Anything for Attention

"In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes."

-Andy Warhol

We all want to be famous and popular, but to what extent are we willing to go to reach popularity? How starved for attention are you, and how much attention do you want to get from others? Those "15 minutes of fame" are what many of us seek in getting ourselves noticed. There are even celebrities who do outrageous things and acquire all sorts of attention from others- just to get us common folk talking about them. Whatever the case, one goal remains paramount to most people- getting noticed and being talked about... even at any expense, including being perceived in a certain way by the general public.

This blog post is all about gaining attention and to what lengths some people will go to get famous or noticed.

--- Anything for Attention ---

Want to get noticed? A lot of people want to. Some will do anything to get any real attention. The goal for most people isn't so much to pull a stunt or do something to instantly garner attention. Instead, it is more along the lines of doing something that will get people talking. I usually think someone gets attention from the media for something interesting. What qualifies as interesting can mean anything from making something enjoyable or doing something that people can get to talking about. The ones who get attention may get attention for all the right reasons and all the wrong reasons.

In addition to getting attention, gaining attention may lead down a variety of issues. Among the biggest one is doing something to draw attention to be perceived in a certain manner. Because most people don't know you personally or know who you are as a person, the first impressions that some people will have of you probably aren't going to be very pleasant. So if you do something to garner some negative attention, and if you want to be respected or seen in a respectful way, doing something counterproductive or negative for attention will hurt your public image. Some people do things they are or are not going to be proud of. It still doesn't matter if what someone does is good or bad as long as they have attention being called to them. What someone does for attention subjects them to being perceived positively, negatively, or indifferent. Here are some examples:

Attention: Positive Perception.

Positive perception examples:

• A teenager may be hailed a hero for rescuing people and animals from a burning building.

• A person or a family donates loads of money and resources to help financially support a certain charity or cause.

• A person is severely injured or killed trying to save the lives of someone or multiple people.

• A stylish fashion blogger and his/her work is showcased on TV shows, magazines, and other websites.

• An entertainer makes an enjoyable performance that becomes wildly popular.

These are instances where attention is positive, and thus, is worthy of some positive attention.

Attention: Negative Perception.

Negative attention examples:

• A celebrity is accused or charged with assault and battery of either another celebrity or some average person.

• A dangerous animal is stolen or on the loose, terrorizing others until the dangerous animal is eventually caught.

• A person engages in disgusting, childish behavior to cause a scene and disturb the peace. For example- streaking at a sports event.

• A person posts offensive or controversial material (such as a tweet or a "selfie") on a social networking site that many people immediately lash out at the person for making such material available.

These are moments where gaining attention comes at the expense of being perceived as someone negative and hateful.

Attention: Indifferent Perception.

Indifferent perception examples:

• A shady and suspicious individual is hailed a hero and an inspiration despite one's shady or controversial past.

• A celebrity is asked about some popular issues or is asked for some opinion on something. What he/she responds about something affects certain communities in certain ways.

• A person gets a unique tattoo or has some other extreme body modification that draws attention.

With certain people, certain actions profiled by others either gets someone loved by one community, and loathed by another community.


Some people and the attention they garner operate differently. To delve further into attention and gaining attention, I invite you to keep reading.

--- Anything for Attention: Talking Points ---

Here are various talking points in regards to gaining attention. What do you think about these matters:

Attention... at What Expense?

Some people don't realize (or care) about doing something they aren't going to be proud of. Let's consider two different people- one good, one not so much.

When I think of gaining attention, let me provide a bad example. Some people at sporting events often get onto the field either streaking or simply interrupting a sporting event by getting onto the field of play. Such people know they are going to get punished for their actions, so they do what they do knowing they are going to face some sort of punishment. Almost like, "I don't care. I just want my moment of fame."

Us bloggers and vloggers are no strangers to trying to get attention either. Some people have posted some absolutely poor material and made stupid points in regards to certain issues. I remember once learning of a young race car driver getting killed in a sprint car race in 2013. When I visited one person's blog to read opinions about it, this one person made some absolutely stupid points in posting opinions about the matter. I am going to disgust or sicken some of my readers with this next sentence... you've been warned. If that wasn't bad enough, the same blogger didn't believe there is a such thing as child rape.

Nothing angers me more than people who simply post certain opinions just to gain attention. I do trust that if it is what someone honestly believes, I am not one to debate on that. What sickens me are pathetic and sickening opinions that I think most people post just to rile us up. People can make unpopular opinions without needing to make a total joke of oneself. For example, it is like when some people refer to anyone transgendered as a shemale, thinking it is okay. Ask anyone transgendered, and unless they work in a certain field of the adult entertainment industry, calling a transgendered person a shemale is considered extremely derogatory to be called or labeled by someone. Some people still don't care less. So when trying to gain attention from others, some will stoop to various lows just to get noticed. Enabling this attention basically means someone got the attention they wanted at an expense or at expenses. Which leads to my next talking point on attention...

Got What He/She/They Wanted.

You know how people say "don't feed the trolls" when dealing with people online who cause trouble and leave others to talk bad about others or veer a discussion off-course? Well, people starved for attention look for the opportunity to do something that gets people riled up. Anyone whom has been on YouTube and looked at some popular videos may have seen comments posted by many people. Some comments actually relate to the video. Some other comments have very little (if anything) to the actual video. Some of those other comments may be something racial, derogatory, homophobic, and the like.

It seems sometimes like you can't go one day without hearing about certain celebrities in the news. To me, the one that fits the bill best as someone who you can't go one day without hearing in the news is Justin Bieber. I usually watch "TMZ Live," and in almost every episode, there is at least one mentioning of Justin Bieber. It is almost as if us common folk helped enable the gossip. When one enables such attention and allows for it to happen, us regular people helped enable and contribute to the discussion of someone or something.

Hating someone/something or being tired of someone/something helps enable gaining attention all the further. Being famous means you basically feel like we all should talk about you about almost anything. It probably helps the enabling process by talking about people in the news only in negative lights. Not everyone is as sugar-sweet as the likes of (for example) Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Miranda Cosgrove, Bruno Mars or whomever... but I'm sure lots of people would rather hear about non-annoying types than keep hearing about people the likes of Chris Brown, Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Bynes, or almost any Kardashian.

Of Attention and Desperation.

Some realms and communities are notorious for generating attention. There is even one such controversial online destination famous for generating negative attention to certain websites and blogs. Here is a true blogging story. One fashion blog I follow was getting negative attention. Someone somehow followed my "StyleSpace by JBM" blog because I made frequent comments to (this fashion blog). Someone apparently looked at my comments and started to visit my blog as well as my fashion blog. The good news? I got a whole lot of hits to my views those days from that site. The bad news? I got loads of views from a negative/suspicious audience.

Some people would probably try to cheer me up by saying that I am at least getting views. However, that's a bunch of crap. I am never desperate to get attention to where... okay. Look at it this way. Would you rather get 500 views in a day from mostly organic traffic, or would you rather get 500 views from mostly spam traffic? It's still 500 views- just who or what would you rather have view and share your content? Look at it in commenting as well- would you rather receive comments mostly from organic traffic or from mostly spam traffic? You're still getting comments, but what crowd do you actually follow? Gaining popularity is rather done best with people who actually are attentive and actually (honestly) care. One of my most-viewed posts in any of my blogs was my review of the kiosk demo of Gran Turismo 5. I was fortunate enough to have a community like GTPlanet visit and enjoy my material. Other online forums even discussed my review. But at least these were real people and not spammers or other suspicious people.

That is why even though blog views have steadily declined for "John's Blog Space" and a number of my other blogs, I would still rather post whatever I want to discuss and grow my audience my own way rather than spend money or do something shady to gain attention.

"Ha Ha... Made You Gossip!"

Certain people and publications basically enable the attention-grabbing and the gossip. Here is another quote I'd like to share before I continue:

(indirect quote) "It doesn't matter if they talk good or bad about you- at least they are talking about you."

-Dale Earnhardt Jr.

There is also another dynamic to gossip. Here on "John's Blog Space," I once blogged about Rebecca Black, best known for one of the most horrible songs I've ever heard- "Friday." Many people understandably took this as an opportunity to thrash and negatively mention Rebecca Black. However, people had something to talk about. Gaining attention often times is the result of certain extremes. These extremes could be something outrageous in behavior or in some sort of creative works. In the case of Rebecca Black, it was an extreme of something extremely horrid to where people discussed a creative piece in a negative light.

There was an incident years ago about the capturing of Bigfoot. The whole incident was later conceived as a hoax. What I could respect about the ones who came up with this hoax is that they said they wanted to give people something different to talk about. At the time of this Bigfoot hoax, the biggest issue in America was the economic recession. So while this was a stunt to get people gossiping, I could respect this because it was something to discuss besides (at that time) economic recession.

Gaining attention sometimes even goes into the form of Internet Memes. This is where some people post pictures of things or modify pictures to include certain comical or offensive material based on certain things. You can go back to my Rebecca Black example. Attention through the means of Internet memes means someone may post a picture of Rebecca followed by some kind of comical or offensive message. Negative attention may also come in the form of demotivational pictures.

The main thing to take from all of this is basically about generating gossip- regardless of if something is liked or disliked by the general public-at-large.


Are you willing to gain attention and become famous by doing things you are or are not going to be proud of? It's just something to think about if you're trying to become famous in some capacity.

--- Anything for Attention: Final Thoughts ---

The quest to gain popularity and get noticed has more twists and turns than any race track. Some people are willing to be accepted or noticed by a vast audience and will do almost anything to achieve fame (or notoriety). How one becomes famous and what for lends itself to being perceived positively, negatively, or indifferent by others. Not everyone is going to feel the same way. Anyone aware of anything or anyone is subject to think of others positively or negatively. You will get in the good graces of some people, and some other people will perceive you poorly. All you mostly care about is getting noticed, even in pulling stunts and making opinions others are not going to like. Making yourself available in the public eye and in the collective hearts of gossip leads you to gaining attention for all the right and wrong reasons depending on who you are and what you do.

So go out and gain attention however you can. Just remember- your perception from others in becoming famous and gaining attention varies. Are you willing to own up to your actions that made you popular- especially any negative actions? Gain your attention wisely.





That concludes this blog post. Before I close this one out, let me ask you all:

How do you feel about gaining attention? Would you be willing to do things you may not be proud of in becoming famous or popular? What do you think about people so starved for attention?

Feel free to share your thoughts if you found this blog post interesting. I always want to try to post material that I feel will generate conversation and interest, even for niche topics. So feel free to share my content. Thank you for reading!

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