1. Tropical, blue-gray, and silver torpedo shaped fish armed with fang, needle-like teeth: a long mouth with two sets of teeth; an outer row of the small, razor-sharp teeth for tearing, and an internal set of bigger teeth for piercing. Top of the food chain; lie-in-wait and ambush prey with bursts of speed up to thirty-six mph. Inhabits reefs and seagrass beds where young are protected. They swim near the surface and school in large numbers near sandy shorelines, but solitary, giant hunters roam shallow coastal waters. Average 2 to 3 feet, one species, the Giant Barracuda, recorded larger than 10 feet: some reports by fishermen of encounters over 13 feet. Dangerous to swimmers carrying shiny objects that barracudas are lured to. The fry and small ones can be eaten, but larger ones have toxic flesh leading to Ciguatera poisoning

2. Metaphor for sociopaths and psychopaths that lie-in-wait or ambush victims. Barracudas are intelligent people of limited conscience, adept in the art of charismatic seduction followed by control. They are highly intelligent hunters, not like primordial sharks (see Shark). They seek not love but power over another - hence practiced liars. A sociopathic lover, a narcissist, is abusive - a "good egg" gone bad; they play the game of love by lies for personal gain. A psychopathic lover is devoid of a conscience, hence dangerous - born a "bad egg." No amount of moral education can cultivate a sterile seed to flower a conscience.

Like barracudas they are predators, rapists, and serial murderers; and a few are leaders. Sociopaths are treatable, they need to reconnect with the spiritual, at worse, they need a correction institution. But for a few psychopaths, they are genetic anomalies needing permanent mental institutionalization in lieu of execution; a compromise advancing the Christian ethos of a merciful civilization. Undeserved mercy is a quality of God, hence a Christian virtue, yet other civilizations are not focused on this practice as psychopathic murderers are not deterred by the threat of capital punishment. So, they are disposed of as enemies of society. When an innocent person is executed, like Jesus, we are killing God while serving the Devil.

The powerful, how did they get all their money - by doing? Like the mythical solitary, giant barracudas, charismatic psychopaths obtain power and wreak havoc on society carried-out by an army of sociopathic bureaucrats (see Psychosis). Psychopathic leaders killing innocent people kill God. Barracudas of state are not an endangered species; they are too many beyond their usefulness to society. Highly educated, they direct a vast police state composed of lower-level sharks sent to prey on property and liberty to finance the criminal justice system. By criminalizing liberties, they supply the institutionalized powerless to the prison industrial complex.

3. Organizational Theory: We are ruled by “jailhouse” lawyers that control political machines that shakedown “roach motel” owners and “slum lords” in lieu of building code inspections; peddle influence through campaign donations; work little and draw large salaries while “hustling” on the side in activities that are legally ambiguous.Collectives technocracies do engage in predatory behaviors requiring intelligence; they need resources to live, hence clever regulation. But monopolies managed by barracudas of Wall Street and directed by military industrialists, all intelligent actors that buy power to commandeer resources at the expense of Mainstreet. Powerful monopolies and actors control the government to sanction legalized criminality by installing the ranks of lawyers to conduct business in a "den of thieves" called Congress, the White House, and federal, state and local criminal justice system.

[Edited] Analytic Entry from The Taboo Dictionary - Forbidden Ground A to Z, © 2016