People are Funny
Cartoon Copyright 2008 Jean Burman
It’s a funny old world we live in. And the people in it are even funnier. Take a look at this clip produced by Improv Everywhere. I love the experiments in human behaviour that these guys come up with… but this one was especially entertaining.
A week away in the big smoke… visiting my youngest daughter… has served as an amusing reminder that people are the same wherever you go!
Human behaviour is still human behaviour… in pretty much everyone’s language.
It’s been a wonderful (if exhausting) week of sitting in cafes… cruising the shops… waiting in queues… and sitting patiently in traffic gridlock… providing a great opportunity to take time out to simply observe the passing parade!
All this time out for observation however… (along with time at last to read Dan Ariely’s terrific book “Predictably Irrational - the hidden forces that shape our decisions”) … has left me once again with more questions than answers… and if anyone can help me out with any of these you are more than welcome to it! ((chuckles))
Random questions to ponder:
Why is it that complete strangers can become firm friends in a matter of minutes when thrown together into some unexpected or unusual circumstance?
Why is it that none of us wants to be the first table seated in an otherwise empty restaurant… preferring instead to fall into line like sheep and queue for an hour outside the one next door… just in case (safety in numbers and all that!)
Why is it that we can’t make up our mind which one we want… until someone else wants it. Then we know exactly what we want… and that’s the one they want - of course! ~grin~
Why is it that “free” is so appealing… even when it’s something we don’t want… don’t need… and more than likely can’t use?
Puzzling isn’t it?
Why even in politics the concept of “free” takes on dubious significance. Despite knowing that there is no such thing as a free lunch… why is it that so many voters almost invariably succumb to the promise of “freebies” in the lead up to an election? Whatever happened to “ask not what your country can do for you?” *wink*
Equally puzzling and no less astonishing… is the predictably irrational way in which voters decide on future leaders… allowing popular opinion and coercive persuasion by a manipulative press to shape their decisions and dictate the country’s entire future political direction! Why not simply cut to the chase and elect Rupert Murdoch? ~grin~
Back to things in general… come to think of it… I have always been interested in “why we do the things we do”.
Growing up… one of my favourite television programs was People Are Funny with Art Linkletter. The fact that this program was more than a decade old by the time it arrived on Australian television was totally lost on us! Television was still new… especially in our household… and I enjoyed the funny scenarios that were set up for the unsuspecting participants… along with their very predictable human responses!
It has always puzzled me why so many people don’t seem to know their own mind. And why those who do seem unwilling to share it. And why so many of us are so uncomfortable in our own skin… especially when it comes to making choices.
Why do we choose to simply “blend in” and “fall into line” rather than be seen to be different?
Only a very few are willing to stick their neck out and show the world what they are really made of.
(This is understandable of course… given the “resistance to difference” experienced within the bounds of what’s considered “normal” in human behaviour!)
But wouldn’t it be great?
Just for once?
If people dared to be different… or perhaps even… dared to be “themselves”.
What a wildly interesting… wide and diversified world it would then be!
I know… I know… it ain’t gonna happen…
not anytime soon anyway! 
Your comments are always welcome…
May 24th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Hi Jean,
I have taken some time to make a comment here, just thinking about it all. I think that “most” people are afraid to be themselves, afraid they will not be accepted by the rest of the “clan”…to be judged and then ostracised (spelling??) is a terrifying thing to go through. However, as a person who does not always “follow” the pack I can also say that standing alone and saying or doing things that others may not, can also be very rewarding. Slaps on the back and raised glasses for not being afraid is empowering!!
I also think that many people do not really know what to do or say in many situations, or…they change their minds regarding tastes and choices. Some need a leader or an “expert” to tell them how….the media has cottoned on to that!!!!
I have to admitt that there have been many times, I have jumped in to situations with a flutter in my heart just to defy the odds of being different and I am so glad I did!
May 24th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Hi Jools
Interesting isn’t it? Those guys at Improv Everywhere never seem to be short of volunteers for their “assignments”… so there might be more people than we realise out there who enjoy being different… stepping out of the box and “making a scene” even if it is en masse! (I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face for days after seeing that clip!) Another group did a freeze in Sydney after this… but it crashed and burned as they were in an open space and didn’t have enough participants for passers by to even notice that these people were frozen to the spot. There have been Freeze’s all over the place since then! I think they started something… LOL
May 25th, 2008 at 7:40 am
Lol! Yes the clip is certainly entertaining Jean! I thought it was interesting what the crowd “thought” was going on!!! I’d love to be a part of something like that! It is almost street theatre. Also makes me think of the artist who uses people for mass artistic endeavours…all of the people in suits, standing in the water at the beach! We used to get a TV show here about how easy it is to “set” people up with “gags”…hidden camera. I got quite a few laughs out of that. And then there was Ashton Kutchers show about playing pranks on people. I see though that it could only really work, where there are large amounts of people and you “stop the flow!”
When I did the Worlds Biggest Bush Dance (getting 700 people to dance the heel and toe polka!!!) it was difficult to get them moving all at the same time, plus we had to give them lessons over and over, so that they were all in sync! Good fun!
May 25th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Jools… that heel and toe polka would have really been something to see! LOL
Q: I thought it was interesting what the crowd “thought” was going on!!! :UQ
Me too. Funny how something “unusual” happening unites people and gives us something in common. It happens here in the lead up to a cyclone when everyone’s out scurrying around gathering provisions - batteries torches etc - preparing for the worst! Something happens when people are thrown together in unusual circumstances. People who would otherwise be strangers chat away in the supermarket queue… comparing notes and discussing the impending weather! It’s an amazing camaraderie that (sadly) doesn’t come along every day. Not that we need natural disasters… but they do have their upside! LOL
May 25th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Hi, I’ve just visited from the Imaginif carnival. I love this cartoon! You are great - I’ll be back.
May 25th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Thanks Joh! Look forward to seeing you back here soon!
May 25th, 2008 at 9:50 am
It was amazing Jean, when the dance all came together! And there was me with baby Claire, in a stroller…in the middle of the football field, yelling out the dance steps!!!! Lol!!!!!
May 26th, 2008 at 5:32 am
Great post, Jean! LOTS to think about. First of all, I love the cartoon. It’s one of those that when I first glanced at I admired, and then the longer I looked at it and thought about it the more I enjoyed it, chuckling it first and then laughing out loud.
Also, the video is terrific. It brings back cherished memories of when I was going to public high school. I can’t possibly count the number of times I’ve moved through Grand Central Station. Twice a week my mother picked me up from school early and took me to the train to go “into the city” to art school at the Museum of Modern Art. Afterward I would meet my dad at Grand Central to take the evening commuter train home. Those were among my most wonderful times.
I suspect the human animal evolved to “toe the line.” In aboriginal tribal cultures they are the “drones” and “worker bees.” Meanwhile, a few are genetically disposed to lead, while there are those born to be shamans. I believe artists are the descendants of shamans (true artists that is, not the imitators but the innovators who don’t just dare to be different, they can’t do otherwise). Like the original shamans, artists share their experience, perceptions and intuitions through the metaphors of their work, giving meaning to the lives of the others and thereby making life possible.
May 26th, 2008 at 6:35 am
Hi John!
What a wonderful and powerful paragraph that last one you wrote is…my sentiments exactly!
May 26th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Huge compliment on the cartoon John! Thank you.
Isn’t the video clip something else? So funny. I’m glad it brought back happy memories for you. It makes the clip all the more impactful to know that this was once your old stomping ground!
Great assessment John.
Artists definitely are a different breed. But even among their ranks there are those who would be (and are) inadvertently or otherwise constrained by convention… society… and dare I say it mediocrity? I don’t mean this as a criticism of our kind (grin)… just an observation that even among those who would “be different”… many still choose the well trodden path… creating works that have already been created over and over and over again.
I think it comes down to the way people look at things. If we can see through the stereotypes of what might be “expected”… a whole new way of looking… and seeing… and recording what we see may just open up. (And I well and truly include myself here!)
There very well might not be anything new under the sun… but no-one has seen it quite like we have. And by “we”… I mean all of us… each and every one. Artist or non-artist. The creative potential of the individual is enormous. It would be wonderful if we lived in societies which truly fostered it’s growth… and nurtured it out of us. You may say I’m a dreamer… (((chuckles)))
May 27th, 2008 at 3:51 am
You’re absolutely right, Jean, that it’s a matter of how the artist looks at things, or indeed, experiences what is being looked at. Art is a language that comes from the deepest part of our beings, to be distinguished from the everyday “language of consensus” we the mass of people use to communicate with each other, the words, phrases, and syntax whose meanings we all essentially agree on. The problem occurs when the two get confused, and the artist loses faith in his or her capacity to communicate through the language of art. This is compunded by the world of commerce, which aggressively fosters the notion that artists are worth only what their work can get in the marketplace. As a result we have work on one hand that is trite and familiar and therefore easily accessible, and on the other work that is over-hyped. Genuine art too often gets lost in the hustle.
May 28th, 2008 at 9:48 am
So true John. Money complicates everything… (as if art as language was not complicated enough!) LOL
But looking at this even before art makes it into the marketplace… it seems to me that a vast amount of what is being produced these days remains derivative and uninspiring. And the derivation and lack of original inspiration lies not only within the realms of amateur art as one might expect… although given the burgeoning numbers of aspiring “artists” out there… this would not seem an unreasonable assumption! LOL
I guess it’s important to say here too that not all truly original ideas and concepts will (necessarily) translate into “great” art. But at least it will be “authentic” and hopefully speak for the artist who created it. And with art… that’s an important prerequisite… aside from whether the art ultimately succeeds or not. Authenticity is something we should all be striving for… not only in art… but in life. As individuals we have so much to give.
And as an old relative of mine Herman Melville (wink) once said “It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation”
Still musing here… *sigh* chuckles
May 28th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
I am too old to worry about whether I(or anyone else) is “with it”. Just read two good novels by Scott Simon NPR personage. Pretty Bird is set in Sarajevo during the siege. Windy City in Chicago roughly now. Both brought tears to my eyes. But the Sarajevo novel is about waste and is truly sad. The Chicago novel is about Chicago and is basically happy. One great scene from Windy city is where the second generation Hindu alderman is sworn in as acting mayor. He takes the oath of office with his left hand on a CTA transit map.
May 29th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Hi Roger! I looked up the editorial reviews on both books. They each look to be a good yarn!
Back in 1991 I sat on a tour bus out of London with a young 19 year old Croatian girl who had been visiting the UK when war broke out in her homeland. She found herself suddenly stranded there. Unable to return home… she didn’t know the fate of her family as she had been unable to get in touch with them. She told me she would often take the tour bus to keep herself busy and her mind otherwise occupied. I felt very sad for her… and so unable to help. But she was strong and resourceful for one so young… and determined to find her way back home. I sometimes think about her and wonder if she did. It seems unreal to we who enjoy peace and relative prosperity in our lives to comprehend that war and the instability it brings is the way of things for a great many people in the world. Meeting her gave me a whole new insight.
I haven’t been to Chicago… but hope to get there one day. The Hindu Alderman sounds like a bit of a character. Hilarious that he should take the oath of office with his hand on a transit map… how very “municipal” that is! (((LOL)))
May 29th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
If you like architecture Chicago is THE place. They just started a 110 story building by Calatrava. It looks like someone drilled a hole from Australia and the bit came through. Should be done by 2010.
May 30th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Roger… it looks like a giant birthday cake candle! LOL Nah… I reckon this one was drilled through from China… (people have joked about it for years and now it looks like it’s finally happened!) (((chuckles)))
(Digging through to China I mean… :-/)