Truth and the Humans of New York

"I spend my time doing other people's stuff. I don't have time to do my own stuff. And if I have the time, I don't have the energy."
"So what would you do if you had the time?"
"I've always wanted to make a children's book."
"What would it be about?"
"It'd be about this boy who's waiting on a train to come into the station, and he announces to everybody that when the train comes, it's going to be on the ceiling. And then the train does come in on the ceiling. And he's got to figure out how to get it down."



The discussion of the concept of Truth is a common thread in most any philosophy, and the Sophists certainly had their own. In Craig R. Smith’s Rhetoric and Human Consciousness, Smith describes the general Sophist conception of Truth as, “a relativism, in which humans became the standard by which all things were measured, and [T]ruth was based on individual perception” (35). The relativism of Truth is not a solely Sophist concept, but they undoubtedly were the pioneers (in Western Civilization) of the “doubting what was conventional wisdom” (Smith 35).



Humans of New York is a photo blog which was started by Brandon Stanton. As he tells in this video, he moved to New York with the goal of taking 10,000 photos and making a name for himself in photography. Stanton faced opposition early on when some acquaintances doubted his whole scheme: “How delusional do you have to be to think that you’re going to be a successful photographer with no experience?” Stanton carried on with his mission anyway. In 2010, he began posting his photos on Facebook and since then, his blog has exploded with popularity.

Stanton’s main focus, as the title of the blog suggests, is the diversity and wonder of the humans of New York. With each photo, he attempts to tell at least a small part of each person’s story. Each picture is usually accompanied with a quote Stanton acquires from the subjects of the portraits to include their own voice. Stanton’s big motivator in this endeavor can be explain with his statements, “What I really hope to maintain is the culture of positivity of celebration and support that these people share” and  “We walk down the street and see all these people and we do kind of wonder about their stories. The celebrations and the victories; that’s what people are engaging with.” Though his focus is on people’s stories, Stanton is not necessarily on hunting down some universal truth. He instead is hoping to unify humanity and engage those things that encourage solidarity and charity.

For his photos, Stanton does not do research on the people he photographs, he simply takes the shot, asks a question, and posts. The people he interviews could easily be lying to him, but that in no way changes the affect they and their pictures have on those who follow the blog. Every photo garners thousands of likes and comments, all of people inspired by Stanton’s photos.

In Smith’s book, he talks about Gorgias and his object, which was “not to find the truth, because it is not communicable; his object… is to build a better illusion” (47). Stanton’s quest, to tell the stories of the humans of New York, is not something by which truth can be scientifically measured. In fact, it is probably riddled with fallacies and lies. Despite this, Stanton shapes these stories to inspire, bring people together, and decrease worldsuck. Like Gorgias then, Brandon Stanton is building an illusion, but his illusion is True. 

"My dad was just a working class Irish dude. He drank himself to death when I was fifteen, but he was a good dad when he was sober. I remember him taking me to a gay wedding on Christopher Street to teach me tolerance. And that was back in 1971."