You should know why humans over-react to shark attacks Stark...you're the expert! I've seen your site - you know the psychology as to why humans over-react to certain situations with fear/outrage/disgust.
It has everything to do with three compounding factors: the randomness of the event, the gruesomeness of the event, and the helplessness of the people involved.
Here's an example of something that would generate little outrage from society: a woman dies of lung cancer in New York City. Why? It's not random (thousands will get and die from the big C), it's not very gruesome or abrupt (cancer takes a long time to kill people, relative to a shark, let's say) and people will probably say she deserved it for smoking all those years.
Contrast it to this: a baby is pulled out of its crib by a marauding bear and eaten in front of the parents. That's shocking, and will grab headlines. How often do bears go marauding through a house? Almost never! And isn't the thought of seeing a baby being eaten by a bear quite gruesome? And finally, both the baby and parents - the victims - are completely helpless to do anything. This news headline will strike fear and
outrage in the populace. After this headline runs, you're more likely to raise money to kill bears or create bear-proof-cribs, than you are to raise money to stop smoking.
Human nature.
That's why we fear sharks so much. The kills are gruesome, and quite random versus a car accident or heart disease. And finally, don't we all truly feel helpless in the water? We can't see below us, we know it (the water) can very easily kill us in an instant...it's a breeding ground for cheap news headlines.
There...now you can all write newstories...enjoy!
Also, the way they look, they glide around like airplanes---airplanes with huge mouths. With dark, cold unfeeling eyes. And rows of teeth. They don't look like the pet gold fish...they have a very sinister look to them...in many instances, like with GW's, Makos, and blues, it's like a harbinger of death.
In 8th grade our school had a PETA rep come in and talk to us, they showed us the the obligatory animal testing vids. I asked them why is it that PETA focuses on the cute, cuddly, furry animals, when there are millions of sharks being killed just for their fins for sharkfin soup. She had no answer. But we all know the answer---sharks are demonized because of their appearance, and they eat people.
and like all predators, they tend to evoke fear. But, man still hasn't conquered the seas like he has the land and air. And we are at the mercy of said predators....
**I like sharks and venomous snakes, but scared the fuck of bears, they look like big dumb dogs, that don't known their own strength---like the dude from Mice and Men.
