I don't think the warrior gene and social phobia are really related. I've associated with gang members and drug dealers before and have heard their stories (i was never in a gang or a drug dealer myself). There are some very, very sociable and charismatic gang members out there who are violent and hostile also. having said all that i'm quite certain i have both the warrior gene and social phobia together. which is good and bad. on the one hand i'm constantly placing myself in harm's way. sometimes i wish for a 40 - 50 mph accident to happen (at the other driver's fault) just so i can feel that rush, get out of my car and express anger at the other driver. anger is empowering, especially for me, a life-long social anxiety sufferer.
on the other hand though, i find myself too afraid to initiate hostilities with people i don't like, or people who owe me money. i feel that i want to confront them and threaten them, even practice the hostile things i would say in my mind. but of course i'm too afraid too initiate (thank god).
this spell of barely controlled anger has just recently surfaced in my life. last week my buddy and i were talking in the parking lot at night when a car full of kids drove right by us at 30mph and someone called us the F word as they blazed by. i turned and flipped them off and spat at them. they slammed on the brakes and backed up to us. I turned and ignored them as they reversed right up behind me, continued talking to my scared-****less buddy like nothing was wrong. i felt fear, but i was also riding the anger like a wave. after a few tense seconds one of the guys in the truck said 'hey did you just flip us off?' i turned to face the 5 of them and began to feel SA taking over, but somehow i was confident enough to maintain the toughguy facade. i was about to say something like 'yeah i flipped you off, why'd you call us the F word?'--when one of the guys in the backseat recognized me from where i worked. when they all realized i was a clerk at a drug store that serves ice cream cones to them they changed like night into day and started giving me high fives and suddenly we were all friendly with one another. i wasn't sure if i was ready to go to blows with the five of them, but i knew i wasn't going to back down and let what they did stand.
i think some social phobics, like me, try to use anger to help deal with the anxiety and stress. and having this warrior gene probably helps in this regard. but i'm sure there are just as many (if not more) non-social phobics who have the warrior gene. but then again maybe it's the other way around, that we're not seeing the warrior gene social phobes cause we're so good at being invisible.
i don't know, it's an interesting topic either way.
