Why Chris Hayes thinks we're all famous now

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Society & Culture, News, Politics, News Commentary, Philosophy

4.6 • 10.8K Ratings

🗓️ 15 November 2021

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sean Illing talks with Chris Hayes, author, commentator, and host of All In With Chris Hayes on MSNBC. They discuss his recent essay in the New Yorker about fame and the internet, why we seek attention from strangers online, and how some German philosophers might offer guidance for our predicament. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), Interviews Writer, Vox Guest: Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes), host, All In With Chris Hayes on MSNBC References: "On the Internet, We're Always Famous" by Chris Hayes (New Yorker; Sept. 24) “We Should All Know Less About Each Other” by Michelle Goldberg (New York Times; Nov. 1) Plato, Phaedrus (c. 370 BCE) Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman (Penguin; 2005) G.W.F. Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit (1807) Introduction to the Reading of Hegel: Lectures on the "Phenomenology of Spirit" by Alexandre Kojève (1947; tr. 1969) The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads by Tim Wu (Vintage; 2017) Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment by Robert Wright (Simon & Schuster; 2018) Enjoyed this episode? Rate Vox Conversations ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of Vox Conversations by subscribing in your favorite podcast app. Support Vox Conversations by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode was made by: Producer: Erikk Geannikis Editor: Amy Drozdowska Engineer: Paul Robert Mounsey Deputy Editorial Director, Vox Talk: Amber Hall Vox Audio Fellow: Victoria Dominguez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Are we all famous now?
0:06.6	I'm Sean Elling and I'm your host for Fox Conversations.
0:19.1	I know that's a strange question.
0:21.6	If everyone is famous, then no one is famous, right?
0:25.7	Or maybe it just depends on what we mean by famous.
0:30.1	Last month, I read a New Yorker essay by Chris Hayes,
0:32.8	the host of all-in on MSNBC.
0:36.1	That explored this question in a different but provocative way.
0:40.3	Hayes wasn't exactly asking you for all famous now.
0:44.3	Instead, he asked, what happens when the experience of fame
0:48.3	becomes a universal possibility?
0:51.3	This is the kind of fuzzy idea that bounces around your head
0:55.0	for a long time.
0:56.6	But you can never quite do anything with it
0:59.0	until someone comes around and articulates it so clearly.
1:03.0	That's what Hayes did, and I've wanted to talk to him
1:05.3	about it ever since.
1:07.8	His argument is that the internet has made the psychologically
1:11.4	destabilizing experience of fame accessible to everyone.
1:16.5	Anyone who's on a social media platform like TikTok or Twitter
1:20.8	is always one viral post away from instant fame
1:25.7	or what feels like fame anyway.
	...

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