Horizon

I'm terrible at this sort of thing, always assuming the writer agrees with me and putting exactly that spin on it. It was years before I found out that Darwinfish weren't always put up by science-minded theists who saw no conflict between evolution and religion.

Yeah, I got Joel a Linux fish and he didn't display it for the same reason -- afraid it would look like he was promoting evangelical tech culture or something. I might get him this one instead.

Googling the "fear is a choice" phrase, I find a bunch of icky self-help stuff and also, weirdly, what seems to be a Dutch weblog showing a picture of the same phrase in the same writing on a similar sidewalk-plate that I think does come from western SoMa, San Francisco.

Can see where the phrase could be used as a motivator, could even sound callous in a "personal responsibility" way because sometimes fear is just plain inevitable, or it could be something more like the old East European dissidents' maxim, "make no decision out of fear." Dunno.

More ambiguities: a rather disturbing "Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste" ad that looks too much like the poster for Brazil.

My bet is that the person doing it sees this phrase as having a political import, probably intended as an anti-iraq war statement of something similar.

Let see if I've got this right: someone is at large in your neighbourhood, chalking "Fear is a choice" at sundry times and in divers places.

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

Erm, why? I mean, if whoever was writing, "fear is mandatory" that'd be something else again, wunnit?