Andy Warhol
“On the Web, everyone will be famous to 15
people.”Attributed to Scottish artist, Momus
Andy Warhol’s comment in the 1960s that everyone
would, in the future, have 15 minutes of fame has become something of a
cliché. With the democratisation of
sources of news and information, such as social media, Youtube, and even humble
blogs, the idea has seemed prescient.
The more recent quote that on the Web,
everyone will be famous to 15 people is a humorous, but also telling observation. If more people are providing information,
then fewer people must be accessing each source of information. Bloggers and Youtube posters can have fame of
a sort... if the 15 people who read or
watch really love their posts. By the
way, it would be rude to ask how many people read this blog!
Anyway, I had brief contact with a more
traditional source of news recently.
Just before the British referendum on leaving the EU, I got a call from
a Japanese tv station, asking if I would appear on a national morning news show
to give my opinion on the vote.
Naturally, I immediately thought of the
advertising possibilities and agreed. If
I could just get them to mention my Tokyo English school - Nerima English - or
the fact that I teach Skype lessons and telephone lessons to students who could
be anywhere in Japan. The students would
come flooding in. Wouldn’t they?
So a cameraman and an interviewer came
round to my school and talked to me in Japanese for about 15 minutes.
We immediately ran into difficulties. The interviewer asked if I agreed with the
proposal in the referendum, or disagreed (賛成しますか？ または賛成しませんか？) This confused me. The referendum question was worded without a
Yes or No answer in English. It asked,
“Should the UK leave the European Union, or remain in the European Union?”
Interviewer: Do you agree with the referendum proposal or
disagree?
Me: Um... What?
Interviewer: Umm...
Me:
I want to stay in the EU. Do you
understand?
Interviewer: Ah, okay.
Let’s move on.
The interviewer then asked me why I wanted
to remain in the EU. I took a deep
breath and then started a long, rambling speech. I tried to explain that I was worried about
the direction a leave vote would send British politics in. I explained about the workers’ rights that
the EU protects, and my fears that a UK outside of the EU would try to gain an
economic advantage by ending these protections, and perhaps ending our
wonderful free health-care system.
I spoke about other points and fears –
about Scotland’s future being unclear, damage to the economy and Britain’s
influence in the world, and so on.
And after the exhausting 15 minute interview,
what did they show on tv? I appeared for
about 5 seconds. On the tv screen, I
said, “Britain has a free health-care system.”
And then they moved on to another British person. Viewers wouldn’t even be sure if I supported
leaving the EU, or supported remaining.
There was no mention of an English school in Tokyo. No flood of new students...
I want the rest of my 14 minutes and 55
seconds! Somebody call Andy Warhol! I was promised 15 minutes!
the Web – the worldwide web; the internet
to attribute a quote to (someone) – to say that (someone)
made the quote
a cliché – an overused phrase
prescient – displaying a knowledge of the
future, or an ability to accurately predict the future
telling – revealing; significant
to come flooding in – of offers, letters,
emails etc., to suddenly appear in huge volumes, like a flood of water
rambling – of a journey or speech, to move
randomly and widely from place to place, or from topic to topic
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