“You live like this, sheltered, in a delicate world, and you believe you
are living. Then you read a book… or you take a trip… and you discover
that you are not living, that you are hibernating. The symptoms of
hibernating are easily detectable: first, restlessness. The second
symptom (when hibernating becomes dangerous and might degenerate into
death): absence of pleasure. That is all. It appears like an innocuous
illness. Monotony, boredom, death. Millions live like this (or die like
this) without knowing it. They work in offices. They drive a car. They
picnic with their families. They raise children. And then some shock
treatment takes place, a person, a book, a song, and it awakens them and
saves them from death. Some never awaken.”— Anaïs Nin
For too long, sharks have been portrayed and perceived as the menacing, lurking creatures in the deep. Contrary to popular belief, we are much more of a threat to them than they are to us.
Researchers have found that the ominous music that often accompanies even documentary footage of them has inspired excessive fear about sharks.
In an experiment at UC San Diego, participants watched footage of sharks. Some scenes featured uplifting music, and others had a more daunting score.
The effect was what you might expect. Viewers saw sharks as intimidating creatures when they they also heard ominous music.
But with uplifting music (or none at all), viewers had a more positive impression of sharks.
This is problematic because rarely do we see shark footage without the ominous music, and the negativeportrayals of sharks may be hindering conservation efforts.
“We know from prior research that conservation progress for sharks is sluggish compared to marine mammals and that this slow response may be due in part to the societal marginalization of sharks,” says study co-author Elizabeth Keenan.
After all, in the words of Senegalese conservationist Baba Diou, “we will conserve only what we love.”
And while they’re still not exactly a furry, cuddly rabbit, consider this: you’re more likely to be struck by lightening than fall prey to a fatal shark attack.
If Dominance is an act of setting someone free, and Submission is an act of willfully devoting oneself to another, then who is the captor and who is the captive? A leash after all has two ends, both of which must be held. Ultimately, Dominant and Submissive are bound to one another not by chains but by their own need, and the mutual fulfillment of those needs…We are here by choice and by choice we stay.
