Star Trek: The Next Generation - "Realm Of Fear"

Barclay is scared of weird HR Giger worms living inside the transporter beam.

RATING: 63%

Flying

When I tell people I am afraid to fly, they often roll their eyes and offer the same insightful quip akin to “Smoking is bad for you.” They tell me I am more likely to die in a car wreck than in an air disaster. And they’re right, statistically.
According to Plane Crash Info’s website: “…the probability of a passenger being killed on a single flight [is] approximately eight million-to-one. If a passenger boarded a flight at random, once a day, everyday, it would statistically be over 21,000 years before he or she would be killed.”
What I don’t understand is why people are so enraged by my aviophobia. For the record: I do not hate airplanes; I do not hate pilots (my uncle is a Captain for AA; my grandpappy was a crop-duster and my father has a pilot’s license); I do not protest / detest people who do fly, or love to fly. I simply don’t like it. And yes, I know it stems from control issues (the same reason I hate YOU driving); I know it is irrational.

What I’d like to ask of you pro-flying-types is this: Please stop using the flying-is-less-dangerous-than-driving line. First, you are making a claim based on quantitative risk (no time to go into it here). Second, I can’t smoke on an airplane, but I can damn-well smoke in my pickup truck. In conclusion, while your phobia forces you to screech like a fucking pussy every time you see a spider, I am overcoming mine with a handful of Klonopins and a fifth of rye whiskey.

(first photo courtesy of planecrashinfo.com. Second photo courtesy of some redneck from the University of Toronto's personal website.)

Rating: 15%