Only as long as an immediate danger is present. The self preservation instinct kicks in. For some--they're the Timothy Treadwells of the world. But in the case of the former, they'll be back to their old selves once they perceive the danger has passed.
“But in the case of the former, they’ll be back to their old selves once they perceive the danger has passed.”
Sad but true.
Here’s the way Kipling put it in his “Gods of the Copybook Headings”..
“As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man-—
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began:-—
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her mire,
And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return! “