From the Nov 22 – Nov 28, 2001 issue

Fight or Flight?

This holiday season, with the world coming to an end and all, The Stranger asks our readers: Are you a fighter or a flier? Either way, we've got the perfect selection of special gifts for your shopping experience. Burn those bridges! Burrow in your

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t doesn't matter whether you're dealing with Jesus-loving Christians, dreidel-spinning Jews, candle-lighting Kwaanzanites, or good old-fashioned atheists. In this Yuletide season of war, there are only two types of people on your holiday shopping list: fighters and fliers.

Named for humanity's hard-wired responses to threats of danger, the "fight or flight" syndrome is of the essence this holiday season. American citizens currently face a cornucopia of deadly threats, from anthrax and smallpox to exploding planes and the return of Michael Jackson--and, inevitably, every person on your shopping list falls on one side of the fight-or-flight divide. Your task: Find out who's a fighter and who's a flier, then shop accordingly.

In most cases, the division between fighters and fliers is clear. Fighters are pragmatic realists who never flinch from the rougher side of life. Fliers are romantic escapists who'd rather get drunk and watch cable than deal with anything as messy as laundry, much less war.