• Discovery Channel makes up more bullshit for Shark Week. Scientists call them out.
    51 replies, posted
[quote]Shark Week have done it again with their Shark of Darkness nonsense. This show goes after everyone, from the whale watching industry, to shark cage diving, to South Africa as a country, and literally broke my heart to watch. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/tZ7qDAF.jpg[/IMG] The fake-u-mentary is supposedly based in Hout Bay, but continually shows a map of Dyer Island and Geyser Rock and refers to Shark Alley that are all in Gansbaai, ~100km to the east. So why would they say Hout Bay? If you google “boat capsized in Hout Bay”, you will find that there was a boat which capsized outside of Hout Bay in 2012, killing 2 passengers onboard. [B]This boat was capsized by heavy swell in the middle of the day and had nothing to do with a shark, let alone a mythical one. So I can only assume that Discovery Channel chose to include this very real tragedy in order to somehow legitimize their fake-u-mentary. This is horribly insensitive[/B]. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/UPo7jBJ.jpg[/IMG] The shark Submarine is an urban legend from the 1970’s about a large white shark in False Bay, [B]started by journalists who wanted to see how easy it would be to fool the average newspaper reader.[/B] The Submarine shark then was reportedly “sighted” for years to come and the legend grew longer as the years went on. Everyone who has worked on white sharks has seen their version of the Submarine, but it does not actually exist. Think Loch Ness. [B]I am a Zoologist specialized in behaviour, and have just completed my M.Sc. from the University of Cape Town studying the anti-predator tactics of Cape fur seals in Shark Alley, Geyser Rock, South Africa. Not once did I meet the researchers Shark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine features, because they do not exist. They are actors. However, Discovery Channel has done a bit of googling and came upon our real great white shark wound healing research.[/B] Prop is a real great white shark that was wounded by a direct hit from a boat’s propeller in Gansbaai, South Africa. This shark’s injuries were first identified by the Dyer Island Conservation Trust. Prop’s remarkable 9-month recovery was documented (video) and the results were published in Global Perspective on the Biology and Life History of the White Shark. Prop has nothing to do with Submarine – neither the real legend or the made up story Discovery Channel produced. None of the researchers who published Prop’s recovery were contacted by Discovery Channel. Again, by including this real bit of information, Discovery is trying to legitimize their fake-u-mentary. Shark of Darkness serves as yet another unsurprising disappointment. There is so much real shark science occurring that could be featured, why make something up? [quote][B][URL="https://twitter.com/MichelleWcisel"]Michelle Wcisel[/URL][/B] is a Zoologist specialized in predator/prey behaivour and the Scientific Communicator for EDNA Interactive. She has spent the past 4 years studying the behaviour of white sharks and Cape fur seals at Geyser Rock, ‘Shark Alley’, South Africa. [/quote][/quote] [url]http://www.southernfriedscience.com/?p=17533[/url] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/dGBzGOP.png[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Bh3D7CU.png[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/XChB70J.png[/IMG] Disgusting misuse of power.
Not surprising. I was kind of doubting they would do another shark week after last year's flak but then I heard the advert yesterday.
Just finished watching it. The shark looks horribly CGI-ified.
If you want real shark science during Shark Week, get on twitter and follow [URL="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-best-shark-biologists-and-conservationists-to-follow-during-shark-week/"]these people[/URL]. They've made it their mission to destroy Shark Week's misinformation ever since the megalodon thing. More and more [I]real life actual scientists and not actors[/I] are hoping on each year.
I only like Shark Week because of Sharkgirls
Dude if you're looking for real shark information then just watch Sharknado 1 and 2.
I didn't think that they would actually go through with this, considering all the flak they got last year. Also, as dumb as the Megalodon "documentary" was, at least it [B]made up[/B] incidents involving the shark. While this uses [B]actual[/B] real life incidents "involving" their "totally real" shark.
[QUOTE=AcidGravy;45654788]Dude if you're looking for real shark information then just watch Sharknado 1 and 2.[/QUOTE] Shark scientists love Sharknado because it never claims to be real. They had a good time on the release of Sharknado 2.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/Ok4TYJ0.jpg[/img]
sharks were bred using DNA from hitler and dinosaurs in a secret german bunker originally used as a form of biological torpedo, sharks have become increasingly common in waters across the globe it is predicted that sharks will eventually outnumber the human population of earth 3:1 and may eventually develop an intelligence on par with some primates
Sharktopus vs Pteracuda was awful. Sharknado 2 was really funny, though. Can't believe they got Jerry from Subway and the guy from Taxi.
The only thing I'm "discovering" on the Discovery Channel is the lengths people will go to to get ratings.
Now this and History there both a Fucking Joke.
[QUOTE=Crash155;45654781]I only like Shark Week because of Sharkgirls[/QUOTE] that's because you're a weirdo
[I]Don't let the truth get the way of a good story![/I]
Many guests for some reason
What happened to discovery channel? It's like history channel now. A thousand gold digging shows, a million auction shows, a billion bike shows. All of them actors doing actor things.
At least it's not as bad as this: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uKvuz_eulk[/media] I worked with a guy who literally believed this was 100% based on pure scientific fact.
[QUOTE=Zero-Point;45655599]At least it's not as bad as this: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uKvuz_eulk[/media] I worked with a guy who literally believed this was 100% based on pure scientific fact.[/QUOTE] That was the lowest Discovery has ever sunk.
Wait, people actually disliked the Mermaids doc? I thought it was great.
[QUOTE=Raptors!;45655667]Wait, people actually disliked the Mermaids doc? I thought it was great.[/QUOTE] Except it's not a documentary, it's an out-right fabrication. One can hardly call it educational when it's totally fictitious. If by some weird freaky occurrence mermaids turned out to be real, the only reason to cover it up at all is because as soon as that knowledge becomes public, sure enough the Chinese will start hunting them down and selling powdered mermaid schlong.
[QUOTE=Zero-Point;45655693]Except it's not a documentary, it's an out-right fabrication. One can hardly call it educational when it's totally fictitious. If by some weird freaky occurrence mermaids turned out to be real, the only reason to cover it up at all is because as soon as that knowledge becomes public, sure enough the Chinese will start hunting them down and selling powdered mermaid schlong.[/QUOTE] Oh, I see, people were taking it seriously. Not sure who to blame for that.
[QUOTE=EcksDee;45655598]What happened to discovery channel? It's like history channel now. A thousand gold digging shows, a million auction shows, a billion bike shows. All of them actors doing actor things.[/QUOTE] Sounds like most of TV these days. Personally I say fuck it; the actual shows will make themselves stand out and then I can set them to be recorded, or watch them on Netflix. Trying to watch actual TV these days is like, well, I could say finding a needle in a haystack but it would be even more appropriate to say having to find a chocolate bar by eating through dozens of cans of Spam. And even once you do get that chocolate bar you're stopped every now and then while you're eating to have spam pushed in your face in the form of commercials. Of the amount of tv that is being shown, I would say about 5 percent of it is worth anything, and I'd sooner go out of my way to buy a dvd box set of a show before I sit down and watch tv like I'm 'supposed' to.
[QUOTE=Mister Sandman;45655739]Sounds like most of TV these days. Personally I say fuck it; the actual shows will make themselves stand out and then I can set them to be recorded, or watch them on Netflix. Trying to watch actual TV these days is like, well, I could say finding a needle in a haystack but it would be even more appropriate to say having to find a chocolate bar by eating through dozens of cans of Spam. And even once you do get that chocolate bar you're stopped every now and then while you're eating to have spam pushed in your face in the form of commercials. Of the amount of tv that is being shown, I would say about 5 percent of it is worth anything, and I'd sooner go out of my way to buy a dvd box set of a show before I sit down and watch tv like I'm 'supposed' to.[/QUOTE] I just watch Netflix.
I don't watch American documentaries in general, they mostly suck because of the dramatization.
[QUOTE=GoDong-DK;45655990]I don't watch American documentaries in general, they mostly suck because of the dramatization.[/QUOTE] British documentary master race.
[QUOTE=GoDong-DK;45655990]I don't watch American documentaries in general, they mostly suck because of the dramatization.[/QUOTE] While it's not a documentary, I watched Kitchen Nightmares for a while, American version, and then I decided to give the other version a go because why not. The difference is hilarious, because in the American version everything's like [B]*BROOOOM* DRAMA *RESTAURANT DRAMA* THROW IN SOME STINGS, WHAT IF QUESTIONS, PEOPLE LOOKING WORRIED AND COMMERCIAL BREAK CLIFFHANGERS [I]STAT[/I][/B]
[QUOTE=EcksDee;45655598]What happened to discovery channel? It's like history channel now. A thousand gold digging shows, a million auction shows, a billion bike shows. All of them actors doing actor things.[/QUOTE] I used to watch Discovery Channel [I]all the time[/I], it was basically the only channel I watched. Now I don't watch it at all.
I have noticed such a dramatic degradation in the quality of documentaries in general over the years. You cannot do 15 minutes of zapping without landing on some bullshitmentary on aliens or nazi ufos or something stupid like that. When it's not 100% made up crap, is something about space or earth or dinosaurs explained in such a way that not even toddlers would find mentally engaging or even informative. Then the other day I landed on Rai Storia, a local channel that was broadcasting a documentary about the bubonic plague. It actually explained the dinamic of the illness and how it spread as if it was a seminar, through many disciplines- biology, sociology, history, anthropology and more. With interviews of historians that weren't so full of shit they needed to be introducted with the mandatory 'the scientific community doesn't agree with his point of view' you hear these days before seeing a tinfoil-hat-worthy nutter's face. With plenty of re-enactments so that they didn't need to use the same footage 40 times ala HistoryChannel, and without repeating themselves 20 times on every point, as those Discovery documentaries that seem to assume everyone just landed on your channel. I was left there struck. I realized that was the first documentary worthy of it's name I had seen in over a decade. I stayed and watched two more. One about the life of Caravaggio, and one about medieval urbanism.
People may have give the Discovery Channel shit when it was showing WW2 documentaries all the time, but at least it wasn't making shit up back then. I stopped watching once they began to focus on 'reality' shows like Deadliest Catch or Gold Diggers. It's just schlock now.
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