I’m in LA and I’m struck by the contrasts here. I have been to Los Angeles before and I have never really taken the opportunity to look around.
Today I was walking along the street and I was admiring the row of cars parked on the side. Each one worth more than I make in a year. One person rolled up in a car that runs $180K. He jumped out and brushed past me into the Starbucks. I looked back to the car where I noticed that a man was walking towards me pushing a shopping cart. At first nothing in my mind said that this was different. Then I noticed that the man was pushing a cart load of empty cans. He smiled, nodded and said “afternoon sir”. I smiled and returned the pleasantry. As he walked past I turned to look as he reached into a nearby trash can and fish out empty soda cans. If not for that motion and the cart you’d never have known that he was homeless. Wearing khakis and a button down shirt, clean and put together.
Because of my assumptions, I had allowed myself to be inadvertently socially engineered. A valuable lesson relearned.
LA is a weird place that never fails to amaze me.
Tags: Social Engineering, Perceptions
