Scientists In Australia Are Looking To Rebrand Shark Attacks As "Shark Interactions" Or "Negative Encounters"

Sky News- Officials in Australia are describing shark attacks as "interactions" or "negative encounters" as part of a new strategy for helping the animals to be more understood. The change in language is part of an effort to overhaul public perception of the threatened species, with authorities and scientists keen to change their long-standing image as deadly, man-eating animals.

Multiple scientists have argued that terms like "attack" and "bite" have created a culture of fear surrounding the animals, which is harming efforts to help protect them.

A government spokeswoman said its formal shark reports now generally refer to "incidents" or "interactions" with the animals, meanwhile in Queensland the state government's SharkSmart website now describes how to minimise risks "of a negative encounter with a shark".

I was trying to figure out how to blog this story before I remembered about the best selling book that the man who signs my paycheck wrote about sharks a few years ago.

So you know what I'm gonna do? Simply chalk this up to Australia simply being a place filled with and surrounded by creatures looking to murder your ass the minute you get cozy atop the food pyramid. Why get all dramatic about calling a shark eating someone a shark attack when you are pretty much walking into the shark's kitchen and asking it not to eat you?

Renaming a shark attack to a shark interaction makes perfect sense since it pretty much fits the Google definition of what an Interaction is:

In fact, when you think about it a shark interaction actually pretty much a business transaction between two parties. The shark gets a meal and you get a sweet scar, a hell of a story, or an all-expense paid trip to meet your maker. Win/win for everyone involved! And while saying something like "Negative Encounter" would usually make anybody sound like a giant nerd, if you say it in an Australian accent, it will instantly make you sound at least 200% cooler. Save the term shark attacks for if/when sharks actually evolve out of water to attack us in our homes (the thought of this just scared the shit out of me) and reserve the phrase shark bites for the classic fruit snack that still hit til this day.

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For what it's worth the Great White Shark Bite was an elite fruit snack flavor that could be traded for pretty much whatever you wanted at the elementary school lunch table