Добро пожаловать, Александр!
If I were to venture a guess, it would be that you were thinking, in Russian, "...они не боятся..."; and meant to say something along the lines of "...many of them are not deterred / disheartened by the wide-spread opinion...". It seems Demonic-Duck beat me to that conclusion, but since I'm rarely here I couldn't resist this opportunity to run my mouth a little![]()