Jesus H Christ, no. Rich? Sure. It would make a lot of things easier and less stressful. Famous? Not on your life. Can't imagine anything worse. And Michael Jackson levels of fame? Sounds like hell. No wonder he was such a monumental fuck-up.

Every single year I get closer and closer to being an old loner in the woods with their dog, talking to no one. As a kid, I naively wanted that. Now I know how much of a hassle it is and there isn't an amount of money or power on earth that would make me want that level of fame.

I never want to be famous. It sounds awful.

Rich, yes. Famous, no.

No. Granted, michael Jackson seems to have had emotional trauma but you could argue a lot of his personal issues were directly caused by his celebrity.

Maybe Warren Buffet famous. Someone who is well known and listened to as among the most knowledgeable of his field ….. but none of the constant hounding from paparazzi or gossip-mongers, no political/conspiracy theory bs

No. I don't even want to be my own level of famous, and I'm a nobody.

I don't like to draw attention to myself so absolutely not.

No, I do not want the stench of being linked with kiddie fiddling on the level of MJ. He lived a controversially crazy life.

Nope, I wouldn't want to be famous at all. I like being able to mind my own business without being harassed or recognized on the street.

I want to be tony hawk famous. Like famous enough that at relevant events people are stoked to see me, but out in public people are just like "has anyone ever told you that you kind of look like Art3mis" and if i said i am they are just like "haha suurrre"

No. The optimal (from a highly individual viewpoint) is being well-off, with friends but without fame.

From a societal viewpoint, the best is everyone being "upper middle class" - well off enough to live, but not so wealthy that one can simply mooch off others and give nothing back.

Even Michael Jackson, himself, grew to hate being that famous and often lamented it in interviews before he stopped giving them, and in the few he did give before his death.

fame becomes a curse to all

edit: I remember when he died... I was walking through Washington Square Park in NYC, and I got an alert on my phone. I was so stunned, that I sat own on the nearest bench and just stared at my phone. I noticed that everyone around me also got an alert, and they all just froze... Everyone around me just froze... The whole city just STOPPED IN PLACE. it freaked me out. Then the internet went down. I tried to call a friend, but I couldn't. I couldn't send a text or load a webpage... nothing worked for, like, half an hour. shit was fucked.

The only other time I remember something like that, when I couldn't make a phone call/txt/use the internet was 9/11

I have autistic fear of perception and that genuinely sounds like hell on earth. I don't want to be perceived, ever.

Absolutely not. I don't want any level of fame. I like that I can freely walk around my hometown where I've lived for 35 years and nobody recognizes me and stops to talk.

Sure… as a writer. Think like Stephen King. Probably the most famous living writer. Maybe James Patterson or Brandon Sanderson. They do cool shit and people recognize them for it. Doesn’t seem too bad. Has a famous author ever really had it too bad as far as fame goes? Look at Brandon Sanderson, he teaches other people about writing. Goes around talking about what he loves.

I'd love to have the money, but the notoriety? Hell no. The amount of money I'd have to waste on my personal security would be infuriating. I could use that money to actually do something useful, like making the kind of donation that lets a hospital charity make sensible medium-term plans.

Fame seems like a burden. Given a choice, I'll take the money.

As MJ?

No. There are too many aspects of that level of fame that are not only undesirable, but dangerous, and we saw that with how his life went.

I wouldn't mind being a one-hit wonder though. A couple of years of making millions and just stashing them away. I'd pull a Kerri Green and peace out at the height, take the money, and live off investment interest for the rest of my life. She only made like three movies, took the money, and told Hollywood to eff off.

It's a shame MJ didn't do that. Even after having to pay all the court settlements for broken contracts, he'd still have been alive and wealthy.

No. I like going out and not being bothered.

I’d like to be the producer, agent, etc of someone famous. (Not anything related to PR, though. I don’t want to downplay or “justify” some asshole’s crimes.)

Nobody outside the industry gives a fuck who those behind the scenes people are, but I’d still be pulling down the big bucks.

Absolutely, it would be fun as hell.

No, that would be a nightmare.

Not being able to live a normal life because people will be interrupting you all the time entitled to something just because they recognise you.
Even if you lived in rich people areas, they are even more entitled because their family did something generations ago that means nothing to me but expect something.

No. Or at least, I'd have it done the way Daft Punk/Yoko Taro do. You're only known as the character in costume, and not elsewise.

Otherwise, every single aspect of your life gets pried into, and you can't trust anything to be what it seems to be. Anything you say, or opinion you hold would be a headline, and anyone who claims to want to be your friend could easily be angling for your wealth/connections more than anything else.

Bro got taken out because he started exposing pedophiles. He spent his last few years being dragged in the press by parents that decided money was more important than their kids dignity or future reputation.

That level of fame essentially means you cannot possibly do actual good in the world or fight any powerful group. It's not a level of fame where you could build a revolution, but its far too much fame to ever do anything positive in life.

If that includes his money than yeah.

I mean if the money is there, why not.

I would buy an entire country or an island and that would be it, no one would ever see me again.

I'm a white guy who went to a wedding in rural India. That attention alone got to be a bit much after a few days.

Also, I would have to be stupidly careful about pretty much everything. Hackers would actually think to target me AND could have an incentive to do so knowing I've got money (gained by fraud or blackmail if I'm not careful). In my current life I go to clothing-optional places pretty regularly (not a sex club or anything) and that would pretty much have to stop.

Just let me be rich in a way that nobody knows it, preferably not even my own friends.

Think I would cap out at David Sedaris levels of fame. Anything more would be too much bother.

I don’t want any kind of notoriety. Good or bad. I delete accounts regularly to avoid it. I just want to be forgotten