Death and Fame

Please be aware this a slightly more dark blog then I will usually post. Then again the dark places within us all are where all the delicious stuff is. Just ask Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Mary Shelley or Edgar Allen Poe. Actually you will have to find some way to either travel through time or speak to the dead, and then you can ask them. Should you do so kudos to you. Anyway...

I’ve been thinking about death a lot recently, my own to be more precise. I have been going through some dark times and a lot more dark thoughts, (no need for details as I will save them for my autobiography, or a good psychiatrist.) Anyhow as Hamlet asks in his fantastic “To be or not to be” soliloquy I too wondered about the merits of living against those of ending it all. Which lead me to look upon what legacy I would leave to this world?

I have no children, (that I know of), so that can’t be my legacy and nor should it be so. Ones legacy should not depend on the lottery of the right sperm winning a race to the right egg. I have not produced any great piece of art that the world will look at or listen to in wonder. I haven’t done anything of historical note, you know started a revolution (though still time for that I suppose), I haven’t invented anything to help further humanity (through general laziness) and I have fought for perceived injustices, however very quietly and therefore not to any standard that will be noted down.

Then again I haven’t done anything bad to be remembered for either, I haven’t committed mass murder (again still time for that I suppose) so won’t be remembered like Hitler or Stalin, I haven’t oppressed anybody so don’t get the recognition of say Pol Pot or the Kims of North Korea. Also I haven’t written or created anything truly awful enough to warrant fame or infamy to be more correct either, I’m looking at you Cliff Richard, Ayn Rand and Joel Schumacher (yes I still haven’t forgotten about Batman and Robin).

Anyway all this lead me to start thinking about fame and the reasons some people are famous, (This jumping around topics in my head is quite normal for me so don’t worry.) Obviously there are those that deserve to be recognised. Some for their contributions to the world as a better place i.e. Shakespeare, Darwin, Beethoven, Gandhi, Mother Teresa and etc. Some are famous because the create something or do something that entertains enough people that they deserve the recognition i.e. Kevin Smith, Ian Wright, Maria Callas, Audrey Tautou, Joss Whedon and etc. Then there are those who we should not forget to remind us of what is unfortunately possible i.e. The Nazis, Stalin, Jack the Ripper, Cortez and etc.

However there is a new group of people who have emerged recently, (not sure how long it started as I usually stick around my own pop cultural sphere), who are famous for no other reason that they wanted to be. I am talking about of course people who are the “stars” of so called reality TV shows. I’m talking about the Kardashians (not the militaristic alien race the Cardassians from Star Trek, though come to think of it I would love to see a reality show about them), the Jersey Shore cast, Courney Stodden and the latest abomination to come to my attention. Now from what I can tell (mind you I haven’t done extensive research on this), most of these people are famous for mentally defective on TV (I would use another word but I have been told not to). The exception being Kim Kardashian who is famous for filming herself during sex and then it somehow getting out DOH! and her sisters and mother who are riding her coat tails.

Please people tell me that these so called celebrities will not leave a bigger impact on the world then me. Otherwise I may have to bite the bullet and release a sex tape of my own, and trust me nobody wants that. However if Monica Belluci is up for it message me.