Aspects of Success in the Intercultural Marriage
Those with knowledge of international or intercultural marriages, marriage agencies and dating marriage agency web sites will no doubt have heard of the term ’scamming’ and ‘anti-scam’. Those not yet in the know will possibly have heard the word scam used in relation to some form of fraud, deception or con. Contrary to the ill-informed efforts of hack media writers continuously on the prowl for story fillers of the ‘fast food’ kind, dating/marriage and scam are words that have no place being continuously put together. Story fillers of the calibre employed by these so called ‘professional critics’ are meagre in substance, easy to digest, are of very little nutritional value and have the end result of leaving the consumer feeling emptier than he did a moment before his first swallow of the dubious and intrinsically unpalatable product. In this instance, the quality of the product is totally in keeping with the quality of the manufacturer. In other words, they are both as bad as one another.
Cons and confidence trickers have been around since the world began. They are prevalent wherever there is easy money to be made. The Internet being both impersonal and virtual makes it the prefect place for con artist to thrive and grow fat on their spoils. Cons or scams are infinitely widespread and cover the gamut of web site shopfronts, merchants and the merchandise they peddle. There’s a sucker born every minute they say and there’s a con hatched at every foreseeable opportunity. Confidence tricks or stings have happened to everyone at on time or another. Getting ripped-off with a bad car, toaster or electric blanket is par for the course. Getting ripped-off by a shonky tradesman or dubious shop owner is a life experience waiting to befall each and every one of us at some point in time. However, no con or scam seems to sting so much as one of a very personal nature. Personal relationships are near to the heart and close to the bone, so when a bad experience occurs, it cuts deep. If it’s something beyond our control we can usually handle the hurt and soldier on. However, when it is something that was avoidable and done to us purely for financial profit and at our own expense, that’s when the hurt turns to blood-boiling anger and the taste that was once sweet on our lips becomes something bitter and vile in our mouth.
Much ado is made of personal relationship scams both on and off the Internet. It’s a subject matter that is easy pickings for the multitude of murky media marionettes when they are at a loss for something better to do with their time and highly questionable ‘writing ability’. All an opportunistic media ‘journo’ has to do is attach the word ‘scam’ to any convenient subject matter and presto, instant story. Bad ‘creative writing’ does the rest and fills in all the remaining blanks. It doesn’t take much effort – or thought – on the part of the hack media writer to come-up with a well-worn story for undiscerning readers to swallow hook, line and sinker. The journo gets a paid-off, the reader gets fobbed-off and the truth gets knocked-off.
One of the most well-worn and hackneyed media ‘scoops’ is the one about the Internet dating/marriage agency ‘scam’. How many times have we seen that old chestnut rehashed ad nauseam? The answer is: too many. This tired old trite format has, as usual, the valiant media reporter (with glistening, white dental work) doing battle with the villainous Internet dating/marriage agency (boo…hiss…) on behalf of the poor, unfortunate, local underdog (hip, hip, hooray!). The banal media storytelling that unfolds to formula is more a twisted tale than a tale with twists that tells of the honest, hardworking fella-next-door who has had his life savings snatched away from him by the evil, nefarious and obviously villainous Internet dating/marriage agency. The tools of the agency’s trade are, of course, the curvaceous ‘sirenesque’ ladies they feature on their web site, all of whom are perfectly poised to dangle the sex carrot before the hungry eyes of the unsuspecting, drooling lothario and lure him and his purse strings into their clutches with promise of the classic Hollywood fairytale romance happy ending. However, the outcome for the duped carrot consumer never quite ends-up being what they expected, certainly it’s an ending that is always the same – they get ‘scammed’. By exposing evildoers that lurk in every dark corner of cyberspace, the seemingly heroic media journo does his sworn duty by never letting the public forget his or her virtue (yeah, right) The journo befriends the hapless ‘victim’ and tries to right the wrong that’s been done – and all for the sake of a dirty pay cheque (not that this is highly publicized).
In a perfect world of fair press and white, not yellow journalism, the hack media journo would be seen for what he is i.e. someone without much talent as a writer who abuses his position for the sake of a sensationalized rendition of something that never really happened and said to be based upon watered-down facts and questionable hearsay.
Certainly, just like the almost ever-present truckload of hack yellow journalists to be found ‘word bashing’ (not writing) for on-world and off-world (virtual) pseudo-legitimate ‘word rags’, there are also numerous and unsavoury Internet sites (including dating/marriage sites) that are to be no more trusted than the fetid media seen to falsely legitimize the ranting and raving of the brigades of hearsay peddlers posing as informed wordsmiths. The bad element is ever present. However, what the yellow journo and hack writer fails to grasp or even be concerned with is the greater scheme of things. There ARE legitimate and highly reputable dating/marriage sites such as www.heavenlyhearts.net that provide honest, reliable service. Those who are savvy will never opt for a shonky service provider – or consider reading the propaganda of those not qualified or competent enough to accurately write on the circumstances befalling men who are gullible enough to be swayed by a pretty face or believe the promises of a service wolf in sheep’s clothing and their ‘too cheap to be true’ carrot dangling act. If you are silly enough to be tricked, you will be tricked, whether it is by a hack journo, a ‘good-looking’ woman batting her eyelashes or a seemingly cordial used car salesman inviting you onto his lot for a ‘no obligation’ free test drive.
Making mistakes is just one of those unavoidable aspects of life. However, taking advantage of the bitterness of someone who has allowed himself to be duped on a personal level, be it over a shonky second-hand car, a discount toaster that lasts a day, having had your house renovated by opportunistic and unqualified repairer or a being mislead by a provocative and sexually appealing woman, is sinking to a level lower than that already occupied by the scam perpetrators themselves. The media mantle is taken up, distorted, sensationalized and exploited by an overabundance of ‘public spirited’ mouthpieces, all respectively calling themselves ‘writers’ or journalists, who verbosely churn out their second rate written junk without any consideration as the consequences of their abysmal handiwork. As a direct result of their total lack of ability and perception, and because a quick written kill is extremely profitable both in terms of public exposure and monetary kickbacks, these media anarchists put honest marriage/dating agencies and other similarly threatened service providers on the endangered species list with their unique brand of wording road kill.
Allowing oneself to be open to gossip-mongering in the form of hack journalism, only serves to allow the distribution of negative, sensationalized phoney-baloney. The sad truth to this is that it is very difficult, almost impossible, to see that poison pens are completely removed from the childish grasp of odious pseudo-journalists as they’ve always got an extra one hidden up a dirty sleeve somewhere. What’s even worse is that their tainted propaganda is believed by those in the greater majority on nothing more than ‘face value’ alone. For persons who make the Internet a home away from home and who have that special knack for making hearsay an art form, being a prize chump and easy believer in written garbage turns out to be more of an occupation than a hobby. Media madness and acquired gullibility certainly sees to that.
Author: M. McRae
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