The Cost of Fame

Yesterday I was chatting with my friend Devon about Twitter and its use as a tool for celebrity self-promotion. Devon mentioned that she wouldn't want to be famous and that got me thinking. Is being famous worth it? There are some obvious advantages associated with fame/wealth (which generally go hand-in-hand). Financial stability comes to mind. But when you really think about it, there are as many negative aspects to being famous as positive ones. This leads to an obvious question: Do the pros outweigh the cons?

First, we need to define what famous is. There are different "degrees of fame". Some might consider Lou Merloni famous. Others might be wondering, "Who is Lou Merloni?" He's a former Red Sox player who is moderately famous. For sake of argument, I want to define famous as "Albert Pujols Famous." Many non-baseball fans will know who Pujols is. He's famous to the point where he could walk through a city and "get noticed".

Possible benefits of fame:

1) A legacy/being remembered

2) The ability to influence what others think (whether right or wrong!)
3) Financial stability

Possible disadvantages of fame:
1) Being under the public spotlight
2) Determining who your friends are
3) Higher probability of stalkers/assassinations

I’m sure there are other pros and cons of fame, but the items listed above are things which I consider to be most important.

I’ve thought about this for a while, weighing the pros and cons against one another, and I ultimately reasoned that being famous is not worth giving up anonymity.

First I thought about the positives: The aspect of fame which I find most appealing is having a legacy after death. It would be great to be remembered once we are gone! I’d love this: “Ooooh remember Jason Pennini, that crazy bastard!”

If you think about the other benefits of being famous, they are less important. Consider financial stability; it can be achieved without fame, making it inherently less valuable. One might argue that along with fame comes not only financial stability but affluence as well. This is a legitimate point, but if you ask me money only goes so far. I won’t argue that money matters to a point, but if your net worth is $10,000,000, for example, is another $1,000,000 going to significantly improve your standard of living?

Also, I am intrigued that fame (sometimes) enables us to influence one another. Why should we care who a celebrity is voting for in an upcoming election? And more importantly, why should we base our vote on what that celebrity believes?! Oprah’s endorsement of President Obama comes to mind. It is stunning to me that a celebrity can have that degree of influence on public opinion. However, few celebrities have this much “pull”, which is why I am discounting its value to fame.

Then I thought about the negatives: It would be a huge hassle to be in the public spotlight, having paparazzi monitoring your every move and the media criticizing what you say and do. On top of that, fame would hinder our ability to determine who is a real friend and who is befriending us due to our celebrity status. For me this ambiguity would present a huge obstacle in making new friends.

Lastly, being famous would increase our odds of being the target of a stalker/assassin. I don’t see a need to elaborate on this!

All thing being equal, I have no problem with remaining anonymous.

-J Penn