Mary Elizabeth Buckingham WRD 103 Liz Lane Essay 4 Multi-Modal In modern day society, sharks are viewed

as monsters. We as humans think that they are vicious predators out for man flesh when in reality they are just fish in the ocean. When we go into the water we are putting ourselves into thei r turf, infringing on their territory. Sharks are not out to get people. This p hoto is so beautiful because it provides an uncommon role reversal. The shark o bserving the humans in a cage instead of the humans observing sharks in aquarium s. Sharks have gained a bad reputation through movies where they are falsely portra yed as human thirsty monsters. Prior to the film, Jaws, many people didnt think tw ice about sharks. They were simply big fish with sharp teeth living in the water . The irony of all this is that Jaws was actually written by a shark scientist. He essentially single handedly ruined sharks reputation to the general public. Sha rks dont have hands. The way they touch or feel things out is through biting. When we put wetsuits on, or put ourselves in their territory, they want to know what we are, unfortunately for us the only way they can do that is by biting us. They dont intend to bite off our limbs, they are just fish. When humans want to try a new food we often take a tentative bite, and if we dont like it we often let it be and stop eating it. That is what sharks do too. Only sometimes it happens to be humans they have tasted. It has been proven that sharks genuinely dont enjoy t he taste of humans. The often take a bite and then leave because they dont enjoy the taste. They are not people eaters. Try and think of the last time you heard of a shark that actually ate a whole human. Its never happened. This picture demonstrates how people and sharks can interact with out danger. Bo th sides are curious. Humans are curious about sharks and vice versa. The photo shows how powerful nature truly is and how with, respect and care, humans can ob serve and wonder in the realm of the shark. When man enters the sharks world, the re should be a level of respect. Respect for the other animals environment and re spect for how they live in their environment. Man is the visitor and can never f orget that. There isnt a devilish hungry look in their eye. Theres almost a smile on the sharks face, not an evil grin that says I want to kill you. People are more likely to be stuck by lightning than attacked by a shark. Shark attacks receive a lot of attention in the press. The attacks are sensationalize d and the propaganda against sharks is ramped up by the media. However, this has not stopped peoples fascination with sharks. People shouldnt go in the water and be surprised and angry when they have a run in with the shark. Divers, people wh o are often in the water and interacting with sharks are not afraid of them or b elieve that they are out to get them. They know that they run a tiny risk of a d angerous interaction. This rarely happens and when it does the victim often does not blame the shark. In fact, most shark attack survivors say they are not afra id or angry with sharks. They understand that they are in their environment and that the sharks didnt purposely mean to hurt them. It is too bad that these beautiful creatures have lost almost all respect. If pe ople just accepted them for what they are they would not be so frightening. They simply live in their world, and sometimes we interrupt that. That is no reason to hate or live in fear of fish. People need to move toward regarding sharks as fish and not as scary man eating sharks.