Mindscanner #78 - Roles of Fear and Anger

Issue #78
Summer 2010

The Roles of Fear and Anger
A surprising solution in our angry drama
by KwISt

Klingons play the role of angry warriors. In fact, the sign for us in American Sign Language (ASL) is "the angry people." That's the part we play in the Star Trek universe. People will see us and know that tempers will flare.

DISCLAIMER: This is a studious opinion piece, which by its very nature is an oversimplification. Sure, we Klingons also fill other alternate roles. Sure, anger is sometimes met with enough patience to see a rational response. But we are tiny, tiny creatures in a ginormous universe, so it's our nature to oversimplify everything, just to get any of it into our finite grasp. Hear me out...

The natural response to witnessing anger is often fear, and sometimes more anger. It's part of the human hardware. That primitive fight-or-flight response gets triggered instantly in the Amygdala, and adrenaline gets pumping within the 3/10ths of a second before it passes along the opportunity for hypothalamus even to begin processing it rationally. (I've learned this first hand from PTSD following the riots.) Some are overpowered by adrenaline before they can even know what they've seen. For this reason, fear and anger are hard to defuse. Objectivity is usually lost because the experience has made its effect personal.

So fear and anger both play part in the role we play as Klingons: We show up angry, and instill fear into the hearts of our enemies. It tells a fuller story than the sterilized Federation propaganda stripped of emotion. But what does this mean in Fandom? If the fans playing our opponents are ready for the part, then they will add to our story by playing the part of fear to our anger. But how often are actual science fiction fans, even the ones who dress the part, ready to face situations of fear? Hardly ever! The story of anger meets fear is wonderful, but the great flaw of telling this story is buried in the human brain... The response of fear to our anger is inevitable, even downright LOGICAL, but human emotion will drive irrational responses before logic can enter into it.

The problem with being genuinely feared is many-fold:
1) It means we will be treated with prejudices that are often irrational.
2) Attention is taken from our anger to consider "the victims" who have a problem fearing us.
3) The story we tell gets ripped from our hands to be written by those who play the other part of fear.

Fortunately, there's an answer... and it solves all three issues quite elegantly.

We the Klingons need to play both roles: anger AND fear. On the surface, it sounds a little crazy. But crazy like a fox, it gives us back the spotlight, the control, and most importantly, all the glory!

WHAM! I bet you good money I just tipped your sacred cow! Klingons should show fear?! SACRILEGE! But those same shows and books that characterize fear as 'weakness' also speak of how it needs be expected and respected. Paradox! Being human or being Klingon, we are creatures of paradox. Maybe Klingons share the same lizard-brain delays as in human physiology, or maybe Klingons react uniquely with fear and reason at the same time. Whichever the case, fear is not handled by ignorance, and we must acknowledge its presence.

"It is better to be feared than to be loved." - The Prince, by Machiavelli

Remember Krenn in THE FINAL REFLECTION, saying "There is no dishonor in fearing the Klingon"? This truth is the window to the answer. When we show our *fellow Klingons* the fear and reverence that is their due, we honor what it is *to be* Klingon.

So with chin held high, tread lightly around your comrades' powder kegs. But likewise laugh together for the joy of knowing we are fearsome.

That, in turn, serves our purpose in all the important ways:
1) It lets *us* tell the full story, keeping it in our control.
2) It demonstrates the prescribed fear, respect, and reverence that the audience should have for us Klingons. So it teaches by our example, without pressuring them to invent that answer on their own.
3) It affords them the chance to see the roles of fear and anger in their own lives, despite their denial of its existence. Sure, they may possibly deny their own fearful nature out of willful blindness. But the beauty is, you've already disarmed them from doing so. With fear placed on the strong, capable shoulders of the Klingons, the others can discover it in live demonstration, objectively, without having to fight it being placed directly on them.

So there you have it: Act out the fear and respect for your fellow Klingon, and others will know the valuable currency of fearing and respecting you!

- KwISt
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