I mean they’re not all super rich but especially in the USA and especially with actors or TV personalities it seems like the well known ones make huge amounts of money. Just picking people at random and doing some searching online, apparently Scott Bakula got paid $120,000 for each episode of NCIS: New Orleans he was in which totalled over $18 million. Some sources say that Sarah Sherman, who’s been on SNL for 3 seasons, is worth around $4 million. Why do they get paid huge amounts of money when most people, even if they’re at the top of their industry, make a fraction of that?
Would you really like to be famous? With all the consequences, good and bad?
Uh, Yeah? Who tf wouldn’t lol. To be loved and adored by millions, to earn millions from that, it defies comprehension that some even have it that good.
When I had a YT of like 2k subs and had an OF thing going, I had weird dudes who spammed me their life stories in insta dms day in and day out, I admit - not the most pleasant interaction - it was still a helluva an ego boost.
Fame is generally an amazing thing desired by damn near everyone. You ever seen the kind of crazy shit people do for 5 seconds of it on TV? I could never, but maybe that’s my loss.
Well there are people like you who desire it and then there are people like me who wouldn’t want it ever, like no way. I understand the need of an ego boost in some people and also the desire for the status and money. But there are very many people with other values that hate the idea of being famous and don’t need any ego boosts. Many people just want to have a peaceful and comfortable nice little life with their privacy intact. Some of the people lusting for fame probably also just imagine the resirable parts of it and would be quite surprised about the bad parts.
I can’t imagine such a lack of ambition honestly.
People can have quite different life goals and ambitions. Do you think fame is the only thing worth persuing? And yes, there are many people who don’t have huge ambitions and that’s ok. There are many ways to live one’s life. Sometimes having goals that are easier to reach can make you more happy.
No, I never said fame is the only thing worth pursuing or that it is even the most important or common. I would put scientific, medical, artistic or civic/political achievement before fame.
See that I can understand, obviously I’m a no one from bumfuck nowhere, I’ll settle for living comfortably, having friends, a partner, a successful career and free time, and I think I can make peace with that.
But it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t throw it all away if I could swap to being an adored millionaire celebrity living in a mansion in Hollywood.
I do have the ambition, I’m just being realistic.
On the other hand:
This I don’t understand. Of course it’s okay you numpty, I never said otherwise, I just said I don’t understand why or how this comes about, so if you’re one of those people I’d like to hear about your experiences and why you are the way you are.
I understand the wish for fame, because I did feel it around the time when I was like 13 or something. Then I took a look at the way of life the really famous people lead and I realized I wouldn’t want that. I love the freedom of anonymity way too much. When it comes to ambitions, I always wanted to understand the world as much as I could. That also lead me to natural sciences. I get a lot of fulfillment from learning things. So I guess I’m not really success oriented, although it’s a nice thing, but I get a lot of kick out of getting new information and connecting it in my head, that’s what I love. And that’s not very fame related, right? I live a comfy life and I do what I love, so suddenly becoming famous and losing it all looks like a nightmare to me.
I think we’re just talking past each other, because a lifelong pursuit of science and learning is ambition all the same to me. Finding that and sticking to it is “success” as much as anything, even if you don’t seek field-wide accomplishments.
For me it’s the same thing, though I’ve not been able to commit to anything specific, and I would like to be accomplished enough to be recognized at least in some way one day, even if it’s only by peers in my field, I consider it a desire for quasi-immortality, to leave some sort of record behind.
I’m actually enjoying our conversation and I think our missunderstanding is just a minor one. I never said I don’t have any ambition. You asked me about my ambition or lack thereof, so I described what’s driving me.
Anyway, I think there’s a difference in having an ambition as having some driving force behind your actions, which is necessary (I want to have blue walls, so I go and paint them blue) and the character trait that is referred to as being ambitious. No-one gets called ambitious just for wanting to have blue walls, even though it technically is an ambition. Someone who wants to be famous can be called ambitious, though.
I think with time I’m becoming more and more self-confident and the need for other people to confirm my own value is therefore diminishing (although it’s not completely gone). I think the fame ego boost is a lot about that - being told that you’re valued.
I can relate to the need of being recognised for the good job you’ve done. And to the desire for quasi-immortality - the knowledge of one’s own mortality is such a hard thing to live with.