
Humans of New York and the Cavalier Consumption of Others - prismatic
http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/humans-of-new-york-and-the-cavalier-consumption-of-others
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msoad
Humans of New York is catered for the "small time media" generation. People
don't have attention span of a 20 minutes deep article or photo series. They
want to see and read a tiny story in their Facebook feed and feel good about
it. HONY serves this purpose.

John Stewart recognized this and started his new show based on this type of
media consumption. [1]

[1] [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/jon-stewart-
heade...](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/jon-stewart-headed-hbo-
four-836443)

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Camillo
tl;dr: The journalist doesn't like HONY because it presents individuals as
simply "humans", without a group-based social critique. He prefers books where
the writer sets out to reveal the hardships of the underclass, and where the
photos serve as illustrations of that general point. Having decided that that
is a virtue, he criticizes HONY for pairing the photos with stories of the
individuals themselves.

~~~
noselfrighteous
I think your tl;dr is unjust. I read the author as criticizing the imposition
of a simple story onto the nuanced experiences of people. I think he
criticizes it for the lack of artistic subtlety (pictures are not allowed to
speak to the reader by themselves) and also for the effect that ignoring
social structure has on the way the art is consumed.

He decries the "read, get emotional cookies, and forget" effect of the simple
"uplifting" narratives of every day people. The consumer of the art must think
no further than one person's experience.

~~~
brenschluss
Photography never "speaks for itself"; photography is usually a pretty heavy-
handed imposition of meaning through the use of composition, tone, framing,
editing.

To call photography subtle is incorrect; it's a violent imposition of meaning
onto the subject, by the photographer.

~~~
nikatwork
I saw three different photos from three different sources of the same scene
from the Palestine-Israel conflict. They told wildly different stories.

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embarcadero
I was the subject of one of Stanton's photos. While I admired his site at the
time and what seemed like a commitment to free speech, I've since watched him
sell out when it suits him.

HONY is a sandboxed version of New York and New Yorkers, and the political
stands Stanton takes are cheap shots. He is more bond salesman than reporter.
I'd be happy to see his credibility in a million little pieces.

~~~
lostinny
Could you please give some examples? I understand the cultural criticism in
the original post, but it seems extreme to me to wish ruin on someone because
of their photography project.

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snowwrestler
Does the HONY project change the world, or does it help the world stay the
same?

Does it increase the empathy of its viewers, leading them to make changes in
their lives to benefit the HONY subjects, or people like them? Or does it just
feed people's self-satisfaction about how empathetic they already are, by
giving them a gift-wrapped simple story to "like" every day, and pretend they
really did something?

Is reading HONY an act of consumption or an act of expression? Unlike reading
a book, everything about consuming the HONY project on Facebook is publicized
to your friends and family. They can see that you follow it. If you like,
share, or comment, it gets pushed to their newsfeeds. Like any activity on
social media, it's not just shaping who you are, it helps you construct your
public identity: the mask you want other people to see.

Even the paper books can be seen through this lens. Are they popular because
they provide stories that are notably better or different from what can be
read online? Or are they popular because they tell the right story about their
owner by sitting on the book shelf or coffee table?

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Some of each. And increasing empathy has rewards all down the line; not just
to benefit the HONY subjects. Its education.

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pavement
Not one link in that entire blasted article.

[http://www.humansofnewyork.com/](http://www.humansofnewyork.com/)

Come on, New Yorker, get it together.

------
werber
Humans of New York has always reminded me of Jacob Holdt's work,
[http://web.archive.org/web/20150811101439/http://american-
pi...](http://web.archive.org/web/20150811101439/http://american-
pictures.com/gallery/index.html)

~~~
satori99
HONY tends to remind me of Vivian Maiers' work.

[http://www.vivianmaier.com/](http://www.vivianmaier.com/)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivian_Maier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivian_Maier)

~~~
werber
Oh! I love her stuff, her craft reminds me a lot of Arbus but less vulnerable

