Elephant Man and Attention Economy

In November of 1884 a poster appeared outside of a penny gaff store at 259 Whitechapel Road, London - 'The great freak of nature! Half a man and half an elephant.' At the time, penny gaff was a form of popular entertainment for the masses spanning theatre, dance, fighting, and comedy. King among them was a freak show - exhibiting strange, exotic, and deformed people for a price of one penny. In order to attract the largest audience, these shows would compete with each other to gradually put on the most extreme shows. A process not too dissimilar from the one employed by modern social media platforms.

An object of that particular poster was Joseph Carey Merrick. Born in Leicester in 1862, he soon started to develop severe physical deformities that started with his face but soon spread to the rest of his body. His mother was knocked over and frightened by a fairground elephant during pregnancy and it was believed, at the time, that this incident was the origin of his deformities. Merrick's attempts to lead a normal life were largely unsuccessful as his condition made it hard for him to perform physical labour and abnormal tissue growth inhibited his speech. Members of the public would either withdraw in horror or follow him out of curiosity. Surgeon Francis Treves later described Merrick as 'the most disgusting specimen of humanity.' At the age of 22, out of options, he decided to join a penny gaff exhibit as a way of making a living.

It feels uncomfortable, looking at his photographs. I want to look away. There is a physicality to him that is grotesque but its more than that. If I force myself to look, really look, it becomes apparent that what unsettles me so much is not his physical appearance but what it means. Or at least what I think it means - an object of cruelty, a life of suffering, an embodiment of loneliness. Just by looking at him, you don't need to know anything about Merrick to know that he must have suffered. To see Merrick is to attempt to acknowledge pain and loneliness that defies comprehension.

The show proved to be a huge success. Hundreds of people would pack the store and, at the drop of the curtain, shriek in horror at the sight of Merrick's deformities. Located right across the road from London Hospital, exhibit was frequented by doctors who took interest in his condition. The show would be closed within a few weeks by local authorities. The spectacle was deemed too indecent for the general public.

After a brief touring spell in Europe that left Merrick robbed and at the mercy of strangers, he eventually made his way back to London. His final years were spent in the London Hospital where he was invited to stay for the rest of his life by a surgeon Frederick Treves. Gradually, Treves developed understanding of Merrick's speech and latter was said to have been delighted to carry on long conversations with the doctor. His favourite topic of discussion was 'normal, real life' - work, house, family. After a brief meeting between Merrick and Leila Maturin, former told Treves that Maturin had been the first woman to smile at him, and the first to shake his hand. Treves wrote that Merrick hoped to be transferred to an institution for the blind where he could meet a woman who could not see his physical deformities.

A few weeks ago, I was leaving a birthday party with L--- when she stopped in her tracks; her face betrayed an internal struggle. It was a freezing January night and moments ago we walked past a homeless man, leaning against the concrete wall. London is full of them and the usual instinct is to avert one's eyes. To make eye contact is to invite acknowledgement. There wasn't much struggle in the end, seconds later L--- was full of quiet purpose. She would go home to fetch her blankets and a hot water bottle, and bring them back to ease the man's night. When I looked away, she had the courage to see and acknowledge pain.

Attention has always been a precious resource, but over the past 2 decades it has become the most important commodity. The entire world is competing for your attention, your eyeballs. In the age of social media, the line between being viewed and being seen is getting blurrier by day. But the distinction has never been more important. Not the least because we choose what we see. That man on the street is seen by thousands of people each day, but he was understood that night and that made all the difference. It is no coincidence that synonymous with 'I understand' are words 'I see'.

We can only solve problems we acknowledge, whether by seeing, listening, reading, or talking. It is a timely reminder that your, my, attention is the most important asset we have and we ought to chose carefully what, how, and who we pay attention to.

In his later life, Merrick would often end his letters with lines from a poem 'False Greatness' by Isaac Watts. I'd like to leave you with those lines.

'Tis true my form is something odd,

But blaming me is blaming God;

Could I create myself a new

I would not fail in pleasing you.

If I could reach from pole to pole

Or grasp the ocean with a span,

I would be measured by the soul;

The mind's the standard of the man.