Infamy

For the life of me, I don’t understand why people want to be famous. What is the upside? Free shit from companies who want their stuff to show up on a red carpet? Automatic bumps up on waiting lists at restaurants and such? Loot? I don’t see how that overcomes the negatives that quickly follow. Firstly, famous people get public personae. Let’s take poker. What do you think of Phil Helmuth? I think he’s a cock and I’d like to talk shit to him just to see the reaction. But I don’t fucking know Phil Helmuth. For all I know, he’s a sweet guy that television editing makes look like the biggest asshole in Christendom. How about acting? I think Angelina Jolie is a sweet woman who adopts needy orphans for the betterment of their lives and, by extension, society. But what if I meet her one day when she’s slept three hours and found out her aunt had cancer? I’d tell everyone that in real life she’s a bitch and it would be on Page 6 in a minute and a half.

I had this conversation with my hetero lifemate D-Nice, and he brought up Tiger Woods. Would I knowingly duck fame if it meant I’d have to give up my chosen profession, especially when it goes against my competetive spirit and desire to succeed? Well, that is a different matter. I classify Tiger (and most other sports figures) as not seeking fame, but rather reknown. They want to be recognized for their excellence in their chosen field, rather than for shits and giggles. If there were a World Cribbage Tour rather than a World Poker Tour, you can bet I’d be on that shit in a second and a half. Nonetheless, I would still be wearing a Sox cap and large sunglasses: not to cover up my ‘cribbone tells’, but rather because I don’t want total strangers walking up to me, thinking they know me based on 43 minutes of television.

If anything, I think authors have strike the proper balance. Besides Stephen King, which of your favorite authors would you recognize by sight? I have pictures of Alfred Bester, Robert Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov in a PowerPoint presentation somewhere, but, with the exception of Dr. Asimov with his funky sideburns, I probably wouldn’t be able to pick them out of a lineup.

There are many easy roads to fame; chief among them is reality television. People can go on reality TV and become well known (or not so much, see above) by 10-20 million Americans in a week. What are they thinking? What goes through their heads? They are trading their privacy, free time, and personal life for the vicious bitch known as fame and nothing else. Does the cast of The Real World make a lot of loot? I’ll bet a C-note right now that I made more last year than any member of the past 3 casts.

~ by kinshay on 2005-07-28.