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Sharks get such a bad end of the deal. Everyone thinks they're mindless killing machines due to Jaws (oddly enough, one of my most favorite movies since I can remember), but they couldn't be more far from the truth.

Now, I've seen a lot of specials on The Discovery Channel, History, and the NatGeo but in all of those shows, there is an interview with a sharkbite victim. What gets me is that not one of them has ever wanted revenge on the species (or genus or phylum if you want to get technical), but has since became an advocate for the protection of one near-endangered species.

I'm no hippie, no tree-hugger, just a guy who grew up learning about sharks. I know enough about them not to be scared around them (in those rare situations I am around them) nor am I swayed by the movies which strike fear into people and cloud their perceptions of them. I feel they should quit being killed just for the fins to make soup, the rest of their bodies dumped into the ocean still alive, unable to swim, thus unable to breath. It's ironic that what we fear out in the ocean (drowning) is what make the animal we fear the most in the ocean (here, sharks) suffer.

I know this is a random topic, but the title of this journal gave you warnings enough in my opinion. But "What brought this up?" you may be asking. There are two things on tv that make me turn it off: close-ups of spiders (I'm working on that phobia) and videos of people killing sharks. And guess which one I just saw, which is strange if you think about it: which one should be more common?