DailyPost 2267
THE CURSE OF FAME!
The urge for people to become famous has always been there and there are any number of instances where people have tried anything and everything to become famous. Is becoming famous a human DNA discrepancy? Is it also connected to competition with whom you feel as similarly placed? How has all this transformed with onset of the electronic mass communication medium when visuals started having a hypnotic impact of us? A step further, the social media, which gave wings to one’s with capability to take you to the stars. Stars were created, stars were born and a lot of them forced themselves into stardom.
Social media as an 24/7/365 global publishing machine, with publishing rights vested in each individual. This right to publish directly or through social media agents / agency completely transformed the fame market. The route to fame in the yesteryears had been very difficult and generally directly proportional to the person’s accomplishment. Fame was a by-product rather than the first port of call or the destination itself. There were only specific fields for which most of the famous came, so the vast majority of people were happy even without being famous, after being extremely successful in their areas. Being famous was on the agenda.
It never happened by design. Now fame by design is the cult. And even beyond creating personas out of you to fit the standardized fame template. Then use the multimedia mode both subtle and garish to accomplish the Hall of Fame Status. Max Weber’s theory of bureaucracy talks of a faceless organization, tied to their jobs, and known by duties assigned based on the posts they hold. Today, even they are not wedded to be faceless, they can hit stardom just by passing an exam. It is their urge to be famous that propels them to do, what do they in the social media. Aspiring celebrities through this quick fix fame route have already become a curse to the professionalism, skills inculcation, focus on serious delivery et al.
The curse of fame is killing the nation. Fame as shortcut to be known as successful is a different, untried earlier, but now has established itself as the prime model of success. And everyone has joined the bandwagon. Skills have taken a backseat. Numbers on social media can be another ailment similar to TV TRPs. Green horns have propelled themselves as experts and taken over the hot seats of the country. Curse of fame has brought in a level of shallowness that is eating up the country way beyond anything else. These are the influencers, serious work and securing and sustaining success, what we call as enduring success, is never discussed. They once in a while come as unsung hero. Wealth creation is not the game, becoming rich to flaunt is the game. This fame theory can be added to already successful degree / certificate accumulation theory. We are losing the country to fame mania.
THE TREE OF MAKE BELIEVE FAME CANNOT BE MISCONSTURED AS THE THICK FOREST OF SUCCESS.
Sanjay Sahay