Comments on Media Displays Anti-Shark Bias

at least it wasn't a pit bull.

At least it didn't have a concealed laser permit issued by a pit bull.

I think people don't care if their kids get raped by priests. Just doing the Lord's work. Plus, it's not like they're sleeping over at Michael Jackson's house.

Jaws. I think it is because of Jaws. Shark attacks make good sensationalistic stories because people fear them.

Sadly, people do not fear youth pastors enough.

People should be wary of anyone who tells them to get on their knees.

@4 - That's why we need a good scary movie about youth pastors, perhaps even a trilogy. Hmm...but who would play the role of the creepy, child-molesting youth pastor?

Maybe it makes people feel better about the whole shark fin soup process?

@6:

My first thoughts are:

Brad Dourif
Crispin Glover

Or we could start a religious movement where we worship sharks.

"Youth pastor rapes child" = "Dog bites man"

Where's the news?

Jesus christ what a broken record you are.

Isn't it a small price to pay for internal salvation?

Is it wrong that I think Ben Stiller looks sort of hot with that hair and mustache?

What's that show on MSNBC where they lure would-be child molesters to a house and then spring the cameras on them? Americans eat that shit up with a shovel. They need a spin-off dedicated to corrupt youth pastors.

Am I missing something - Ben Stiller has something to do with sharks?

I'm scared of Ben Stiller's man-rack.

The problem is the media's infatuation with man-bites dog stories. It sells, but it is not journalism. Dan should know this. His Savage Love column does nothing more than highlight exceedingly rare sex acts (i.e. diaper fetish). Funny, entertaining, but not news.

Same thing with the media's crisis of the day. Sure 99% of the time swimmers won't be bitten and children won't be sexually abused by pastors, but that's not news. Why talk about humdrum everyday issues when we can get the people enthralled with the most unlikely of "tragedies."

"The one function that TV news performs very well is that when there is no news, we give it to you with the same emphasis as if there were." -David Brinkley

Eternal. Eternal.

Isn't it a small price to pay for eternal salivation?

I always love it when the media describes the child rapist/ serial murderer as "not fitting the profile" because he/ she is" a good, church going Christian ". Ha! I wonder how many times I have heard that bullshit. Countless.

At first I thought Hey, that guy's pretty hot despite the 80s mustache.

And then I read in the comments that it's Ben-Freaking-Stiller.

And now I need some mental floss. I feel dirty.

Lots of folks have positive experiences/memories with dogs and preachers.

Sharks, anacondas, and alligators? Not many warm fuzzy moments, just the occasional Very Bad Incident.

Oh, and then there's yer fear of media bias by the media who's been told they're biased: you think they're about to go forth and treat religion skeptically? Or with a jaundiced eye? Or do any skeptical reporting while our nation is finagled into war? Nope. Too spineless. Don't want to fit the stereotype that certain folks (who have no agenda at all, no sirree) have accused them of.

My favorite shark quote:

Source: Nautical Quarterly, Spring 1981. Nautical Quarterly Inc., NY, New
York.

In August, 1980, in the waters of Bodega Bay, California, an apparently healthy 7' white shark was found trapped in a net, and brought to the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco. The shark was placed in the Aquarium's "roundabout," a 100,000 gallon donut shaped tank that allows for continuous movement. The shark was walked by the Director, Dr. John McKosker, and various members of the Aquarium staff, to ensure that the necessary oxygen would pass over its gills.Although the shark seemed healthy enough, it would occasionally bump into the inner mullions of the roundabout, indicating to McKosker that its faculties - particularly its electrical senses - were somehow impaired. The decision was made to release the shark to the open ocean. - It was better than watching her slowly die, day by day, - said McKosker, and the shark was returned to the
Pacific.

News of the capture, display and eventual release of the white
shark was nationally newsworthy, and in the Cincinatti Inquirer the
following comments were made by a columnist named Bob Brumfield:

It is hard for me to believe that anyone of sound mind would capture a shark when he could KILL it, unless his purpose was to study the shark in order to develop an effective shark repellant or a way to eradicate the entire species once and for all.

This isn't a Bambi movie McCosker! You've let loose a relentless
eating machine with a life span of God only knows how long. You've released a dreadful, silent killer to stalk swimmers as well as its normal food supply of fish. You've turned loose a thing so demonic it will consume its own entrails during a feeding frenzy; a thing without fear, without any thought except to eat until it is full, then regurgitate and eat again.

I hope that big booger gets You, McCosker. I hope one night you're swimming in the Pacific, and you feel something rough brush against your leg. Then I hope you look up and see a big, dark dorsal fin cutting through the ocean, leaving a sparkle of luminescence behind it - just before it slips below the surface - and WHAMMO! WHAMMO! WHAMMO!

Um, how about because sharks are bodacious and kick-ass primordial beasts of death that deserve some stories about them and people are expendable and edible?