From a fellow who had his entire left calf taken off by a bull shark while standing in waist deep water with a film crew in order to demonstrate that you can stand around in waist deep water with sharks and apparently not get eaten...
"There are no dangerous sharks, just dangerous situations."
This little gem caused both Hublet and myself to do a WTF? double-take. What makes the situation dangerous, pray tell? Perhaps the inclusion of a SHARK? Or several sharks? Who are in the process of looking for food?
That's like saying "there are no dangerous lions, just dangerous situations."
When you put yourself into the same space as a predator, and you happen to be made of stuff that the predator in question will eat in a pinch, then yes, I concede that the situation is a dangerous one. However, the danger is due to the presence of the predator, who is, by its very nature, dangerous to people, who should, by virtue of their more highly evolved brain, know better than to insert themselves into the dangerous situation, because the animals could pose a danger to the person, because the animals are DANGEROUS!
Now I'm dizzy.
Look, I'm down with the whole "don't get pissy at sharks for doing what sharks do" thing - you don't have to sell me on it, particularly if your only means of doing so AFTER we've just watched you get a body part ripped off in brilliant technicolor is to deny the nature of the animal in question. No, sharks don't set out to kill humans, but some of them will see if you're a tasty snack if you're in close enough proximity, which means that they're dangerous to humans.
I love shark week.
Posted by Big Arm Woman at July 31, 2007 09:47 AM | TrackBackAhh, the "sharks are so misunderstood" people. Gotta love 'em. No, I understand them just fine. They eat and swim and eat and swim and will take a bite out of me if I happen to cross their path when they're hungry. But those people are always the ones who make shark week so darn entertaining - "they're just like teddy bears. With giant teeth. And fins. That will eat you."
Posted by: Emily at July 31, 2007 10:25 AMI'd like to hear Werner Herzog's musings about sharks.
Posted by: marc at July 31, 2007 10:42 AMMarc -
I was totally having Treadwell flashbacks watching this. If only I could have had ol' Werner opining in voiceover as the researcher was lifted from the ocean with his left calf literally hanging in tatters from his leg...
Posted by: BAW at July 31, 2007 12:37 PMWhat kills me about these shark/dangerous animal freaks is their stubborn insistence on not allowing themselves to be human (as much as that is possible, anyway). After both of the attacks we saw last night, the victim made sure we knew over and over again that they weren't angry at the sharks. No, no irrational emotional responses here! (which I'm sure boosts the collective esteem of the poor, fragile sharks).
No, it isn't cooly rational to get angry at the sharks for being sharks, much less for biting you when it is your fault. But nonetheless, I think it might be o.k. to allow yourself just a little anger and hatred for this beast who just took off your calf. Don't tell me that something like, "That f***ing son of bitch just tried to take my leg off! Where's the f***ing harpoon gun!?" wouldn't cross most minds, even if it wasn't a strictly rational response.
But then, maybe that's the point. If these fools allowed themselves to be more human they might be less willing to, oh, stand around in the water with sharks for 45 minutes.
Posted by: Hublet at July 31, 2007 02:21 PMAs a shark, I find Hublet's comments particularly hurtful. I found the gentleman's (whom I like to call Mr. Snack) insistence that he held no malice towards me and my kind a balm to my troubled, misunderstood soul. Should I run across him again, I will happily enfold him a generous finny hug, before rending him limb from touchingly obtuse limb.
Posted by: Feral Girl at July 31, 2007 03:54 PMKinda' just like the idiots who continue to insist that it was all the Duke lacrosse team's fault for putting themselves in a situation where they could be take advantage of by the Durham school of sharks.
Posted by: Locomotive Breat at July 31, 2007 07:07 PMAnd from the same "Did they really say that" file:
This week on WRAL, they interviewed the mother of one of the people killed in that accident on I-40 that shut down the interstate. She's on her front porch, tobacco field in the background, and she says, as they overlay the footage of her son's smoking truck, "I just know that my baby would have gotten out of that truck if he could have...."
Thank you WRAL.
Posted by: Jimmy at July 31, 2007 08:56 PMJimmy -
Speaking of sharks...thanks, media! Because without your riveting insight-which coincidentally happens to exploit a mother's grief for a 2 minute news video-we'd never learn that people have a survival instinct.
Posted by: BAW at July 31, 2007 11:31 PMWhat makes the situation dangerous, pray tell? Perhaps the inclusion of a SHARK?
No no no. It's the inclusion of you, in the water, with the shark, that makes the situation dangerous.
Whereas the situation where the shark is in the water, while you are in the bar slamming back mai tais, is not dangerous.
Posted by: Angie Schultz at August 1, 2007 12:45 AMThink of it as evolution in action! The guy lived so he's not eligible for the Darwin Award.
Posted by: Emily Nelson at August 1, 2007 04:51 AMWhere is Captain Ahab when we need him?
Posted by: Tom at August 1, 2007 12:43 PMWell...I guess! Shortage of highly developed brains as well as clean water, air, etc.
Makes me wonder if HD brains are a non-renewable resource.
Posted by: Roberta S at August 1, 2007 03:28 PM