Let‘s talk about... Catfishing.

Let‘s talk
about...
Catfishing.
published by Liesa
Henschke

WWhere does the word
„catfishing“ come from?
The phenomenon of internet predators
that fabricate online identities
and entire social circles to trick
people into emotional/romantic relationships
(over a long period of
time).
Possible motivations:
revenge, loneliness, curiosity, boredom
A catfish is someone who pretends to be someone
they're not using Facebook or other social media to
create false identities, particularly to pursue
deceptive online romances.
Did you hear how Dave got totally catfished last
month?! The fox he thought he was talking to turned
out to be a pervy guy from San Diego!
or
I was really falling for that gorgeous gal on Facebook,
but she turned out to be a catfish.
The term catfishing was inspired by
the 2010 documentary "Catfish."

The documentary „catfish“
by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman
The term catfishing was inspired by the 2010 documentary
"Catfish."
The documentary is about a young man called Nev, who is
being filmed my his brother and his friend. It all started when
Nev recieved a painting of a 8 year old girl from the other
side of his country . They become facebook friends and he
also gets to know the little girls‘ family, which included her
mother, her attractive older sister and her brothers.
They all become facebook friends and Nev starts an online
relationship with Megan, the older sister. Megan, who claims
to be a singer, sends Nev a song that she recorded for him
and somehow he finds out that this song was not sang by
her. It was recorded from an existing video on facebook.
Now he doesn‘t believe anything anymore and the three
friends want to find out who is hiding behind the name
Megan. After a long journey they meet the woman who
claims to be Megans mother.

It was all very strange and it was obvious that this middle
aged woman was lying and even worse she was pretending
to be all the different personalities on facebook at the same
time. It was all a big lie and when you watch this documentary
you will feel really sorry for this woman. She has a tough life
because her two sons are disabled and she has to take care
of them 24/7. She is the artist behind the pictures and her
dream is it to be successfull as an artist but she feels that she
has no time to do it and that she has other priorities in her life.
That‘s why she created a whole different life for herself where
she could live her dreams through that person called Megan,
wo is a random model where she just stole the pictures from
online sources. She could be the dancer that she never was
but always wanted to become and the successfull artist and
singer. She clearly didn‘t think about the side effects which is
the heart break of Nev who was falling in love with „Megan“.
This documentary is a perfect example for how crazy the
internet can be and that you have to be so careful with trusting
strangers online.

The Tv-show „catfish“
The Tv show „catfish“ is simiular to the documentary. Nev,
followed by his brother and his friend is now helping other
people from all over the USA to find out if their internet flirt
is real or if it is a catfish. It is amazing how many people
expierence the same thing as Nev. It is interesting to see
that most people who are hiding behind another identity
are unhappy with their real lifes. A lot of times the people
are obese or older than they claiming to be. They are
hiding behind these, in their eyes, ‚perfect‘ looking people
to be now able to build a relationship with a person where
they would normaly have no chance to meet because of
their looks or their age.

The dangers of Catfishing
When you think of catfishing you would mostly think of adults who
talk to other adult under false name. But what is the most
dangerous part about it is that children are being effected by it
and that is why parents need to discuss Catfishing with their
children. For example sexual predetors who target children online
and they pose as teens when in reality they are
buisnessmen, teachers, students... ranging in age from 19 to 60.
When children and also adults are desperate for friendship or
love they will let their guard down. That is why it is so important
for parents to talk about it with their children before they even
starting to use the internet.

Catfish stories on the internet
It is amazing how many differnet stories you can find on the
internet about Catfishing. If you type it into Goole or even
Youtube you will find tons of different articles or videos. I am
asking myself why are still people fall into the same trap again
and again.
Through my research I came to the conclusion that you can‘t
just say only people who are desperate for love or any kind of
attention fall into the Catfish- trap, it can happen to anybody,
anybody who trustes other people quicker than I would for
example do. My advice to those victims would be if they want to
date somebody online that it be maybe worth it to pay for a good
online dating option where you can be sure to talk to the real
person behind that online profile.

Where the word really comes from....
In the documentary „Catfish“ the husband of the 40- something
year old woman who claimed to be somebody else, had a great
metaphorical explanation for the whole story, which inspired
the name of the film.
„They used to tank cod from Alaska all the way to China. They’d
keep them in vats in the ship. By the time the
codfish reached China, the flesh was mush and tasteless.
So this guy came up with the idea that if you put these cods in
these big vats, put some catfish in with them and the catfish will
keep the cod agile. And there are those people who are catfish in
life. And they keep you on your toes. They keep you guessing,
they keep you thinking, they keep you fresh. And I thank god for
the catfish
because we would be droll, boring and dull if we didn't have somebody
nipping at our fin.“
-Vince Pierce