“Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he'll eat forever.”

"... teach him to fish and he'll sit in a boat all day and drink beer!!!!!!!!!!"

Give him a fish then take away his right to fish...and you have a very controllable dependant. A trained seal so to speak.

Another way of saying teach him to be responsible for himself.

And if the fishing is bad for a few days, the government will put him on food stamps.

I always loved that quote followed by the one about drinking beer in the boat all day, but I had to modify it for today’s socialist world. Modern version: Give a man a government entitlement and he will return the next day with his family wanting more as he promptly forgets how to fend for himself and slowly relinquishes his freedom. - Doug Stevenson

The last thing our government bureaucrats want is for us to learn how to fish -- unless we are going to give it to them!

The quote raises a good point; to be able to teach the hungry is like feeding him, but only going half the effort, or rather, half the time that it would take to feed him forever.

As to its focused attention — YES! ! !