I have been thinking about popularity lately. Popularity in three fashions: people who know lots of other people, people that lots of other people know, and people who both know lots of others and are known by lots of others. It seems that the type of person that is popular is not as clear as I had thought it was.
In early years of school the term athletic is synonymous with popular. The athletic kids have the most visible positions in the school. This tends to create the ‘known by lots of others’ scenario, where a person is greeted by many others, but likely does not know and/or greet them.
It is in business where I find an example of ‘knows lots of others.’ A businessperson needs to have many contacts in order to assure that they can get what they want, when they need it. The one who knows lots of others will greet many people, but will not be greeted by many.
The final type of popular person is the one who both knows lots of others and is known by lots of others. This person is as likely to be greeted by another person as to greet the people. It is this type of person that is the inspiration for this post; I can’t seem to figure out who this person is.
I am not sure that popularity falls into the moral realm. Therefore, I am equally unsure that any sort of value can be appropriately applied to any of the three types I have mentioned. Nonetheless, I am inclined to say that the third version of popularity is somehow superior to the other two.
What do you think?
I’ll follow this one up when I have pondered it a bit more.
pax.
1 comment:
So, I didn't even read the rest of the blog...just the bit about comparing different species of popularity. (sorry Jody...was just anxious to respond) Nice categories. Nice and simple...but funny...how that never would satisfy the realm of categories that I believe exsist. The balance, well...it covers many worlds, but we as humans can exert only so much energy into others enough for it to be a worth-while investment to us...concerning popularity. There are those, also, who do the investing in themselves, and in a sense gain popularity because of their efforts for what I guess you could call selfish growth (which is, not in every sense to be taken negatively). For those that invest (primarily) in others, thinking of themselves as secondary, gain a different type of popularity.
It all returns back to the kind of investment we make in eachother, in ourselves and the risks we take in going one way or another. How do the really famous people become so famous...when there are so many that desire to be known just as well? Who we know and where we go are determined by the choices that we make and the goals we work towards and are valued in the scope of those who are effected.
Simply, popularity is something that can be valued but does not MAKE the person valuable...their goals and aspirations determine such things...so what will you invest in? -Caren
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