Mahmoud Ahmad
“STOP making stupid people famous”, is a famous phrase that was coined and started in America when people just got fed up of people who accumulated money and fan following after some stupid antics that got the people’s fancy. These people were invariably shallow, idiotic, glib and even clueless of their deed and it were such people the phrase targeted to make the stellar point to give such people the miss, and that is what more people need to heed.
There are many who are clueless, uneducated, untalented, crazy, stupid and with their downright clownish behavior rake in millions of dollars and have millions of followers. The irony is that their elevation in society is largely due to people, who are considered to be clued in, sane, educated, knowledgeable and walking the straight and narrow.
This sort of fame for nonentities started in reality TV first and then moved on to social media applications. A normal person might go bonkers when he/she asks the key question why this untalented person is famous? Did he/she do something that benefitted the society? Did he/she serve humanity with an invention or discovery? Are they scientists, social activists, entrepreneurs or intellectuals? The answer to all their queries would be a shocking NO. The questioners would be not only shocked but incensed when they find out that their claim to fame was nothing but their stupidity. All they did was something stupid, crazy or went against the norm of society and through that action they gained name and fame. It was when people had enough that they raised the clarion call to end this stupidity.
This awareness that a number of stupid people are turning into headliners is slowing sinking into people in the Kingdom too. We too are beginning to witness this in our society with rising calls to “stop making stupid people famous”. Such people are very easy to identify. They are simply the ones who offer no content whatsoever and rely mostly on saying or doing something that is stupid and against the norm of our society. Their clips are circulated widely.
It is really sad that such segment of people is attracting large audiences in social media. And this is despite parents, who are dedicating their life and energy, educating their children to be smart when they talk and to behave politely. But the growing stupidity in social media is proving a counter to the children who surf the Net for the weird and quirky, and when they see huge following and claims of cashing in on their name and fame they feel that the parental guidance is totally off-base.
Long time back, the means of reaching a large audience was extremely limited to few channels such as TV, radio and printed newspapers and magazines. Therefore the content was monitored, whether boring or interesting, but it was socially acceptable. Nowadays with everyone having a means to reach millions of viewers from the comfort of his/her laptop, phone and other devices, controlling the content is simply impossible.
Believe it or not, nowadays there are so-called social media stars that have hundreds of thousands of followers and they are younger than 15 years old.
They say seeing is believing and without naming them, I got to watching those who call themselves social media stars on Snap Chat and to see how and from where they got their title. After viewing their posts, a simple person would agree with me that they have no content to offer and how they became famous is anybody’s guess. It puts a question mark not only on them, but also on society that made them famous and well known after viewing their insipid fare.
I am not in any position to judge but I have to admit that there are many good examples of our youth on social media who offer good content and they deserve fame because they offer something new, informative and innovative. They are the ones that I can describe as the smart people who took advantage of social media to set a good example.
There is productive entertainment that is funny and at the same time sending a positive message. I don’t think having a conversation with a goat or a fish or men dancing half naked is something to show the global audience and neither does it deserve nearly a million views.
We should look at ourselves first, to ascertain why such feeds get stronger. It is only because people like us who nurtures and nourishes such clips that these ‘stars are born’. Just think, how people will look at us when we consider such people as celebrities and invite them to public occasions.
It is sad to see some companies promote such people taking advantage of the large number of followers they have. In an indirect way, they are sending an indirect message especially to our young generation, who are easily influenced, and that is ‘this is a quick route to become famous and it does not matter if you act stupid, crass or even offensive to reach such fame’.
It is sad to see our youth talk about these inane personalities all the time and search for them in malls and public places just to take photos with them.
We have good examples of people who are viewed as social media influencers, and in the social media there are large number of people who are unworthy of such honor. It is high time to realize that surfing social media comes at a price but it is something that can be easily controlled, starting with not giving such segment any attention.
In a blog by an angry person against the stupidity and dumb persons in social media, he wrote, “By using the principles of basic economics and capitalism, you can help to stop the popularity of stupidity. If we refuse to give these individuals our money, time, and attention, they will either have to alter the content they produce to meet the demands of the free market or find a new line of work. Additionally, let’s recognize and support those who do the right thing day in and day out, contribute to society with their talents, and produce high quality content that is genuinely enjoyable.”
We should convince ourselves first and then our children that their nonsense should not be at the expense of our intelligence and we should not be stupid enough to accept willingly what the vacuous are trying to sell us.
— The writer can be reached at mahmad@saudigazette.com.sa. Twitter: @anajeddawi_eng
