Who is really the Coward?

[Linux]

This is a philosophical question that i think is overlooked.

The reason why i think this question is important is because i think that some people can be wrongly accused of being cowardly.

A Coward is somebody who is out to save their own skin.

However, i think that some people can be born with an overwhelming abnormal sense of fear. Some people in war freeze and are unable to help their fellow soldiers. I don’t think its fare to call these people cowards. Yet i think a lot of these kinds of people were considered at some point in time cowards and were even killed as a result being labeled as such.

What is your opinion on the matter?

 

[AV1]

There is a difference between cowardice, fear, and inaction. You are correct to assume that some labels are just plain wrong.

Cowardice implies a decision of ones will. You chose to behave a certain way in the interest of self. Fear often motivates this, but fear is separate. It is inherent in some form of survival instincts in human beings…fight or flight…and applied in human rationality in another form.

Over coming both types of fear requires a desire to control it, or at least not be controlled by it. Then it requires discipline and training. In my experience, it is more that laziness is the primary cause of fear turning into cowardice, more than it is related to the capacity within oneself to not be fearful. Most people are aloof to the need to practice not being fearful.

It never seems necessary…until it is.

 

[ColdComfort]

This is a philosophical question that i think is overlooked.

The reason why i think this question is important is because i think that some people can be wrongly accused of being cowardly.

A Coward is somebody who is out to save their own skin.

However, i think that some people can be born with an overwhelming abnormal sense of fear. Some people in war freeze and are unable to help their fellow soldiers. I don’t think its fare to call these people cowards. Yet i think a lot of these kinds of people were considered at some point in time cowards and were even killed as a result being labeled as such.

What is your opinion on the matter?

Well, I think in war neurology and hormones play their part. You only have to look at the old films of men from the Great War suffering from ‘shell shock’. And Patton was made to apologize for slapping the soldier for very good reason. But why is it a philosophical issue?

 

[Linux]

There is a difference between cowardice, fear, and inaction. You are correct to assume that some labels are just plain wrong.

Cowardice implies a decision of ones will. You chose to behave a certain way in the interest of self. Fear often motivates this, but fear is separate. It is inherent in some form of survival instincts in human beings…fight or flight…and applied in human rationality in another form.

Over coming both types of fear requires a desire to control it, or at least not be controlled by it. Then it requires discipline and training. In my experience, it is more that laziness is the primary cause of fear turning into cowardice, more than it is related to the capacity within oneself to not be fearful. Most people are aloof to the need to practice not being fearful.

It never seems necessary…until it is.

How does one practice not to be fearful?

 

[AV1]

How does one practice not to be fearful?

That is a long answer, but I will try not to be long winded.

The first thing is acceptance of that which is not in your control. Other people. Circumstance. Death. The later applies more to the example you gave, so I will try and keep it to that. If you accept death and the fact that you don’t know when it will come for you, there is no reason to fear it. Concentration on living, then becomes the exercise, in the sense that the quality of life becomes more important that its length. There is freedom from fear in that.

Next is a rational understanding of what you are up against. Again to your example, you study your enemies (or situations) ability and limitations vs your own and adjust accordingly. The you train to strengthen the weakness in you and exploit it in what you face. It helps to have expert help here.

Then there is mindset in general. If fear is to be conquered, you must become a warrior in your mind first. That is the battlefield. This takes prayer, reflection, counsel, and discipline, and commitment.

And last it takes true acceptance of the ability to do all things, through Christ, who strengthens you.

 

[Linux]

Well, I think in war neurology and hormones play their part. You only have to look at the old films of men from the Great War suffering from ‘shell shock’. And Patton was made to apologize for slapping the soldier for very good reason. But why is it a philosophical issue?

I think it’s a philosophical issue because i think a lot of people have flawed understanding of what constitutes cowardliness. Also if cowardliness is nothing more than a biological response, some people might argue that a coward is not morally responsible for his or her actions?

 

[Linux]

That is a long answer, but I will try not to be long winded.

The first thing is acceptance of that which is not in your control. Other people. Circumstance. Death. The later applies more to the example you gave, so I will try and keep it to that. If you accept death and the fact that you don’t know when it will come for you, there is no reason to fear it. Concentration on living, then becomes the exercise, in the sense that the quality of life becomes more important that its length. There is freedom from fear in that.

Next is a rational understanding of what you are up against. Again to your example, you study your enemies (or situations) ability and limitations vs your own and adjust accordingly. The you train to strengthen the weakness in you and exploit it in what you face. It helps to have expert help here.

Then there is mindset in general. If fear is to be conquered, you must become a warrior in your mind first. That is the battlefield. This takes prayer, reflection, counsel, and discipline, and commitment.

And last it takes true acceptance of the ability to do all things, through Christ, who strengthens you.

This is interesting. Know any good books on the matter? Not just from a religious perspective.

 

[AV1]

The Art of War -Sun Tzu, great place to start. Google is your friend here, as most of my readings on warrior mindset have spiritual overtones.

 

[wanabesaint]

Is coward the question, or is failure the question?

One who has been gifted to a great ability to lead others, a king pin. Jesus was the ultimate king pin. and he lead people to the right path…

Yet today many are blessed with the gift to be, king pins, but, they lead people to the wrong path, now that is failure…

A coward may be gifted with the gift of a coward, he walks away… mayb, to merely fight the bigger battle another day, Gods will…

But a king pins gift is hard to hide, and its miss us can send lots of people to their doom, thanks to , failure of another.
rather be a coward that no one follows, , than a king pin that lead others to eternal damnation. and lots have.

coward, one who deny God, failure, one who denys God, to save themselves of this world, while ignoring the good they could have done…

 

[dontlookdown]

This is semi on-topic, but I feel compelled to share this.

I’m a Police Officer, a couple nights ago around 3 a.m. I was searching a vacant house that I found with the back door kicked in. I found bullet shell casings on the floor in the kitchen, so my level of caution was already raised dramatically. I left the kitchen, entered the dining room, and with my flashlight I could see a long gun of some type on a couch in the next room. I was really focused on trying to see this gun as it was dark. Right as all my attention was on this gun in the next room, the wind blew and knocked the gutter off the house right outside the window I was standing next to. The crash was incredibly loud, but my scream was even even louder, I also jumped about 3 feet as I screamed. I’m about 6’3 and 250 lbs. and I had two other cops that witnessed my schoolgirl like reaction. I am now the butt of every joke at the PD.

The gun I was looking at turned out to be an old Red Rider bb gun that was broken.

Sorry, I love telling funny stories on myself.

 

[Ion]

This is a philosophical question that i think is overlooked.

The reason why i think this question is important is because i think that some people can be wrongly accused of being cowardly.

A Coward is somebody who is out to save their own skin.

However, i think that some people can be born with an overwhelming abnormal sense of fear. Some people in war freeze and are unable to help their fellow soldiers. I don’t think its fare to call these people cowards. Yet i think a lot of these kinds of people were considered at some point in time cowards and were even killed as a result being labeled as such.

What is your opinion on the matter?

“A coward is somebody who is out to” do ANYTHING to “save their own skin.”
As I know the treatment for freezing is to beat them until they beg to stop it.
Because of it’s popularity, I think it worked.

 

[Pugsly]

This is a philosophical question that i think is overlooked.

The reason why i think this question is important is because i think that some people can be wrongly accused of being cowardly.

A Coward is somebody who is out to save their own skin.

However, i think that some people can be born with an overwhelming abnormal sense of fear. Some people in war freeze and are unable to help their fellow soldiers. I don’t think its fare to call these people cowards. Yet i think a lot of these kinds of people were considered at some point in time cowards and were even killed as a result being labeled as such.

What is your opinion on the matter?

“What far-sighted scan invents COURAGE in a man walking to his death?” (from the poem Gethsemane)

They lack COURAGE who lack vision. The flesh naturally recoils from pain…and those whose only vision is imaginative fear…will be Cowardly.

 

[Linux]

This is semi on-topic, but I feel compelled to share this.

I’m a Police Officer, a couple nights ago around 3 a.m. I was searching a vacant house that I found with the back door kicked in. I found bullet shell casings on the floor in the kitchen, so my level of caution was already raised dramatically. I left the kitchen, entered the dining room, and with my flashlight I could see a long gun of some type on a couch in the next room. I was really focused on trying to see this gun as it was dark. Right as all my attention was on this gun in the next room, the wind blew and knocked the gutter off the house right outside the window I was standing next to. The crash was incredibly loud, but my scream was even even louder, I also jumped about 3 feet as I screamed. I’m about 6’3 and 250 lbs. and I had two other cops that witnessed my schoolgirl like reaction. I am now the butt of every joke at the PD.

The gun I was looking at turned out to be an old Red Rider bb gun that was broken.

Sorry, I love telling funny stories on myself.

Hello. That is funny. Thanks for sharing.:thumbsup:

It is a gift to able to laugh at ones own actions. Never give it up.

 

[Pugsly]

This is semi on-topic, but I feel compelled to share this.

I’m a Police Officer, a couple nights ago around 3 a.m. I was searching a vacant house that I found with the back door kicked in. I found bullet shell casings on the floor in the kitchen, so my level of caution was already raised dramatically. I left the kitchen, entered the dining room, and with my flashlight I could see a long gun of some type on a couch in the next room. I was really focused on trying to see this gun as it was dark. Right as all my attention was on this gun in the next room, the wind blew and knocked the gutter off the house right outside the window I was standing next to. The crash was incredibly loud, but my scream was even even louder, I also jumped about 3 feet as I screamed. I’m about 6’3 and 250 lbs. and I had two other cops that witnessed my schoolgirl like reaction. I am now the butt of every joke at the PD.

The gun I was looking at turned out to be an old Red Rider bb gun that was broken.

Sorry, I love telling funny stories on myself.

That was a great story…and I don’t know if I wouldn’t have done a similiar shriek.

 

[AV1]

This is semi on-topic, but I feel compelled to share this.

I’m a Police Officer, a couple nights ago around 3 a.m. I was searching a vacant house that I found with the back door kicked in. I found bullet shell casings on the floor in the kitchen, so my level of caution was already raised dramatically. I left the kitchen, entered the dining room, and with my flashlight I could see a long gun of some type on a couch in the next room. I was really focused on trying to see this gun as it was dark. Right as all my attention was on this gun in the next room, the wind blew and knocked the gutter off the house right outside the window I was standing next to. The crash was incredibly loud, but my scream was even even louder, I also jumped about 3 feet as I screamed. I’m about 6’3 and 250 lbs. and I had two other cops that witnessed my schoolgirl like reaction. I am now the butt of every joke at the PD.

The gun I was looking at turned out to be an old Red Rider bb gun that was broken.

Sorry, I love telling funny stories on myself.

Good one! Thanks for sharing & Stay safe.

 

[empther]

Depend on Karl von Clausewitz (1780 -1831) “On War” to tell it like it is.

He said: courage is the sense of one’s strength.

This is very profound.
So some five hundred pound Sumo wrestler comes at you and you run away. Are you a coward? No. You have correctly ascertained the near certainty that this guy will beat you to a pulp due to his superior strength.

It’s not cowardice to run away from a no win situation.
It is cowardice to never try anything, from laziness or whatever.

In Navy Seal training and other such commando training, they use the term “selective memory”. The soldier is taught to only think of his strengths and forget the weaknesses. The soldier than believes he will succeed and has courage.

We can extend this idea to everyday life.
Can we attempt something we don’t believe we have the strength or skill to achieve? No. Oh we may go through the motions, but our hearts aren’t in it and we won’t perform well enough to succeed.

---

Please note: Clausewitz differentiates between courage in the face of danger and courage in assuming responsibility.
Both kinds of courage are needed by a commander, only the first kind by the foot soldier.

 

[Darryl1958]

While courage is a virtue by all accounts, that does not make cowardice as a vice.

It is rather a lack of character.

Some people are born naturally with personal attributes that lend themselves well to courage, such as a love of thrill and adventure, and a general lack of fearfulness and anxiety and self-doubt. Heroes are often not well loved on the battlefield either, by the way, for such attributes, while admirable from afar, have a tendency to put themselves and those around them in great danger.
Fearfulness on the other hand, is something that helps to keep people alive long enough to fight another day.

as a general rule though, we do not admire cowardice in ourselves or others, but are filled with shame when the anxieties of the coward dictate our actions. Like appetite and other pleasure seeking behavior, anxiety and the will toward self-preservation are urges that we are called to control, and to become masters of. Character is something that needs to be built, by constant acts of will.

 

[ThinkingSapien]

I don’t think its fare to call these people cowards. Yet i think a lot of these kinds of people were considered at some point in time cowards and were even killed as a result being labeled as such.

What is your opinion on the matter?

“Coward” as I have seen it used seems to be a word that is used with the intent to disgrace some one; either as an insult or to use a social fear to discourage some behaviour. It borders on being a politically charged word at time. At times ff you see one person referring to another as a coward it may suggest something about the relationship between the person using the term and the person at which it was directed.

Some other phrase such as “the person was mortified with fear” is more of a description of a person’s internal state. It’s further removed from intent and less likely (at least in my culture) to be suggestive of something disgraceful

 

[Pugsly]

“Coward” as I have seen it used seems to be a word that is used with the intent to disgrace some one; either as an insult or to use a social fear to discourage some behaviour. It borders on being a politically charged word at time. At times ff you see one person referring to another as a coward it may suggest something about the relationship between the person using the term and the person at which it was directed.

Some other phrase such as “the person was mortified with fear” is more of a description of a person’s internal state. It’s further removed from intent and less likely (at least in my culture) to be suggestive of something disgraceful

Prudence (discretion) does not equate with “cowardice”…Jesus showed forth the Courage of God…setting aside great powers so that…as He told Paul… “My power becomes perfect in weakness”…such as on the Cross.

Therefore, when Jesus escaped being thrown over a Nazorean cliff…He was not cowardly…but Prudent. I would suggest…Cowardice is fear based…discretion is Wisdom based.