Linkbait is the honey.
Linkers are the bees.
The honey does not solicit the bees, it just is what it is.
“Long term, promotion of content that attracts relevant links from those empowered to publish will win. The act of linking is performed, unsolicited, by individual publishers.”
bold added
Great post by Lee Odden
Further commentary at Is Linkbait the Death of SEO?