There are fishermen and there are fish and as long as we have been on his planet this is the way it’s been. The shopkeeper will advertise their wears and try to entice you in to buy. The young girl will stand on the street corner in the hope she can catch a punter to make a quid. These are tangible things and at least you have an idea what you will get if you take the bait.

However some folk even promise you things that they can not deliver on, they don’t know for sure but they will tell you it’s the truth. Religion is at the forefront of this enterprise. Since the beginning of human existence there have been those who see the benefits of preaching to the masses, I could equate this to the unionist movements around the world.

I was once a shop steward and the main reason for doing this was that I begrudged having to pay the union fees as I did not want to join the union, so I thought if I am going to join then I may as well get some direct benefit and so I became the shop steward. As Shop Steward I would have to go to quarterly meetings at a posh hotel where I would be wined and dined. I got paid to go there and I got expenses too and all because I was a fully paid up member. You are often coerced into joining and if you don’t you get hounded.

The union organisers tell the shop stewards to increase the membership so that they can be stronger for the fights ahead. But to be honest most of the organisers I met had only one concern and that was to be kept in the job that they had, to stay on the junket that is the union. I would rather be a fisherman than a fish.

So lets get back to the beginning of time where a few clever people thought that they could see a little into the future and could see the benefits of telling the uneducated that if they don’t believe in their specific religion then there will be doom and damnation. This was the beginning of marketing and some folk were way better than others. Every religion has its own fantasy to tell and the more interesting it is then hopefully the more followers you will have and in return the more status you may get and of course with that will come the power and the money. Just look at the Vatican, this is an enterprise that came up with a great story and a great marketing campaign and it’s wealth is staggering. On the surface they have always wanted to promote that good triumphs over evil but to me they are more like a wolf in sheeps clothing.

Like most religions they will tell you if you whistle on a Tuesday or don’t eat fish on a Friday then you will be going to hell for eternity and when you do finally get there you will meet the devil. He of course was the main guy in the great marketing campaign in the early years when many folk decided that going to pray once a week and giving money to some orator was not a fun thing to do anymore, in fact they would rather buy food to feed their children. But the fear that was instilled in them is still as strong today and this type of marketing campaign has been very successful over the years and has brought in vast amounts of wealth to very few.

Now we not only live in reality but we live in the virtual world where we will see and hear many things which are not true, these are click-bait, which of course is the new term but it’s function is the same. It will entice the the masses to send shit around the internet and to create a whole different reality. This shit just gets in the way when you are actually looking for something. To me it stands out as obvious as a bloke with a tit on his head but for others they can’t see it for what it is and the fisher folk can once again enjoy some bounty.

In the early days of the internet when you clicked on a link that promised you something all that happened at worst was that you got directed via the moon and many sites before you got to where you wanted to be and all that happened was that you wasted time, but now it’s a little different. You will of course waste  time and in the process of you will be making some of the architects of this creation wealthy because clicks mean money, but not only that you might also be leaving yourself open to malware attacks from some of the websites that you go to. Many websites that the click-bait takes you to are no better than a rat infested sewer and there is a good chance your computer will catch the plague.

Phising is another wonderful new word and side effect of the digital age. In the old days you would get a letter through the door asking if you wanted to subscribe to a magazine that you never really wanted, but they tell you that if you buy the Reader’s Digest then you might also win money, but the odds of that were very slim, but as long as you keep returning the envelopes back to them then you still had hope and then of course the longer you continue this the harder it is to leave because once again they have you hooked. If you cancel your subscription there is a good chance that your numbers will come up the very next week and that $1000000 that could have been yours is now only a dream and then you will be depressed and crushed and your life will turn to shit. Of course there are many similar formats to this example and how scary the similarity is to religion. If you don’t believe in your god then you will be damned from here to eternity.

Now we will get an email from a Nigerian Prince or Princess or a Saudi royal who has millions to give away to you and all you have to do is to pay a small fee and they will transfer you millions in return. Your great aunt that you never heard of before has left you money but if you want to get it you will have to send us a processing fee and so it goes on…………

But now the fisher-folk have a new toy to play with and that is Ransom Ware and they don’t want much money from you at all, it might only be around $100 and so you are more likely to pay up. Look before you click.

We also receive phone calls from the fisher-folk and they usually target a certain demographic. They will target those more mature people in society that might not be so computer savvy or might just not be savvy and they will tell them that Bill sent them to tell them that they have a ghost in the computer and they have to do an exorcism so can I have all your passwords please, oh and may I jump into your computer for a little look so that I can get rid of the beast. In fact I’ll install a small program that will help you and all I need in return is your credit card details or bank account details and everything will be Hunky Dory.

Door to door salesman are a thing of the past also but every now and again they will appear in a different guise. My Mother used to buy from the Betterware man and he used to come around with a suitcase, of what seemed to be useful products and all he was trying to sell you was what was in front of you and nothing else. But there are more devious and clever folk that will dress in a certain way and talk to you in a manner to make you sign a new contract or buy from a starving artist in some far away African country that has only Christian missionaries for help. I remember two year ago I was working in the garden on the weekend when this absolutely stunning young lady comes into the drive and may I add she was not leaving much to the imagination and as my Mother would say ” you could see what she had for breakfast” Now I’m an older guy, I would say distinguished of course and I enjoy talking to pretty young things but I am not gullible as to sign a new contract with a lovely young stranger that just happens to appear like an apparition into my garden, of course I do listen to every word that she says and I keep her talking for a bit as I am enjoying chatting to my new friend but then after a while the penny drops for her that this fish ain’t biting and so she moves on but the smile quickly fades and the body language changes and she’s gone. You have to try and use the right bait but sometimes it doesn’t matter how good the bait is some folk just won’t bite. And I can’t remember if it was for Gas or Electricity .

Facebook is a great place for the masses to have a discussion and to get conned left right and centre. Fake news is everywhere and click-bait abounds and what I can’t understand is why you would get into a fight with a total stranger in a place where you can write any old shit just to antagonise the other on a subject or matter that is beyond your control. How ever I do find this quite amusing to read through some of these comments and it never ceases to amaze how many time people don’t realise that they are just being wound up. When I used Facebook I would only comment to friends as I don’t really think that the total stranger really cares what you think but they will get a certain satisfaction when you are disgusted or are angry and the see you getting fired up. Just don’t feed the fire there is no point.

We go through life and have to avoid bait on a daily basis. We walk around the supermarket and are encouraged to buy some product because the some famous person eats it and of course you will look as good as them if you eat our full fat chunky chocolate bar. But to be honest nothing will change from now until the last day of the planet because there are plenty fish in the sea and the fisher-folk will never go out of business. They will just change their guise and modify it to suit the times and along the way we need to adapt just as quickly and become aware of what’s in front. Look beyond the bait and study it before you grab it.