The Unsung Hero: Has anonymity been replaced by the viral circus.
This video with its 27.4 million views epitomises all that is so incredibly great and invariably personal when we give a little something anonymously. A little of our money, our time, some food… A smile!
Although clearly a fantastic piece of drama, the message is extremely powerful and precise. Little wonder then, why this video has had so many views. The work clearly resonates with many of us and no doubt many can take something from it.
But what then about the alternative video type currently doing the rounds. The manipulative profit making, like and praise feasts most commonly labelled “Social Experiments”?
Wikipedia would have us believe that “Social experiments are often referred to as “the gold standard” for program evaluation and reform processes.” (Source)
A quick straight up Google search for “homeless social experiment” (Not a video search) produces a good 7 or eight videos at the very forefront of the results. Many of the videos have clearly been viral, or fast on their way to a million+ views.
The Homeless Man VS Homeless Child! (Social Experiment), Homeless Man Does Unbelievable Act Social Experiment, Homeless Drug Addict VS Homeless Father (Social Experiment), The Real Homeless Man Experiment, Stealing From The Homeless (Social Experiment), The Freezing Homeless Child! (Social Experiment), Homeless vs Military Experiment, Homeless Gets $1000 For His Honesty Social Experiment, Giving Homeless Man $1000 To Spend in 1 Hour Social Experiment.
So what are we actually watching here? When did the homeless suddenly become the working classes or privileged few’s experimental subjects? At what point did humble and anonymous giving manifest itself into a YouTube money making enterprise or a praise gaining contest that manipulates viewers into following folk they suddenly perceive to be great or good?
Surely the essence of a genuine warm heart is being lost if a large proportion of a generation feels happiness and spiritual well being somehow comes from virtual followers, like quantities and views.
Inner warmth and self satisfaction v’s the numbers game! Can’t be right, can it? I for one refuse to be fooled. Be the Unsung Hero! Or as Johnny boy said to Ponyboy Curtis in the 1983 classic The Outsiders, “Stay Gold”.