A social experiment--read and discuss

Hey all, usually I save my "frontpage" newspost for updates regarding game development. All is good in that sense, but I'm looking to share something I stumbled on the interwebz todai .Everything after this sentence is a copy and paste from the story, but I'd like to get your thoughts, as I was surely made to reflect and let it impact me:

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Violinist in the Metro
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This is an incredibly sad story which gave me chills. It is a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people.

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning.
He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace.
He collected $32.
When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it.
No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

My additional thoughts would only be that so many people do things because they are "fashionable" that they forget to look at things with their own eyes, listen with their own ears, and appreciate anything with their own hearts.

Comments

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omegared 2010-02-02 02:06:20

DC is fucked up dude. So are a lot of peoples lives. living check to check aint easy. This experiment doesn't surprise me much.

Yeah, it sucks, but that's just how life can be sometimes. People would have noticed him if he was at a restaurant or even a local coffee shop and I'm sure they would have crowded the place even, but not while they have appointments and work schedules.

In a way it is a good thing that people didn't go late to work to sit and listen to his music. ;)

TheMillz 2010-02-02 02:06:20

I get ya man.

Your statement reminds me ( association--oldest form of learning in the world I'm told ) of this part in the movie " the blair witch project". It's nothing mind blowingly deep but it does tie in with what you said. It's like:

When the kids get lost, the Josh character is all " Look man, we gatta start thinking like human beings, I gatta be at work, I'm supposed to BE at work by 9 in the morning", it's like even when lost in the woods and hunted by a witch, your still trying to punch the clock and keep up with the schedule.

I don't know popped into mind, thanks for the comment.

Kanzer 2010-02-02 07:02:40

Oh man, this is really sad.

TheMillz 2010-02-02 07:02:40

Yea, like it makes ya wanna pay more attention to the little things. Maybe not go full blown "kid from American beauty" for a trash bag in the wind , but next time you see a squirrel in the park or some surfers out at sea, just sit and watch the show for a bit.

Vert 2010-02-02 13:19:58

Another, simple and quite obvious interpretation is: what are the odds that a street musician is going to be good? Based on my personal experience, very low. The odds are even lower that he'll actually be playing some music I'll like.

Thus, I ask: should I take the time and effort, which is admittedly small, but certainly greater than zero, to pay attention to every street musician I hear, in case he is good enough and playing something I'll actually enjoy?

Given the tiny odds, not really.

JustinasM 2010-02-02 14:21:45

Once i had some spare time (about an hour) I was nowhere near home and i had no company to keep me entertained. So I went to a shop, bought a pack of pringles, came to the park and fed pidgeons, in about 2 minutes there were about 30 of them feeding from the ground, and from my arm, and sitting all over me (no one else was feeding them at the park). It was pretty much fun (no, not a single pidgeon pooped, and yes I washed my hands after that). At that time i realised that a bunch of birds that I see every day, just made it much more happy (i was feeling down before feeding them, because of generic school, homework and school tests problems).

Someguy727 2010-02-02 18:22:12

I've read about this story before and I think it definitely says something about human nature. I guess the simple truth is that human's are very 'regimented' in the way they approach life. There is a time for work, a time for play, and other small 'slots' of time dedicated to whatever you label it as.

When people want to make use of that slot for 'play', they will be willing to pay $15 for a movie or, as stated, $100 for a violin performance. However, put them in that work scenario and it's very likely their priorities are gonna be arranged differently.

I would like to consider myself someone who attempts to 'mix' all this stuff up, but I can't even say that I am much or even a little beyond normal.

At the same time, the fact that someone pays $100 for a performance that they might not stop for on a subway also says something. I think someone else mentioned something along these lines, and it's the counterpoint that perhaps a lot of 'beauty' is perceived as such because it is 'cool' or 'pretentious' or 'sophisticated' to consider it such. I'm sure he's a great violinist, but perhaps there is a middle ground. While people may go to one extreme and not listen to a quality performance, those same people might do the exact opposite and pay a large amount of money for something they wouldn't stop and listen to unless they were 'told' it was excellent.

Definitely a lot of ways to interpret human nature. Sorry for the tl;dr. Also... I think I sounded pretentious in my mini-essay... sorry about that too.

vampyro241 2010-02-03 23:45:15

Wow. Really sad. I wish I could type a long comment like the others above me (and under when there is), but I can't think of anything. I understand what it's telling us and it makes me think, " I should appreciate the little thing in life more than just look and walk away. By the way, your banner reminds me of the Big Daddy from Bioshock (which I have a feeling you already played). I'm most likely going to get Bioshock 2, care to join me online?

TheMillz 2010-02-03 23:45:15

I can join you in person bro ( check my Big D costume ) :3 Feb 9th can't come soon enough!