But, butā¦ thereās no horror film about a bunch of people on a beach making bad surfing decisions and getting swallowed by the undertow. What would we call it? āBad Day At the Beach?ā Sorry, this just wonāt sell.
The real question is: are more people killed by sharks, or by terrorists, in the USA each year?
For all the hype about sharks, the ratio of expenditure to real risk on sharks is probably not nearly as egregious as the ratio of expenditure to real risk on terrorists. (And we arenāt turning over our freedom wholesale because of fear of sharks.)
We humans tend to have this annoying habit, we actually think we are the only intelligent ones on this planet. Think we are starting to learn otherwise.
In my opinion the human race has compounded these issues by being addicted to this strange fantasy called religion. It teaches many in this overcrowded world that we are somehow special and therefore absolved of responsibility.
What humans do to sharks, whether by āaccidentā (such as catching them in fishing nets), for food (full disclosure: I have eaten shark, even if it was long before I understood their ecological value), or for āsportā is appalling to me. What really interests me, though, is that Peter Benchley, who really helped stoke the fires of anti-shark hysteria, became a defender of sharks. Late in life he said, ā[W]orldwide, sharks are much more the oppressed than the oppressors.ā
I know Iām kidding myself but every time Jaws runs on TV I like to think a little of the revenue is helping the environment.
Every other week is Human Week.
200 Million people go to the beach a yearā¦ Iām going to WAG that of those 200 Million 0.1% of them make it in past their knees Soā¦ of the 200,000 people who make it deep enough for a shark to nip at them the ratio is now 18 per 100,000 for swimmers as apposed to beach goersā¦
How many of the 200 Million buy lottery tickets? 
The 0.1% figure seems pretty low to me (1 out of every 1,000 people gets their swimsuit wet?) but Iām not a beach bunny. Every time I go to the beach Iām looking to do some body surfing.
Most shark āattacksā are mistaken identity anyway. The shark takes a bite at someone who dressed up as their favorite food, discovers that itās not right, and swims away.
Thinking about it, it seems kind of strange that wetsuits are almost always black. If they were brightly colored with patterns and whatnot it would tell predators that youāre dangerous. Brightly colored fish are generally poisonous or venomous and predators stay away from them.
Confirmation bias, combined with the fact that the media are designed to deliver News (which is by definition when something out of the ordinary happens), combined with the fact that people are less concerned about hazards which they believe they are already guarding against and have some control over (even if they donāt and donāt).
Thus risk of drowning is discounted because āI wonāt let that happen to meā, and risk of shark is exaggerated because āit could happen to anyone without warning.ā Both of which are misstatements, but thatās the way our reflexes run.
At this level, weāre just apes. Weāre a lot more scared of the tiger than of falling out of the tree.
And many of those humans each year die, or must be rescued, from
drowning incidents in which no other creature is to blame.
Next week on āWhen water attacks!ā. .
Iām not likely to be murdered by a serial killer either, but itās still frightening. And no, that doesnāt mean I advocate killing millions of sharks, because I donāt. However, having irrational fears is a pretty normal thing and skarks are killed for sport and for money, not because people are scared of them.
We humans are kicking some shark ass. We should probably take a handicap to make it more sporting - how 'bout every beachgoer wears some raw meat around their ankles? That would even up the odds a little I bet.
http://www.nsc.org/NSC%20Picture%20Library/News/web_graphics/Injury_Facts_37.pdf
The national cancer institute proposed $6Busd budget. {The NYtimes cancer-funding-does-it-add-up}. According to www.globalresearch.ca the-war-on-terror-is-a-6-trillion-racket-exceeding-the-total-cost-of-world-war-ii/25531 We are or will spend $6Tusd on the war on terror. Bend it any way you like, we give up freedoms, and cower in fear throwing money and lives and resources at something that has a minuscule chance of hurting us while we spend 1000 times less fighting something that killed 1 in 7 of us last year more than 500,000 of us in 2011ā¦
Read Devra Davisās The Secret History of the War on Cancer and youāll understand.
Try to keep this perspective while swimmingā¦ and you see the fin. Go on, try.
Actually, as a frequent beachgoer when I was younger, they never elicited much of a response.
Most of them are really small, actually, and I was always was more worried about what I was about to step on, especially after I had a stingray slice through my leg (luckily it was JUST on the edge, so I literally ended up with a slice because it tore my skin on the way out and I didnāt get much venom. )
Super freaky though! The beach bit me!
āThe beach came alive and took him.ā
No kidding! People say sharks are scary. No, when a huge (and I DO mean huge! Freaky big) chunk of what you thought was ground bites you, lifts up and tips you into the drink. . . well, thereās just no context for that!
I was just very much in pain and completely perplexed.
Seriously, bring on the sharks, they do things that I can wrap my mind around at least.
Iām curious. How many folks here have actually seen and swam with a shark in the water???
During my scuba adventures (minimal at best) Iāve been near: Black Tip Reef, White Tip Reef, Lemon Sharks, and plain 'ol reef sharks. Never once was scared of them, and every time they basically ignored us.
Just sand sharks. That I knew of.
I find Portugese Men-O-War much more frightening, though.
