Anglers cringe at negativity surrounding ‘catfishing’ term

Both wild-caught catfish and those raised down on the farm are victims of a massive disservice fueled by contemporary media outlets. Could it be outright defamation of the species? 

U.S. catfish fishing clubs as well as farm-raised catfish associations take exception to the contemporary definition of “catfishing,” which emerged about a decade ago. 

Aisha Harris, a respected journalist, begins to set the record straight. She did a lot of trolling, and her research has revealed that you can’t trust everything you see, hear and read that crosses your television or computer screen.

 A 2010 pseudo-documentary titled “Catfish” is the “culprit.” Producers coined a term for sexually oriented misbehavior via the internet – “catfishing.” 

The A.V. Club website said the “Catfish” film is “fishy” at best and questions whether it’s “a doc or a crock.” 

Harris consulted Ben Zimmer, an esteemed linguist, lexicographer and language commentator. He said that “catfish” used to simply be an innocent, tasty, Southern-fried fish dish. 

 

"But with the film,” Zimmer said, “a new definition for ‘catfish’ emerged to describe people who pretend to be someone they’re not and use Facebook or other social media to create false identities, particularly to pursue deceptive, online romances.” 

“The reasons people do this are complex,” Harris wrote. “Some people get a certain pleasure out of knowing they have managed to fool someone, and it gives them a sense of power. Some…may do it out of revenge. Maybe to get back at a person who they feel has wronged them?” 

Journalist Rachel Lenzi interviewed J.A. Hitchcock, an author and president of Working to Halt Online Abuse (WHOA). Hitchcock said the “catfisher” is intent on “reeling in a victim, someone to fall for him or her and keeping the relationship going online.” 

The most publicized “catfishing” scam involved Manti Te’o, who was an All-American football player at the University of Notre Dame. His “imaginary girlfriend” suffered a “tragic death” during his senior season in 2012. 

“This has multiple layers to it,” Dr. Michael Butterworth, now a professor of communications at the University of Texas, told Lenzi at the time. “It’s obviously a sports story but it feels like a soap opera. It’s going to appeal to a lot of people.” 

Te’o, a native Hawaiian, was thought to be dating Lennay Kukua “over the internet” before she “died” from leukemia. She reportedly attended Stanford University, but the whole thing was a hoax. The perpetrator was Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, an acquaintance of Te’o, who confessed to Dr. Phillip McGraw, host of the “Dr. Phil” television talk show in 2013. 

How much Te’o knew, and when he knew it is still debatable. Did he tell “the whole truth and nothing but the truth?” 

Now, in the fall of 2020, the ESPN TV network plans to air a “Backstory” documentary that reopens the Te’o case, according to John Buhler of FanSided.com. “It will be fascinating” to revisit “the entire hoax. If this incident didn’t epitomize ‘stranger than fiction,’ I don’t really know what does.” 

(Manti Te’o went on to play in the National Football League, with the San Diego Chargers from 2013-16 and with the New Orleans Saints from 2017-19. Going into the 2020 season, he was classified as an unsigned free agent.) 

Let’s hope the ESPN piece leads to exoneration of the catfish. This fish won’t win a beauty contest, but catfish don’t masquerade around as rainbow trout either. 

Catfish deserve vindication.