Only 10 days after Invisible Children released the viral “Kony 2012” video, the charity’s founder and director Jason Russell reached his tipping point last Thursday when he got naked on a street corner in San Diego and, according to police, proceeded to masturbate and curse at onlooking traffic.
Russell’s rapid decline from social action star to socially perverse nudist gives us a quintessential example of how becoming famous overnight can potentially ruin our lives. It’s a shame, but it had to happen to someone.
Imagine one day you’re walking through campus and get the occasional “What’s up?” or quick high-five while walking to class. OK, now imagine waking up the next day and having not only hundreds of people wanting to talk to you about something you put on the Internet, but being in a position where everyone, whether you like it or not, knows you and looks at you.
Rebecca Black must have been in the same situation, and as a 14-year-old, it wouldn’t be hard to see her losing her sense of consciousness to fame. However, the aftermath of “Friday” is far different than that of “Kony 2012.” Russell’s endeavor is a political one that demands widespread social action over a relatively short period of time. Black gave us a song, and a pretty horrible one at that.
You would think Russell would be able to handle the pressure if his project was designed to go viral — and thus, invite criticism from all sides — from the very beginning. But does his weakness, or illness, mean people should no longer care about his cause?
Of course not. Do we take him less seriously given how he reacted on Thursday? Probably.
Russell’s wife Danica — poor woman — blamed the incident on exhaustion and dehydration, and said there was no foul play involved. I would instead attribute it to “American Culture 2012” and the toll fame takes on us in our online world.
If you’ve seen the video, you know that even before its release, his organization had garnered support from thousands of people. It’s amazing, though, that only when that number increased to millions did it cause him to have a mental breakdown.
It’s a sad story and one that is reasonably hard to make up. But in our society, with the way fame and public attention fluctuate at a much higher frequency, it had to show in someone. Russell’s nosedive from liberator to lunatic may influence people to look at his organization differently.
What’s more apparent is how our culture can launch a person to exponential fame and, days later, cause the same person to hit rock bottom.
This story is more reflective of our society than of Jason Russell. It seems that people get famous because of what they put on the Internet. While this can help promote a valuable, necessary cause, it has the potential to bring out the worst in us.