The platform formerly known as Twitter has become a lot more entertaining since Rocket Man bought it.
The other day during a 10-minute scan, a video of a woman dancing scrolled into my feed.
I recognized her as a master troll. Between the video of her being goofy and the precision-engineered caption, she had the audience enraged and engaged.
Maximum emotion from a few lines of text and a 10 second clip.
Bravo.
I can respect the skill.
And I appreciate the reminder for why I don’t want to be famous for anything.
Being famous is a life-long dream and goal for many people.
It’s seen as the path to riches, success, and living all your fantasies.
I’ve had but the tiniest taste of notoriety, and that was enough to put me off the stuff for good.
What you don’t see about fame:
You will be hated by some segment of the public no matter who you are or what you do.
Every lunatic and antisocial personality with a chip on his shoulder will imagine that you’re the cause of all that is wrong in his life and send you threats. (Or worse.)
“Ordinary” people with nothing going on in their lives turn YOUR life into their gossiping hobby.
People with no boundaries try to shove their way into your life with creepy and uncomfortable questions that aren’t any of their business.
Even your fans will act like spoiled children entitled to your time and resources because you “owe them”
I’ve experienced everything on this list first hand, and I’m a nobody who once ran a blog and wrote a book in a super-niche field.
I can’t even fathom the stresses a figure like Trump or Taylor Swift go through each day.
Anyone that stirs up the emotions of a herd will be subject to the passions of the herd, good and ill. The line between loving fan and hated enemy isn’t a line at all. The same energy that magnetizes status and wealth attracts haters by the truckload.
Being “known” is a curse with blessings attached.
Fame has its perks, but me, I prefer to stay in the shadows.
There’s other ways to connect with people and stay involved in current events without broadcasting my whole life to a world full of psychotic stalkers.
All to please an algorithm and satisfy the tastes of people I don’t even like.
You might think that being e-famous is a form of success.
I don’t.
I see it as a form of modern slavery.
Freedom means more to me than fame. By a lot.
I like working on projects that don’t involve putting my face and name out in the mass media.
Those famous people with the audiences and the high pain threshold?
I’m happy as a pig in mud to help them with the writing and networking and hooking up all the “digital pipes” that make the business flow with minimum friction.
If that’s you, or somebody you know, and you want to chat about partnering up, hit me up at [email protected]
Matt Perryman
https://matts.email