Fame!

Do you know any famous people? If you have known them for a long time, since before they were famous, then you can probably have a half-good conversation with them…as long as you don’t ask for anything. It’s natural when someone you kicked around with hits the big time to want to cash in. After all, they owe you from earlier don’t they? Wrong. Once you are famous everyone wants a piece of you. That’s when you get the managers and agents to be the buffer. And it’s one reason why famous people like other famous people a) they aren’t after a piece you b) they understand the game and c)famous people are the biggest fans of other famous people.

David Giles’ book Illusions of Immortality is a good fame primer, another is Stephen Aronson’s Hype. Both miss the crucial connection between fame and attention. Since the western model of modern life leaves most people a bit starved of attention the hypertrophic solution – fame – is seen as a very attractive thing. But you only need a couple of aspirin to cure a headache- not a bottle full- and the analogy of the suicidal overdose is not out of place. Kurt Cobain and other famous suicides often kill themselves because they are nice people who feel they must reciprocate the attention bestowed on them. Think about it: in a tiny community of 150 people (the so called Dunbar number for the maximum number of ‘real’ relationships you can maintain) you can give back the attention you are getting. But when 150,000 are screaming your name you’ll feel nothing but revulsion- as Cobain did. Of course many successful pop stars are low empathy and see such adulation as their right and feel no compunction to give attention back.

If you need attention do something that gets it: wear jazzy (don’t check the etymology of Jazz though) clothes, look weird, talk loudly, do interesting stuff. And give attention- giving it is the usual way to get it back. Get involved with things- plays, businesses, art shows- as my good friend Ramsay Wood pointed out to me: involvement is the higher form of attention. Why do you think the arts council is so big these days on promoting community involvement in projects? - they know that people out there are not starved of artworks they are starved of attention.

Fame brings money. Fame brings attention. Fame brings people who want to suck up to you, help you, make you breakfast. Fame encourages idleness, and fame encourages people to only like a certain kind of non-abrasive interaction. Fame makes you weak, fame stops you from learning from others except on your own terms, so actually you don’t learn. One of the key ingredients of learning is abandoning your own terms. Sure, the money is nice, but you can earn money in lots of ways that are easier than becoming famous.

The worst part of being famous- from my observations of the few people I know who are- is that their time is taken from them in fending off people who don’t care about THEM. It’s a sad thing to see a celebrity being really nice and respectful to autograph/selfie hunters who don’t like or even know who the celeb is (I’ve been present three times where getting the autograph or selfie was a dare set to the person who least liked or didn’t even know the famous person involved). Now multiply that experience over days and years. You cease being able to deal with normal people. Every interaction is corroded by trancelike ‘niceness’ or paranoia. No wonder you want your private jet, your massive house, your park full of horses and quadbikes and other toys. Rod Stewart’s hobby is making model train dioramas, Beckham plays with lego. They have reverted back to childhood pleasures, it’s the only safe place to be.

I know only one famous person who had little interest in other famous people before achieving fame. Most idolise the famous from an early age. They're the ultimate fanboys. The method is secondary- music, acting, writing- to getting fame. It’s no surprise to me that failing at being a teenage rockstar is often the prelude to becoming prominent in some other field. If you are not that interested in other people as a reality rather than an image (famous people like to meet their idols yet keep them on pedestal at the same time) then being famous will be fairly easy. You can move like a sociopath through the world getting what you want. But let’s say you are normal and want to become a better and more evolved person, someone who strives to connect to the reality of the universe- then fame is your enemy.

I, like many writers, have done their own bit of striving in the fame game. And cursed my missed opportunities for ‘better exposure’. Now I revel in them, in every instance in which I have subverted becoming well known for one thing. This is the single best antidote to fame: do lots of things that confuse anyone trying to categorise. Oh, sure, make enough dough to pay the bills, maybe even court enough fame to be successful in a niche or a community, but actively subvert the fame process. Being able to interact normally with anyone you may meet can never be given back once you achieve a certain level of fame. It’s a one way street you don’t want to be stuck in. Lots of people like Cipher in the Matrix would probably say- no way- I want that experience- take the blue pill and live happy every after- but that will be at the expense of becoming a better human.

Will Self once opined on the difference between fame and success in your field. Success is a good thing, because the people who recognise it know what it entails, feel uplifted by association. Success in your field encourages others. But fame is crude. People don’t care about you or what you have done- they only care that you are famous. I think it’s essential to aim for some kind of success in what you are doing- but you can define that- taking a huge risk in an artistic venture that receives negative press can still be a success if you set out merely to take that risk. But to aim for fame is very silly. Find another way to get attention and money, and then cherish two extremely valuable gifts: the gift of owning your own time and the gift of being able to talk to anyone in a natural way so that you can learn from them. Paranoia and its opposite, trance niceness, blocks the super-subtle gifts of telepathy and near-telepathy we all can benefit from.