I admire and respect bears. Once I was walking up a mountain pass on the Virginia - West Virginia state line when I saw a mama bear on top of the embankment looking at me very nervously. She made a bear noise, and a second later, her three cubs sprang up out of the weedy roadside ditch they were napping in and ran up the slope to her. I gave her a smile and said "it's okay mama bear".
>if you see a bear you should shout, wave your arms, and otherwise behave like a deranged chimpanzee
Stupid advice. In the lower 48 states when interacting with a wild bear, it's much better to stand still, maintain your self-possession, speak kind words and appreciate an encounter with a beautiful wild creature. The bears of the far north are more savage and unfriendly toward humans, so it's wise to be armed up that way. Only human-acclimated bears in search of human food should be harassed until they leave.