Fame: Who wants to live forever?
The lyrics from the "Fame" theme encompass the whole problem with the concept of being famous. "I want to live forever": does anyone really want to live forever, given what we are doing to the planet, and especially given what happens to those who do: you end up decapitated by Clancy Brown.
"I want to learn how to fly, high!": even those of us who aren't familiar with the story of Icarus will know that those who try to fly too high get burned: those who stick their heads above the parapet will eventually catch an arrow in the eye. And I don't need a great long bit of French needlework to tell me that's a bad thing.
The culture of celebrity has reached pandemic proportions and threatens society almost as much as bird flu. People are now famous for being famous. Trying to understand it only leads to the conclusion that there is a link missing. People who are well known because of what they can do; that I understand. But, like in UK Celebrity Big Brother, they are creating a celebrity who is famous for doing literally nothing.
Not only does "celebrity for its own sake" devalue those whose status as famous is deserved (Is Jordan more famous, and therefore more valuable, than Darwin, or Newton, or Einstein?), it highlights the "something for nothing" approach that western society has created for itself. People feel that they deserve to be famous, that somehow the world owes it to them to make them rich and famous.
Beyond the material benefits of being famous, I can't see the point. You won't be allowed to enjoy the fruits of your faux-fame in peace, pictures of you looking fat will infest the press, spurned teenage lovers will crawl from the woodwork and you'll end up on some celebrity reality TV show with all the other faux-celebs wondering where it all went wrong. I can tell you: your tits went South, never to return; you got old and mainstream; you were famous for no reason at all!
It may be a double edged sword, but the edge facing you is considerably longer and sharper then that facing the other way. And when, through old age or loss of profile, you fall on your blade, you're not getting up again. The exception to this that proves the rule1 is Jordan. I can only assume the silicon airbags absorbed the fatal thrust.
We should take a feather from Icarus' father, Daedalus', wings and fly closer to the ground, under the radar. Radar is not your friend. Society is not your friend. Society looks at you and thinks "You're famous for having big tits, and will only be famous until someone else with bigger tits comes along and who'll be laughing then?".
Keep a low profile, keep to the shadows, don't make eye contact. Do Not Feed the Media. Warning: Obscurity May Be Closer Than It Appears.
1 I never understood this. Surely any case that is in opposition to a theory renders the theory useless?
Fame 'tempts pupils from school'
One in ten people would drop out of school for a chance to be famous! I should be shocked but sadly am not. OK, even assuming these are the really stupid people, whose only qualificatons are good teeth, big tits and a well turned ankle, they should stay in school and grasp the most basic premise of economics: supply and demand.
If there is an oversupply of any particular product, the value of that product declines and the demand for that product wanes. So the more brainless morons there are out there, spouting inanities from the legion digital TV channels, the less likely we are to want to watch them.
If you are going to drop out of school, be an honest plumber. You'll be a millionaire quicker and more surely than getting on and winning "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?".
"I want to learn how to fly, high!": even those of us who aren't familiar with the story of Icarus will know that those who try to fly too high get burned: those who stick their heads above the parapet will eventually catch an arrow in the eye. And I don't need a great long bit of French needlework to tell me that's a bad thing.
The culture of celebrity has reached pandemic proportions and threatens society almost as much as bird flu. People are now famous for being famous. Trying to understand it only leads to the conclusion that there is a link missing. People who are well known because of what they can do; that I understand. But, like in UK Celebrity Big Brother, they are creating a celebrity who is famous for doing literally nothing.
Not only does "celebrity for its own sake" devalue those whose status as famous is deserved (Is Jordan more famous, and therefore more valuable, than Darwin, or Newton, or Einstein?), it highlights the "something for nothing" approach that western society has created for itself. People feel that they deserve to be famous, that somehow the world owes it to them to make them rich and famous.
Beyond the material benefits of being famous, I can't see the point. You won't be allowed to enjoy the fruits of your faux-fame in peace, pictures of you looking fat will infest the press, spurned teenage lovers will crawl from the woodwork and you'll end up on some celebrity reality TV show with all the other faux-celebs wondering where it all went wrong. I can tell you: your tits went South, never to return; you got old and mainstream; you were famous for no reason at all!
It may be a double edged sword, but the edge facing you is considerably longer and sharper then that facing the other way. And when, through old age or loss of profile, you fall on your blade, you're not getting up again. The exception to this that proves the rule1 is Jordan. I can only assume the silicon airbags absorbed the fatal thrust.
We should take a feather from Icarus' father, Daedalus', wings and fly closer to the ground, under the radar. Radar is not your friend. Society is not your friend. Society looks at you and thinks "You're famous for having big tits, and will only be famous until someone else with bigger tits comes along and who'll be laughing then?".
Keep a low profile, keep to the shadows, don't make eye contact. Do Not Feed the Media. Warning: Obscurity May Be Closer Than It Appears.
1 I never understood this. Surely any case that is in opposition to a theory renders the theory useless?
Fame 'tempts pupils from school'
One in ten people would drop out of school for a chance to be famous! I should be shocked but sadly am not. OK, even assuming these are the really stupid people, whose only qualificatons are good teeth, big tits and a well turned ankle, they should stay in school and grasp the most basic premise of economics: supply and demand.
If there is an oversupply of any particular product, the value of that product declines and the demand for that product wanes. So the more brainless morons there are out there, spouting inanities from the legion digital TV channels, the less likely we are to want to watch them.
If you are going to drop out of school, be an honest plumber. You'll be a millionaire quicker and more surely than getting on and winning "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?".
posted by RocketBootKid at 11:56 am
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