hoaxes and deceptions

[hoaxesanddeceptions]

Trans People as Humans

D. W. Griffith portrays transgender males as castrated, de-masculinized males who are jokes to be laughed at. In setting the stereotypes of race and trans identity, early directors like Griffith also set the audience’s accepted reaction: “humorous” and harmful banter.

In media, trans people are represented as mentally-ill or simply not real. They are meant to be seen as jokes, thus, trans people have to view themselves with humor to the point of seeing themselves as a joke. Audiences are meant to fear trans people as they are portrayed as dangerous perverts. They are entirely stereotyped and seen as beings beyond humanity.

Every trans woman in television tends to die, and occasionally the big plot twist is that she “is a he.” The other way biological sex is disclosed is through a serious confession. Many films show the immediate reaction to vomit upon learning a female “is a he.” That statement in itself disallows trans visibility in erasing any form of gender identity by asserting trans females are actually and perpetually men dressing as women. These representations cannot see past surface and visual indicators; if they cannot see it, it is not real. 

Even in modern media, trans people are seen as spectacles that have unknown qualities. They are assumed to be the bare bones of a complex human being without emotions or intelligence. Both P. T. Barnum and talk show hosts present the “wonders” of trans people to the general public to view as curiosities, they must be observed as no one knows the truth behind them. This is very similar to the figure of the nineteenth century confidence man. The youth have no way to differentiate between strangers who appear friendly or “normal” and those who are psychotic and murderers. It is a fear mongering tactic from the media all in the name of protecting their children, but it appears to be more of a way to protect traditional beliefs. 

Blind or accurate casting has always been a hot topic in the entertainment world. Do you want to be as specific as possible for the role or do you want every actor to have equal opportunity for the role? I feel that qualities relevant to the plot of the story must be retained. In the stories of a certain kind of people, those people should be the only acceptable cast. It is also impressive to have the production staff full of representative and knowledgable people relevant to the story. If one is producing Hairspray, the staff and cast must be representative of the story you want to tell. Would you hire a middle school history teacher to talk about quantum physics to a group of aspiring scientists?

Many people do not know trans people, so the trans community must look to the media to find commonality. However, the only possible commonality is full of jokes and discrimination. They must seek to represent themselves rather than have false portrayals or erasures by other demographics. Even if you are seen as a spectacle, you are still being observed as a legitimate human, much like Native American representation in Buffalo Bill’s movie. They are real through visibility and voice.

The fact there is trans representation more than in the past is a positive development in itself. In making an effort to highlight the personal responses of trans people to the different eras of representation in the media, more accurate representation is possible. In having representation, there is conversation. The fact there is representation allows understanding and opportunity for others to have positive role models.

[hoaxesanddeceptions]

Stereotypes: Harmful or Helpful?

   Depending on the reader’s perspective, Charles Chesnutt's “The Conjure Woman; or The Goophered Grapevine” either embraces or reimagines the African American stereotypical tropes found in plantation romances and minstrel shows by adding layers of complexity to the narration of the story itself and allowing opportunity for an entirely new narrative to be formed. It is imperative to understand Chesnutt’s racial identity as he was an African American author who was white passing. Similarly to modern people who can pass as other races, he used both the visual and actual aspects of his race to achieve different ends.

via Wiki

   The African American characters of the short story are all portrayed as complete and utter Jim Crow stereotypes that can be found in minstrel shows and plantation romances such as the Uncle Remus, voodoo witch, and loyal slave tropes. In the embracing of the Uncle Remus stereotype, the main character named Uncle Julius has a racially indicative and pointily heavy “black slave” dialect that forces the reader to slow down when reading his dialogue in order to understand it. With his harsh and sometimes difficult dialect, the reader is forced to picture Julius as a complete stereotype with no possibility for the complexity that is normally found in humans – initially.

   Chesnutt embraces the stereotypes of plantation romances and minstrel shows in order to subvert them in a way that could be more acceptable to white audiences; he ensured common ground with them through accepting the degrading and racist stereotypes in order to reveal the complexity and wit the stereotypes invalidate in African Americans. Moreover, this application of rhetoric can be paralleled with his actual life as he creates common ground with white audiences through his appearance only to show the complexity of human nature in his own way.

via Wiki

   The simplicity of Julius is only surface level; Chesnutt weaves many complex nuances into the African American narrative he is portraying that could be missed if only reading the surface of the story. It is a story with multiple layers with many possible interpretations as Julius almost bests the white, northern narrator trying to buy land he “owns.” The idea of landowning is also interesting as Julius must secretly profit off the land with no real right to own it even though he is a former slave. Julius has to essentially scare the “sophisticated” white man, who is attempting to buy Julius’s un-deeded land, away so he can keep making revenue off the land.

   This story can be compared to the audiences of the movie entitled Fight Club, based off of the novel with the same name, as many of the hyper-masculine enthusiasts seem to be missing the entire point of the story. Similarly, the white supremist audiences of the white-passing Chesnutt’s story embraced the black and white (literally and metaphorically) separation of the characters’ motives and traits. The separation gives those white audiences a sense of security and entertainment, as minstrel shows and plantation romances were supposed to do, while planting nuances of complexity throughout.

[hoaxesanddeceptions]

Women as Machines in Wait

In both of these images, Cindy Sherman as a model and a photographer is portraying the societal role that has been crafted and the normalized notion of females as powerless tools that must await the male counterpart’s told direction or purpose in life for women in the “man’s world.”

In the first image, there are multiple possible interpretations of the woman’s purpose in this still and in life. She could be lying in wait at all hours for a call presumably from a lover or romantic male figure in her life; her life on hold until she can fulfill his emotional or physical needs. Similarly, in the second image, the woman could appear as an emotionless machine siting in wait all day and night, again, for a male counterpart to give direction or purpose; a literal inanimate object with no life or voice until the male appears with instructions until it seems like the woman’s purpose is to wait for the male’s orders. The direction leads to the purpose of the woman, then, the purpose of the women leads to the direction of the man. It can appear as if the male is trying to steer the woman in the right direction with her purpose in mind when he might actually be steering the woman to adapt her purpose to his agenda as the dominant figure. It is interesting to note the female is lying in wait for a call through a phone -- an apparatus of waves that conduct a message with a particular meaning to a recipient. In using an inanimate object to communicate, the photo captures the further dehumanization of the woman. She is so far distant from a cognitive being capable of conversation that she has to wait for him to contact her with instructions or favors. 

If one interprets the images with a different perspective, both images could portray a woman waiting for her purpose as a recipient and pleaser of men with no purpose or opportunity with said men. Oppositely, rather than waiting for male given instructions, both women could be captured in the action after the pleasing or instruction receiving. The women could be captured in the immediate aftermath of being used or objectified by a male through the phone. The emotional significance and struggles of the females’ in said “man’s world” are boiled down to becoming the ever-molding object for their male leaders. Not only are the female’s opinions and values shaped by the male’s instructions and given purpose, the female’s perspective and opinion about herself is shaped by the same male leader figure and instructor.

Both options partake in an inescapable cycle of female submission encouraged by male dominance. Women remain as objects at the will of the men in their lives as the men reinforce submission by different kinds of manipulation and abuse. These are components of a larger and more controversial value cycle that constantly belittles women while simultaneously aligning the females’ views of themselves with the given information, opinions and information which were already molded by the male gaze of attention and value. 

[hoaxesanddeceptions]

Stereoscopes: Victorian and Modern

   Stereoscopes function with two images of the same subject taken at slightly different angles that are then placed side by side on a card. The images are then viewed simultaneously through a two-lens apparatus, and the final image appears three-dimensional.

via Douglas Klahr

   The first users of the stereoscope were the Victorian audiences, who would have experienced stereoscopes much like modern audiences experienced virtual reality for the first time; however, I imagine the idea and experience of three-dimensional pictures would have been far more groundbreaking and awe-inspiring for the Victorian audience. Stereoscopes provided an entirely new way to view and experience reality through photographs. The flat, two-dimensional images they were used to seeing could not hold a candle to the possibilities and sensations of stereoscopes.

via Picryl

   Stereoscopes allowed audiences to feel as if they were actually present at any location in the world; the images became far more tangible than before. Like in the image of the stereocard above that features pyramids, Victorian audiences could experience a whimsical transportation to the pyramids. The three-dimensional image seen through the stereoscope would have made the viewer feel as if they were the photographer right in front of the pyramids—it became a Victorian alternate reality comparable to modern virtual reality.

   I imagine the first experience of stereoscopes could be compared to the modern Google Maps in some ways. The experience the world in a real and tangible way for the first time is similar, but the immersion of the fantasy would be different.

   In comparing the immersion or "realness" for modern versus Victorian audiences, both experience an alternate reality meant to mimic tangible realty. However, Victorian stereoscopes force the viewer’s perspective into that of the original viewer through a set of lenses. Modern interactive images such as Google Maps cannot force the viewer’s perspective as the images are viewed either through the screens of phones or computers with many surrounding visuals like desks or hands.

   Modern elements of three-dimensional images can be seen in virtual reality games or simulations such as interactive footage of the viewer falling from a building or a fighting game in which the viewer must turn 360 degrees to play the game successfully. This makes the possibilities endless for interaction and different subjects for virtual reality. Victorian stereoscopes are only stationary and noninteractive three-dimensional images of a reality while modern virtual reality is a moving and interactive three-dimensional set of images and videos with which the viewer can engage. Moreover, modern virtual reality games and simulations have other sources to make the experience even more real such as surround sound headphones.

   Even with all of the access to modern technology, there are still limitations and inhibitors that keep viewers from becoming completely untethered from reality. It is common for virtual reality headsets to make the viewer nauseous or dizzy after elongated wear and engagement. Another inhibitor that preserves the viewer from becoming ungrounded is the function of the controller. Rather than using the muscles, nerves, and sense of touch that make up fingers and hands to grab or touch things, the viewer has to use their muscles to hold a controller in a continuous position and press a certain series of buttons.

[hoaxesanddeceptions]

Astute Seeing of Tangible Reality

   Edgar Allan Poe’s story entitled “Murders in the Rue Morgue” highlights and contemplates humanity’s ability to utilize and hone their visual attention on different aspects of supposed reality; in seeing one’s surroundings, one is inherently reading the same surroundings in order to process and deduce cause and effect.

via Old Book Illustrations

   In the story, Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin is an overwhelmingly astute reader of his surroundings. Every other character can hardly measure up to his astounding and awe-inspiring deductive reasoning in everyday life and in solving murders.

   It is important to note all of the other characters are veiled in their seeing of reality for what it is in a concentrated and direct way rather than an unveiled holistic and all-encompassing way. The skilled reader, Monsieur Dupin, appears to be reciting reality as it were before it ever happened as every action is calculated with contradicting or supporting motives that can be theorized retroactively or priorly with undeniable and irrefutable reason; Dupin realizes what things are surly probable to happen through deductive reasoning. He does not randomly guess factual information; rather, he supports his claims with evidence both tangible and intangible that is rooted in probable reason, or educated thought. He does not accept tangible “fact” without the larger picture and reason. Moreover, he has an entirely different way of thinking than the other characters; the unordinary is not abstruse, rather, it is peculiar while not being impossible. Dupin never misses any que of information and appears to always be mentally one step ahead of everyone else.

   Contrarily to Dupin’s awe-evoking perfect educated thought, the unskilled readers of their surroundings are either too afraid or too confident to assume fact from any apparent reality. They think in terms they understand to be tangible reality, and if there is no tangible reality, they are hesitant to lend themselves to reasonable deduction as it could be far from the truth.

   Bruises on the neck can be deduced to have appeared from strangling by a hand; while that may be a deduced and reasonable fact, it does not consider larger picture elements such as who, why, or how. Whose hand? Why did they do it? Exactly how was the victim positioned in relation to the aggressor? Rather than being engulfed in the scientific deduction method, they are quick to say they are not sure of something rather than understanding what it means for them to not understand. They hold objects too closely to see the truths, and they allow emotions to cloud their reasoning.

   In the witnesses’ innate and humanistic reactions to the unknown and shrill voice of one of the aggressors, they all felt as if it were emitted from some being in a language of a country from which they were unfamiliar. Other than an inherent feeling of the language of which every witness was unfamiliar, there was no logical reasoning for their assumptions, thus, creating an unskilled reading of the scene of the crimes. Moreover, every individual witness was only seeing the scene from their own direct and close perspective while Dupin surveyed all of their testaments along with the scene itself as a whole picture.

via Archive

[hoaxesanddeceptions]

Earthly Deceptions Beyond Entertainment

   P. T. Barnum was notorious for his humbugs, or socially acceptable deceptions. Barnum’s Joice Heth exhibit is the perfect example of deception for the entertainment or wonder of the public. In this exhibit, the elder African American slave woman named Joice Heth was made into a spectacle in which she was promoted to be 161 years old; individuals came to simply observe and to calculatedly judge the truth of her feat of nature. Her age is factually unthinkable and that very factor of unbelievability is what made Barnum’s exhibit of Heth so enticing for the people. If Heth’s true age was ever proven (or her supposed age truly falsified) the buzz surrounding her as a spectacle of nature would dissipate along with the conspiracies of immortality and mechanization. The ambiguity and unbelievability of Heth’s age give way for these theories to surface – the absence of undoubtedly factual evidence allows false truths and theories to run freely. Perhaps it is in human nature to be suspicious detectives who search for undeniable evidence of the unknown.

   Rob Brotherton claims just that, “[humans] have innately suspicious minds” (17). In many cases, humans are less likely to believe something they cannot (or have not) see with their own eyes or feel with their own senses. We see this very prominently with conspiracy theories; without the evidence a conspiracy theorist believes to be true for any number of reasons, including they did not experience the evidence firsthand, it is completely feasible for them to write off any evidence proposed as false. In Joice Heth’s case, many documents were released during her lifetime “verifying” her 161-year life, yet there was vast disbelief regarding the matter. The skeptics were not physically there for Heth’s childhood, thus, any evidence proposed was not sufficient.

   There is a phenomenon called the Dunning-Kruger Effect in which individuals with little factual information on any subject feel as if they are experts on that subject. As this Effect informs, having less accepted information allows the birth of copious amounts of false truths and believers thereof. Thus, the starting of a conspiracy theory. The truth is hidden, and the promoted evidence is false. This skepticism is a healthy method of the brain to protect and contemplate life; however, it allows humans to reject truths and foster paranoia.

   Opting to believe in conspiracy theories can be fun or relieving for some people, yet the community surrounding conspiracy is not entirely harmless. If every piece of evidence presented to an individual is assumed to be false by that individual, eventually the truths of reality appear to be shadowed by manipulative hidden motives – deceptions. Conspiracy is a way of life and a mindset for conspiracy theorist beyond the deceptions Barnum conducted for entertainment. The deceptions from the governments and world leaders, cults and secret societies, or even scientists and century-old data are those of puppeteering; they force people to believe or not believe certain things for specific reasons. Conspiracy theorists feels as if there is an entirely different Earth being lived simultaneously and subordinately to that of the truth-informed, secret Earth.

via The Spinoff 

Brotherton, Rob. “Down the Rabbit Hole.” Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe Conspiracy Theories, Bloomsbury Sigma, 2015, pp. 9–17.

[hoaxesanddeceptions]

Perception and Layers of Reality

Thomas Eakins, “The Agnew Clinic” 

via The Art Story: Oil on canvas - Collection of University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

   Thomas Eakins’s paintings were notoriously rooted in realism; however, the prevalent realism in his 1889 painting entitled “The Agnew Clinic” utilized many challenging layers of emotional, objective, and perceptive realism.

   The objectivity of the painting attests to the facts Doctor Agnew was a real doctor performing a real surgery, a mastectomy, on a real patient; a female assistant stands by for orders while an audience of male students observe. The physical features of the people in the painting are extremely realistic, even all the way down to the wrinkles in the clothing; the shadows appear to counter the light realistically from the light source. There is no doubt this painting is meant to depict an image of real people performing a real surgery. However, the objective realism that can be seen in this painting is surrounded inseparably from the emotional truth depicted in the painting.

   While a mastectomy was Doctor Agnew’s specialty, the surgery itself was stressful as not much information was known other than it yielded a high mortality rate (DiPalma). This stress and drama translated into the expressions and body language of the people in the painting as whispering and pinched eyebrows can be seen among the men observing. Rather than solely depicting the surgery, Eakins tells a story with his work. Not only does the subject, or the surgery, evoke stress and a tense atmosphere, Doctor Agnew provides a sense of mentorship and education.

   A portrait of Doctor Agnew was commissioned by the students of the University of Pennsylvania as a retirement present for Doctor Agnew; however, Eakins created a far more intricate painting than they prompted (DiPalma). The separation of Doctor Agnew from the rest of the surgeons simultaneously indicates his professorship and intended portrait, as that was the original intention of the work. With the consideration of space and the manipulation of reality, the objective and emotional realism shift to a form of perceptive realism that entails altered reality in favor of portraying a particular meaning in the work. Alternately, the removal of an aspect of reality can be done to erase potential narratives. Doctor Agnew requested to have no blood on his hands in the painting, even though he was a part of the surgery, as surgeons were frequently compared to butchers (DiPalma). In the erasure of blood from Doctor Agnew (and the other surgeons), the likening of surgeons to butchers is a narrative that should not be taken from the artistically reported scene of surgery even though large amounts of blood would realistically be present during a mastectomy at this time.

   The apparent realistic light and shadow in the painting is both realistic and fabricated. The light centering the surgery and the surgeons reigns true in the nature of light, while the observing audience defies the source of light. The light and shadows on the surgeons inform the location of the sole source of light – from the leftmost foreground. But in observance of the audience, the light source seems to be from head on, above, or nonexistent even though they are mere feet from the harsh light on the surgeons. This deception of reality is done to focalize the surgery and Doctor Agnew while still featuring the students surrounding him, therefore, telling his story rather than the story of the students.

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The Amazing Randi: An Ethical Magician

     James “The Amazing Randi” was a wondrous and talented modern magician, commonly compared to Harry Houdini, who turned over his life of depict and illusion for that of a life of exposure and truth. Once Randi realized the people that he deceived actually put their faith into him and his illusions, he questioned the ethicality of that type of magic. Randi always began his shows by telling the audience he was going to lie to, manipulate, and fool every one of them; the truth would not be discernable from the lies in his show. In this way his magic is ethical as the audience knows for what they are signing up and paying. Magic becomes unethical when the illusionist claims their tricks are not magic but are real.

via An Honest Liar

     Many people are familiar with the image and skillset of a psychic medium. They are hyper-sensitive to the supernatural world, so they act as a medium between the living and the dead. Most television shows concerning psychic mediums have emotional plots as mourning a loved one is an inherently emotional topic. Another wonder of this form is a spiritualist or psychic who can somehow see the future or past and share it with an individual -- for a small sum of money. Both forms of unprovable skills would be considered fundamentally unethical in the eyes of James Randi. The spiritualist gives information that should be taken as truth to the customer without knowing if it will help or harm them.

     In the documentary entitled An Honest Liar, Randi pursues the exposal of a self-proclaimed “faith healer” televangelist named Peter Popoff. Popoff claimed to be flesh through which God healed individuals of their ailments such as physical problems, financial problems, and anything else an individual could write on a prayer request form. Randi saw this form of magic and illusion to be harmful and extremely unethical as Popoff could not actually heal anyone and literally harmed them by denouncing doctors while simultaneously prescribing his “healing” services. Popoff was taking financial advantage over suffering people; he infiltrated their religion and security by claiming falsities and feeding them lies. Yet, people gathered in masses for the chance to be healed by him. Randi proves Popoff to be a hoax yet the has not stopped him. Even with Popoff’s exposal, hurting people give him offerings and hold onto their faith in him. While those people are going to undoubtedly suffer physically and mentally, they are willfully ignorant and have confirmation biases.

via GQ

     When the Amazing Randi realized people were genuinely willfully ignorant and had conformation biases when it came to their lives and intake, he stopped taking advantage of those people and tried to make others stop as well or inform those being taken advantage of. The idea of ethical magic Randi tried to instill in the world is undeniably just and worthwhile. To Randi, the purpose of magic is to entertain not to harm or exploit, and those who do not entertain are soiling the idea of magic itself.

via Pinterest

[hoaxesanddeceptions]

Persistent Influence

    In Walt Whitman’s poem entitled “There Was a Child Went Forth.,” the nineteenth century idea of social impressionism on the youth is homogenously suspended throughout the poem. The idea of unconscious influence upon a young individual was a common belief while simultaneously being an anxiety or fear of many individuals of the era; this poem encapsulates both the belief and fear. While flowers, fruit, friends and family are depicted as traditionally positive influences on youth in Whitman’s poem, those images are juxtaposed with conventionally negative influences of the time such as a drunkard, troublemakers, and black children. Whitman then notes every change in matter became a part of the child in every location experienced; regardless of any attempt to shelter a child from a certain kind of influence, all types of influence can be found in every form of matter that surrounds the child. This is to say there is no certainty when it comes to the creation of a young child’s character.

    With the images easily categorized as negative or not thus far, Whitman shifts the narrative in the favor of ambiguity and larger questions, perhaps along with a sense of anxiety in uncertainty. Whitman describes the contributing qualities of the parents, who are meant to lead their child on the right path. “The father, strong, self-sufficient, manly, mean, anger’d, unjust, / The blow, the quick loud word, the tight bargain, the crafty lure” (Whitman 109). There are negative qualities such as anger, unfairness, and violence even in those who the child would view as model humans. Whitman goes on to question consciousness and sensory acceptance, “. . . the sense of what is real, the thought if after all it should prove unreal” (Whitman 109). Just as the child views the parental figure as a role model only to see malicious behavior, ordinary strangers can have multifaceted motives and influence. Whitman is evoking and embodying the anxiety related to confidence men and the ill-influence and supposed threat they posed to the youth; the idea one can never fully know the next person or their intent as they are face to face.

    While Whitman acknowledges the anxiety stemming from the complexity of people, it appears he has adopted a sense of acceptance and a fatalistic approach to that idea -- influence cannot be avoided or halted. The menacing abiguity of influence and reality are concluded in the final lines of the poem, “These became part of that child who went forth every day, and who now goes, and will always go forth every day” (Whitman 110). Rather than hide or shy away from the world because of fear or anxieties, embrace new experiences and different settings then decide what has had a positive impact on one’s character and what could have a negative impact then learn and grow from those experiences in life. If influence will embed itself into our beings without any effort to achieve that, everything is out of our hands; all we can do is try to do the right thing in the moment and grow from mistakes.

via Wikimedia Commons

Warner, Michael, editor. “There Was a Child Went Forth.” The Portable Walt Whitman: Poems from ‘Leaves of Grass’, by Walt Whitman, Penguin, 2004, pp. 108–110.

[hoaxesanddeceptions]

The Humbuggery

   The Oxford English Dictionary defines a humbug as “a thing which is not really what it pretends to be; an imposture, a deception, fraud, sham.” This definition gives the factual meaning of the term without the social connotations; a humbug is typically socially acceptable because it is a deception for entertainment purposes rather than that of ill-intent. The idea of a humbug can be seen in many modes of modern life and entertainment such as reality television or holiday celebrations. The century-old tradition of a jolly, fat man in a red suit who brings gifts once a year is nothing but a sham for the purpose of entertainment and tradition, and a budding romance amidst a competition-reality television show (that promptly ends once filming is over) is more than likely a deception produced to boost the popularity of the show and entertainment of the viewers. It is important to strike a pleasing balance between factual and fraudulent content in the production of entertainment. The audience could become offended or put off by overproduction of falsities, yet could also be deterred by any overbearing or encapsulating realities. Entertainment is used as a means to escape reality in a way that is deemed worthwhile or significant while having no risks to the audience.

   While humbugs can be seen as gimmicks solely used for the publicity or longevity of an event or happening, they can also convey underlying import regarding certain issues or topics. Relating to Barnum’s Joice Heth exhibit, the racial implications of the created spectacle are hard for contemporary audiences to overlook. 

   The ideal created history of Heth is grounded in many racial stereotypes. Perhaps audiences would not have felt any sense of truth without these racial foundations in which they could pinpoint a sense of familiarity in their own minds. The false history of Heth is a perfect melding of truth and fiction; the “otherness” of Heth felt truthful while the absurd age felt ridiculous. Moreover, Barnum played into both sides of entertainment during his run of the exhibit. In the Joice Heth promotional materials on pages 106 to 107, the believability of the exhibit was relying on the familiarity of racial stereotypes:

When I first remember Aunt Joice, as we called her, she was totally blind and   unable to work, which must have been fifty-five years ago. It was always understood that Joice was the nurse of George Washington, and slave to his father. She is very religious and honest, and I believe the most implicit confidence may be put in her word, for nothing in my opinion would tempt her to utter a falsehood.

The idea of a slave remaining blindly faithful to their master and God for a hundred years is nothing but propaganda for the exhibit. In modern minds, the idea of a faithful, docile slave is uncomfortable and, frankly, difficult to fathom (much like a 106-year-old woman to Barnum’s contemporary audiences); however, the minds of Barnum’s audiences had a closer mental-step to those racial ideas already. In this way, Barnum played into a believable reality while simultaneously planting fantastical falsities in a pleasing balance for an entertainment that allowed the audiences to escape the reality of everyday life to see a part of American history or to gawk at a wrinkled mound of flesh. Regardless of the truth of the exhibit, the audiences were entertained by an elaborate humbug that did not cause any obvious or serious harm to the producers or viewers.