Discovery sharkweek crazyness, riding sharks?

[BeachJunkie]

They show the attacks, but also explain why they happened in an attempt to... I dunno... "justify" why it happened. On each episode they had a marine biologist or some "shark expert" explaining the situation and what went wrong. Usually rulling out most shark "attacks" as just "curious nibbles" They do thier best to educate people about sharks, stating that when sharks bite people, they're either just trying to figure what they are or they thought they were something that they weren't. Sharks don't have an appetite for humans. And through these shows they're able to show that. But at the same time, you have to understand that its television... and ratings matter. The world loves drama and gore, and shark attack stories deliver exactly that. At least they're doing thier best to try and get rid of the "jaws" mentality. Sharks scare the everlovin bajesus out of me. But I still love them. I'm mystified by them. Doesn't mean I'll be riding any tiger sharks any time soon, but I've come a long way from reading shark attack books and refusing to fish on the sandbar with my cousins as a kid. I'm still cautious, but understanding. And shows like the ones on shark week and the research of the people involved has had a ot to do with that.

 

[bolantej]

Shark week is cool. Hopefully someone will benefit from the info there if they ever encounter an aggressive shark.

 

[Missdirected]

I enjoy watching the shows that Discovery has brought us and their efforts to "de-villianize" sharks, but we are taught to not "harass" sea life and observe only, so I was a little disappointed that they highlighted "riding" sharks.

We were just discussing this. Seems these days any Joe can doing something daring/or maybe even just ignorant and they are going to air it.

 

[kirwoodd]

why does discovery put on all these shark attack shows to whip people into a hysterical anti-shark frenzy?
then they show people riding sharks?
***?

There are two groups of people, the producers who produce individual shows, and the content manager who decides which shows go on when. The content manager is just trying to crank up the ratings, bless his/her little heart.

 

[merxlin]

We were just discussing this. Seems these days any Joe can doing something daring/or maybe even just ignorant and they are going to air it.

I disagree about this one segment being about "riding the shark". That was a very small part, and was shown without any commentary about it being a big deal. They did spend a great amount of time showing this diver forming a "relationship" (if that's possible) with this shark. Familiarity bred a very relaxed situation. The segment also seemed to me to be directed at only de-bunking the theory that Tigers are aggressive towrd humans, and at least these females seem to be quite calm around the divers. I think the unfortunate part was the shark attack segments immediately following. It did take some of the wind out of the previous programs message.

 

[Missdirected]

True but how do you feel about some of the other programming they have had up lately? Not just the shark stuff.

 

[johnny_bravo]

I disagree about this one segment being about "riding the shark". That was a very small part, and was shown without any commentary about it being a big deal. They did spend a great amount of time showing this diver forming a "relationship" (if that's possible) with this shark. Familiarity bred a very relaxed situation. The segment also seemed to me to be directed at only de-bunking the theory that Tigers are aggressive towrd humans, and at least these females seem to be quite calm around the divers. I think the unfortunate part was the shark attack segments immediately following. It did take some of the wind out of the previous programs message.

On a rerun shown yesterday before the tiger shark episode you are mentioning a few freedivers went out of the cage to freedive with Great Whites...a couple of them were very adamant of "going for a ride"...I agree with you the the tone on the tiger shark was very positive...on the GW show one lady photog when asked to get the hell out of the water said "but i wanted to ride the shark" :shakehead

One of today's reruns "diary of a shark man" had this guy freediving with a very large and super agressive Mako...forget what I said before about having big cojones to dive with the tigers

Cheesr.

-J.-

 

[sberanek]

Yeah... that whiny little, ex-model/photog was not necessary in the show. The South African guy seemed a lot more knowledgeble of the sharks and their behavior, where as the girlie was like a little spoiled girl who wants a pony.

--Shannon

 

[JCAT]

I agree with Johnny Bravo. I have always been told to never turn your back on a tiger shark, but if they were that close in, I would have been back in the boat!

some serious cojones