1.. Ancient primordial fish; species from tiny coastal sharks to large man eating, predator sharks, to gentle giants that feed on plankton (see Animal). Sharks are usually harmless; they do not normally attack humans. Humans are not a natural feature in the food chain. However, there are large “man eaters,” makos, bulls, leopards, and hammerheads that do attack if conditions of hunger, or human behaviors mimic natural prey.

2. Mythology: Sharks are the creatures of Polynesian mythology and worship of the sea (see Animism). Too kill a predatory shark with a knife and take the deadly teeth is an act of heroic courage; a story of a young man called Mafatu who ran-away to sea and return a hero (see Hero).

3. Metaphor: predatory behaviors of the powerful; a doctrine of the fittest. How do the powerful get their money? - by doing good? To collectively survive, or to be powerful requires the exercise of our predatory nature. To manage nature to the benefit of the village is rational. But, as an individual behavior can result in the deterioration of collaborative relations, people turn into predatory "sharks."

4. Metaphor: usurious people termed Loan Sharks. Racketeers are the traditional source of loaned money to people that cannot get a loan from a bank. If the borrower does not pay, the bill collector of the street will “make them pay” for default. But banks and the government are also sharks that prey on the citizens. The institution of higher education has become a racket run by the government and “loan shark” banks. The government is the enforcer that will “break your legs” if you do not pay back the “loan sharks” of student loans, or if one does not adhere to a negotiated IRS installment plan (see Education). Political sharks, small fish, and big sharks in a cesspool that prey upon the public treasury, allow large corporations to escape taxes, and feed off the public through corporate welfare schemes, and allow elite “banksters” to rig the financial markets (see Banks).

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