Fwd. Fwd. Fwd. Perception and... Deception

Well, I received one of the above this morning. It was all about the time Joshua Bell played his violin incognito in the New York subway, and how nobody recognized him, hardly anyone gave him any money or stopped to listen, and how the children stopped but their parents all tugged them away etc etc and so fifth (to borrow from that other famous musician, Victor Borge). So the message was about perception.

Okay. I buy into that. We don't expect to see or hear a famous violinist playing in the New York subway. However, the story wasn't quite accurate. As I believe I remember hearing soon after this incident, there were two people who recognized him and stopped to listen for as long as he played. One of them had seen and heard him recently on stage.

So I was thinking and making a mental note to myself. The web is wonderful for all sorts of things, not least information. However, it's good to be aware that it can also be a medium for the spreading of quarter and half truths, deception and even outright lies. I'll try to keep reminding myself of that, and nevertheless to try not to be prejudiced in my perceptions.