35/52 - Fleeting Fame
It’s been a busy couple of months for this person.
Threw out the first pitch at a NY Mets game
Launched a merchandise line
Performed a duet with country star Zach Bryant
Launched a podcast
Launched an animal welfare foundation
Announced opposition to a presidential candidate
Attracted 2.5 million Instagram followers
Did an interview with Rolling Stone
Let’s see. Who might this be?
Maybe one of the Olympic athletes? Nope.
Or a movie star? Try again.
Or Donald Trump? Fair enough, he's done a few of these, but not the correct answer.
Any other guesses?
I won’t keep you in suspense.
[WARNING: This is where the R-rated portion of the post begins. Given how things have changed over the years, a PG-13 rating is more likely.]
Everyone under age 30 likely knows the answer, but candidly, that’s not my core demographic.
It’s the Hawk Tuah Girl.
In early June, no one outside her family had likely heard of Hailey Welch. In early June, she had a brief 10 seconds on a Tim and Dee TV "person on the street" interview, responding to this question, "“What’s one move in bed that makes a man go crazy every time?” Her response, “You gotta give ’em that ‘hawk tuah’ and spit on that thang,” quickly went viral. And in the resulting social media tsunami, a new star was born.
And, of course, Hailey is just the last example of an instant social media celebrity. Who can forget Tariq, also known as "Corn Kid," became an internet sensation in August 2022 when a video of him enthusiastically describing his love for corn went viral. The YouTube channel Recess Therapy initially posted the video. Or the Gorilla Glue Girl (Tessica Brown), who went viral in February 2021 after she posted a TikTok video explaining that she had used Gorilla Glue spray adhesive in her hair after running out of her usual hair spray. The adhesive left her hair permanently stuck in place. And then there is "Chewbacca Mom." Candace Payne's 2016 video of herself laughing hysterically while wearing a Chewbacca mask went viral, leading to media appearances and brand deals.
[PARTIAL CONFESSION: Mary Glenn would maintain that my fascination with instant fame stems from the fact that fame is a secret desire of mine. This is only partially true. I would only like to be famous enough to have my book on a Jenna list. Or an Oprah list. Or Reese's list. Or even Angie's List, for that matter.]
This may not be what Tim Berners-Lee had in mind when he invented the World Wide Web. It’s been a long journey from his initial vision for the Web – “a collaborative space where you can communicate through sharing information” and “we want the Web to reflect a vision of the world where everything is done democratically” – to the insanity of TikTok, Facebook, Twitter (I refuse to say “X”), and Instagram.
Yes, it is fun. The lure of constant scrolling and "Check out this video" is just too hard to resist. I suppose we will all be condemned to some new Dante Circle of Hell for taking all this amazing technology and doing such stupid and time-wasting things with it. Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treachery don't seem to cover it. And we have a set of emerging AI technologies that are just as revolutionary as the Web? What will we do with them?
Yes, it is fun. And I suppose we all need at least a bit of harmless fun.
But don't get me started on what continuous connectivity and Instagram and Facebook and all the derivatives thereof are doing to our kids. That's a real Circle of Hell.
