Are we losing any sense it what it was to be famous?
Fame used to be luxurious. World changing. Life changing. Out of reach awesomeness.
Nowadays, fame and popularity get used interchangeably – false sense of self importance based on YouTube hits, Facebook friends or how much dignity you are willing to lose on a reality TV show.
We now live in a society of prom queens.
There was a time when fame was associated with greatness and now, one can find fame with a handi-cam and a certain amount of jackassery. Internet fame brings individuals to the masses for mere moments and quickly subsides – and yet, we call them famous – the same honour we give the great musicians, artists, and influencers from the past.
For me, fame used to come with renown. Above and beyond popular, fame used to come with substantial accomplishment, talent or ability that took you soaring beyond the rest.
On the flip, popularity made me feel awkward – normally rewarded to the one offs, or the vain plastic girls in the hallways of my high school – A person who was celebrated for things that were inconsequential and materialistic.
With popularity posing as fame, ours is slowly becoming a society of peer validation, snark-riddled comments, and superficial judgement delivered with a bitter sense of entitlement by anyone who has ever ventured into the ‘comment section’ of any posting.
And what’s worse is that as the internet grows, our preferences and interests start to niche us into groups of global connections that share those similar likes, dislikes, fetishes, language, habits. In essence we are creating a world of micro-cultures. But unlike Godin’s ideas of tribes, it really depends on the conversation or topic at hand. Through our involvement – level of commitment to – each of our interests, we become tribal chameleons fluidly moving from one micro-culture to the next and assuming new status roles within each of these self-defined / undefined spaces.
We are all seeking to be the Mayor of a society of cool and I’m still clinging onto the era when with fame, came responsibility. A life of privilege that required some level of participation beyond just showing up. Perhaps there is no longer a price for fame, just the required computer, a smart phone and an opinion.
One Comment
I am delighted to find I am not alone in harboring these thoughts – but also dismayed at the validation of what has been my observation. This phenomenon may, in part, be an effect of our digital age and the global village, but it may, too, just be a coming full circle in a social cycle. We live in a decadent, self-absorbed society (certainly in the commercialized western world); we worship youth and beauty above talent and accomplishment; we strive for material wealth and hedonism above contribution and emotional connection. We are just like the ancient Romans right before the fall of the empire. Will our civilization fall too? And if it does, will the cycle be accelerated do next time around it doesn’t take 2000 years (give or take a century or two either way)?