Minute 16

We've all heard about the "15 minutes of fame" thing, where the media and the general public can make something or someone famous for a short period of time before something else comes along that's more interesting. Once those 15 minutes have passed and our attention spans have died, we often completely forget what we once scrutinized.

Is this a responsible or fair thing to do? Of course, in today's culture, someone can become famous merely for being famous (such as Paris Hilton), and we've already become accustomed to our extremely short attention spans. But often, once a person's 15 minutes of fame are over, his or her life is irrevocably changed, often for the worse.

Susan Boyle is one example of this. I'm sure we've all heard of her by now, and if you haven't, go look her up on Google. For a brief period of time, she was extremely famous. But after she came in second on a TV competition in which everyone expected her to win, she was hospitalized for exhaustion, probably from the pressures of fame. It's doubtful she can live a normal life again, after having experienced those 15 minutes.

Another example can be found in Andrew Speaker. You might remember, from a little while ago, that Andrew Speaker was a man with drug-resistant tuberculosis that had refused to remain quarantined and had traveled across the ocean in a plane, exposing many to his dangerous disease. He was criticized by the media and mailed death threat letters for his seeming carelessness and disregard. However, after the media storm died, it turned out that his form of tuberculosis was not drug-resistant or special, despite what everyone had said. Nevertheless, his girlfriend divorced him, he still receives death threats, and his life has been changed forever.

The vagaries of fame certainly seem perilous. Thoughts?
-Eric W.