"Content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page."
That is how a popular dictionary defines "click bait." And I have been guilty of that particular vice more than once.
But, I am not alone. Headline writers make me look like an amateur -- leaving people, who get their news from scanning headlines, lost in a parallel universe.
That is not to say that "click bait" sites do not carry a modicum of truth. Take today's essay.
Yesterday I walked over to the local Oxxo to buy something. Probably a soda. While I was putting on my mask (because Oxxo is one of the few local stores that requires masking up like Jesse James to enter), I almost stumbled over something.
You may not see the problem without zooming in on the photograph. I certainly didn't. But there is a red hose that drops from the roof and droops across the entry doors. Just at the right height to Pearl Harbor patrons entering and exiting the store.
And I was not alone. Just before I entered, an elderly (you know, my age) Mexican woman was leaving the store with her purchases clutched to her chest. She tripped over the hose. I caught her from falling and then helped her pick up her groceries.
With that memory still stored in my "be careful" file, I almost did the same thing when I left the store.
These are the tales about Mexico that northerners usually turn into Kantian moral imperatives. "There should be a law." "OSHA would never allow it." "Maybe something will be done when someone gets hurt."
A reader, who has long-time connections with Barra de Navidad, will usually point out to me at this point that I am misleading my readers. That I describe Mexico as if it were a mythical lawless frontier town in 1882 Arizona.
Helmets for motorcyclists is a perfect example. I almost never see motorcyclists or their passengers wearing helmets. I suspect a lot of those riders simply do not like the idea of having their freedom impinged -- or maybe they cannot afford a helmet.
But, wearing a helmet on a motorcycle in Jalisco is mandatory. It is the law. If you visit larger towns in the state, almost every rider sports a helmet. The difference is not necessarily a difference in political philosophy between our villages and Guadalajara -- though there may be some of that, as well.
The big difference is lack of enforcement here. Now and then, usually during the busy tourist seasons of semana santa and Christmas, the police will set up roadblocks targeting motorcyclists. Fines for failing to wear a helmet. Confiscation for outdated registrations. There are rumors that donations to the policeman Christmas fund are gladly accepted.
There are all types of laws restricting personal liberty in Mexico. Laws against late-night noise. Burning rubbish. Speeding.
At times, it simply seems that the laws do not exist because problems exist with fairly enforcing them -- or enforcing them, at all. It is simply one of those differences from up north that we visitors eventually adjust to.
Now, I have no idea whether there are any OSHA-style regulations that would prohibit stringing hoses across the entrances of businesses. It turns out that the hose belonged to a fellow who had been hired to steam clean the parking lot. When the Oxxo manager saw what was happening with his customers, he went outside and admonished the parking lot cleaner. Because I had other adventures to net, I went home.
Most of the people who went in and out of the store did what people in Mexico have to do. They were personally responsible enough to be aware of their surroundings and to avoid dangers. The only two people to be tripped up by the hose were the elderly woman and me.
And I guess, if there has to be a moral to this tale (for all of you neo-Platonics), it would be that life is filled with joyous events. But, in every Eden, there is a serpent. We simply have to look out for those dangers ourselves and to help others on the same path.
After all, the law is not always going to be there to catch you from falling.
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