversy, and outrage from some men, when women began overwhelmingly choosing the bear.

They cited some very eye-opening reasons for choosing the bear which, in any reasonable society, would have sounded the alarm bells. After all, if half the population doesn’t feel safe around the larger, stronger, other half, shouldn’t we do something about that? Yes, we should but we won’t because this isn’t a new problem. It’s one that has existed for centuries.

What’s worse is that many men took offense to the women’s choice and retorted things like, “Just wait until you need a man to protect you.” Newsflash buddy, in most cases it isn’t a bear that women need protecting from. It’s other men. By indicating that you wouldn’t help a woman in need because she chose the bear makes you part of the reason that she’d choose the bear.

This exercise is an indicator of the current state of mind of young single men and women in the U.S. today. There is a brewing war of the sexes that seems to be fueled by hurt feelings and stereotypes that are pushed and promoted in the form of social media propaganda.