LogikAndReazon
Gold Member
- Feb 21, 2012
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"In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes." -Andy Warhol
In 1970, George Winne, Jr., achieved his Warholian 15 minutes of fame by setting himself on fire on the campus of the University of California, San Diego, to protest the war in Vietnam. These days you can achieve the same notoriety if you've done nothing more than bronze yourself to a deep pre-cancerous glow like tanning addict Patricia Krentcil.
Or, you can take things several steps further by doing your best to destroy the U.S. economy, fraternize with the Islamic enemy, and cripple the American energy industry. Add in advancing the cause of bringing our country under the rule of a big-government, crony-capitalist elite by dividing America into warring minority demographic groups in the most blatant manner imaginable, and you've got Barack Obama's claim to his 15 minutes of fame.
The president's 15 minutes has lasted longer than Warhol predicted, but I tend to think that at the time Warhol uttered the words, they reflected his understanding that our culture was changing so rapidly and dramatically, that everyone had the potential to spend time in the celebrity spotlight. In other words, some people's "15 minutes" last longer than others'.
The point is that in the increasingly democratic world of the electronic celebrity, having "what it takes" has taken on a new meaning. It has nothing to do with what we used to think of as being the sort of substantial person that might at least have had a shot at achieving celebrity status.
The key is the word "celebrity." Thanks to Barack Obama, the U.S. presidency now has less and less to do with competence and leadership and more and more to do with that elusive word whose definition changes with each degrading instance of its redefinition downward in the media......"
Read more: Articles: Barack Obama's 15 Minutes of Fame
In 1970, George Winne, Jr., achieved his Warholian 15 minutes of fame by setting himself on fire on the campus of the University of California, San Diego, to protest the war in Vietnam. These days you can achieve the same notoriety if you've done nothing more than bronze yourself to a deep pre-cancerous glow like tanning addict Patricia Krentcil.
Or, you can take things several steps further by doing your best to destroy the U.S. economy, fraternize with the Islamic enemy, and cripple the American energy industry. Add in advancing the cause of bringing our country under the rule of a big-government, crony-capitalist elite by dividing America into warring minority demographic groups in the most blatant manner imaginable, and you've got Barack Obama's claim to his 15 minutes of fame.
The president's 15 minutes has lasted longer than Warhol predicted, but I tend to think that at the time Warhol uttered the words, they reflected his understanding that our culture was changing so rapidly and dramatically, that everyone had the potential to spend time in the celebrity spotlight. In other words, some people's "15 minutes" last longer than others'.
The point is that in the increasingly democratic world of the electronic celebrity, having "what it takes" has taken on a new meaning. It has nothing to do with what we used to think of as being the sort of substantial person that might at least have had a shot at achieving celebrity status.
The key is the word "celebrity." Thanks to Barack Obama, the U.S. presidency now has less and less to do with competence and leadership and more and more to do with that elusive word whose definition changes with each degrading instance of its redefinition downward in the media......"
Read more: Articles: Barack Obama's 15 Minutes of Fame
