Mark Twain mordantly observed that most people have as their private motto, “Better be popular than right”. Though popularity is no measure of merit, almost everyone desires some degree of it. But if they get too much they quickly find it a burden. Popular people are in demand and have to live up to expectations, so they soon wish that they could recover the peace and liberty that comes with insignificance.
The trouble with popularity is that it is connected with being known. One becomes popular by being known, deservedly or otherwise, as a good egg of some kind. If the popularity disappears, one is then in the uncomfortable position of being known but unpopular.
Popularity is fragile stuff — one mistake or a letting down of one’s guard and the fan base can turn away. Moreover, it is rare for popularity to change into mere neutrality; the usual penalty for lost popularity is unpopularity — or notoriety.
When people acquire popularity, their best hope of keeping it is to preserve a carefully managed front for their fans and to conceal everything else. As the existence of gossip magazines shows, most famous and popular people try their hardest to obey these rules only to cave in to vanity and greed, allowing in the cameras and interviewers for large sums of money. It is not uncommon for popularity to turn into its opposite as a result of the exposure.
A. C. Grayling is Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London