Note from Dr. Denison: While my wife and I are on vacation, our oldest son, Ryan, is writing The Daily Article. Ryan is an MDiv graduate of Truett Seminary currently completing his PhD in Church History. He has written The Daily Article in my absence in the past and was the co-author of our latest publication, How Does God See America? I am honored to share this ministry with him.
Breaking News: Since the writing of this Daily Article, yet another instance of gun violence has erupted. According to CNN, three people have been killed and eleven others have been injured at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California. Ryan Denison may address this shooting in a future article.
The lure of Shark Week
Sunday night kicked off Discovery Channel‘s thirty-first season of Shark Week, seven days of programming dedicated to the aquatic monstrosities that haunt dreams and make a day at the beach just a bit more nerve-wracking.
The programming is now broadcast in seventy-two countries around the world with just under thirty-five million people expected to tune in.
What makes this programming so attractive?
And what does it say about us as a culture that so many will dedicate their evenings to watching documentaries, movies, and celebrity dives with these beasts?
Are we shark-watching sloths?
Shark Week originally began as an effort to increase awareness about the importance of conservation while also tackling myths about sharks.
Given that the series began the year after the fourth film in the Jaws franchise hit theaters, that desire to set the record straight is understandable. And when you consider that roughly half the population of the Midwest is “absolutely terrified” of sharks despite living nowhere near the ocean, sharks clearly hold an outsized influence on our collective psyche.
What I’d like to discuss today, however, is less related to our fear of sharks than the way that so many will center their…
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