With the media completely blowing ‘shark attacks’ out or proportion this Summer, specifically in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, it’s understandable that a few cautious citizens might be trying to take extra precautions. This footage taken earlier this week shows just that, a few beach goers who have been rattled by the mainstream media’s shark reporting, and think that taking a few extra steps to ensure safety in the water is the smart thing to do. So what’s wrong? Well, once you see those homemade shark cages you’ll now exactly what’s wrong.
Not only would those homemade ‘shark cages’ not protect anyone from a shark attack because the bars are pretty wide (they’re not trying to keep out great white sharks in 3-feet of water), the cages themselves are clunky and trying to swim while holding that cage is actually more likely to lead to someone drowning than the chances of a shark even being within a quarter mile of where they’re at.
When I first saw this video I thought those old people were trying to drag aluminum slides from a playground into the water, or some sort of ladders. But when it dawned on me that they’d actually thought they were carrying some sort of makeshift shark cage I began to weep for humanity. The chances of coming face-to-face with a shark are ridiculously slim. However, the chances of you getting trapped inside that homemade shark cage and drowning if there’s any sort of a rip tide or strong current are in contrast very, very likely. Thankfully the lifeguard stopped them from acting like morons and getting themselves hurt.
I put ‘shark attacks’ in air quotes because there’s actually no way of knowing the motivations by any of the shark encounters this Summer, maybe that shark was hunting for fish and the beachgoers just got in the way, or maybe that shark was in fact trying to chew on some human flesh. Regardless of the shark’s motivations, the phrase ‘shark attack’ is something used by the mainstream media to try and incite fear in the heart’s of Americans. When TV networks put ‘shark attack’ into headlines and stories they get viewers from their fear mongering, that’s why I prefer to use the phrase ‘shark encounter’.