Guitar Wizard an Anonymous Deceiver?
There is a website called YouTube, which allows people to post videos for others to view and shows about 100 million videos per day. Interestingly, one video has entered the news, hitting the New York Times "most popular" emailed articles of the month. The video everyone is talking about it a guitar ensemble--noted to be one of the most amazing solo performances ever posted--and the discussion regards the guitar genius who remained unknown through 7.35 million views and eight months of suspense. In the video, the Asian guitarist's image is blurry; his faceis obscured by his hat and the video quality is poor. However, his fingers play and his sound fascinates. The video has climbed to YouTube's ten most-viewed videos of all time. The video was called simply "guitar" and the performer referred to himseld as "funtwo" with a placard. On August 27th Jeong-Hyun Lim revealed himself to the public with a feature in the New York Times.The Times article discusses a few potential reasons the virtuoso chose to remain anonymous. First, along with praise for such incredible mastery come requests for "tabs," which are written music. Once a musician receives complicated tabs, he or she is free to interpret the music and imitate, which is in fact what Lim initally did from another popular performer on YouTube, Jerry C. Another reason for masking was humilty; many musicians are self-deprecating and display anti-showmanship online. The video got some criticism because it was considered to be a fraud, and a slew of imitators claimed to be "funtwo" with their renditions of his masterpiece. It was time to come out.
The public who was enamored with Lim's talnet probably felt like they couldn't direct their awe to a person, and therefore the suggestion of fraud may have entered their minds. Nyberg's definitions of truth--the rational Coherence Theory, the harmoniuous Correspondence Theory, and Pragmatic Theory's need for confirmation--all point towards "funtwo's" deception. Lim self-consciously and deliberatly made the effort to remain veiled and unkown to the public. Since his audience certainly wanted to know who the master was and, I wouldn't consider anonymity a "white" or "justifieable" lie. Basically, the wizard guitar player made himself a secret. Lim's deception (and his imitators' after him) was strategic and ordinary--hiding behind low-quality video, head down, baseball cap on. However, Lim never affected his audience's view of him by remaining anonymous, besides potentially leading them to doubt him and his ability. I don't think it was ever an intention to be called a fraud. I do think Lim intended to be unknown, but I can't determine if that is necessarily intention to deceive from Nyberg.
Vrij's defintion of a lie helps a bit. Jeong-Hyun Lim deliberately, successfully, and without forewarning let his audience not know who he was, an untruth. He made the decision not to show his full or real name, his face wasn't clear from the video post, his awed audience had no idea what to expect, and he chose to remain anonymous for eight months and over seven million views. Vrij continues to help explain Lim's possible reasoning for deceit--"to protect [himself] from embarrassment or disapproval." (Page 8) Granted the piece he played is considered the best guitar solo over recorded, but many musicians including Lim and Jerry C. post their videos in hopes of gaining constructive criticism. Lim was deceptive in his anonymity, not for choosing to protect himself from embarrassment. I would consider his lie subtle, according to Vrij, but only from deduction because he wasn't outright or exaggerating. He definitely seems like an adaptor, "anxious and insecure...motivated to make a positive impression...relatively relaxed when [he was] lying." (Page 16)
Essentially, Lim lied. The now unmasked quitar qizard can finally receive the acclaim and praise he deserves...without deception or doubt. Anonymity was deceptive and even lead to dubious remarks regarding fraud in his video. Jeong-Hyun Lim hit the charts on YouTube and The New York Times website, feats I'm sure he isn't embarrassed about!
posted by Jenna @ 4:46 PM
1 Comments:
First off, I have to give you credit for a very in-depth analysis of Lim and his reasons for anonymity, and for taking a stab at determining the validity of his “deception.” I agree that fundamentally Lim was trying to deceive his audience for self-oriented reasons (as described in the DePaulo et al. study); however, I am not sure it fits Vrij’s definition of a lie. To be a lie, he had to be intentionally creating a belief in his audience. Simply blurring or hiding his identity is not creating a direct belief, unless he had ulterior motives and had in fact faked the entire video.
Instead, I feel that Lim’s subterfuge fits Nyberg’s stab at a definition of deception much better. Lim is “hiding” his identity. By pulling down his hat and putting up a grainy video he was directing attention away from himself and disappearing into the background. His physical identity remained disguised while he shifted viewer’s attention to the sound of his guitar solo. As you pointed out the likely reason for deception is relatively clear: he probably just wanted viewers to focus on the music instead of him.
Of course, this can fits right into both Nyberg and Vrij’s point that deception is not necessarily morally wrong, and that it is often a critical part of our social interactions. Lim’s deceit, although now revealed, served to promote a great interest in his work. And I have to say after watching the video myself I am quite impressed!
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