Great tragedy overcome can do this for you; for a little while at least. As can great achievement in science, or medicine or the arts.
The bug in the details there, of course, is that a lot can happen between what you do to get that achievement, and what you then do with that special kind of celebrity. And most especially is this so in times of great challenge to humanity in general. Which brings us to the real question here: Are the folks who get these "achievements" playing too much by the old rules, of a now increasingly corrupt, and certainly obsolete, economic operating system? And if they are, how much of that corruption has rubbed off on them?
I am certainly not qualified to make any judgements as to who would fit the bill here for bad behavior, but only a fool would think it wasn't going on at all. Then the question becomes whether those not yet tainted will speak out; both against the old rules, and how change must come now, but also as to any of their brethren who they have good reason to believe have gone over the line in cashing in on their celebrity; even as tremendous problems persist precisely because the system that caused them is still in place.
For my part I do feel that one thing is certain. Further silence from the community of scholars in general about both the needed change that society must engage in now, as well as to just how severe it is for any of their fellows to engage in said corruption, or to continue supporting a bad system for that matter, is, and ought to be, reason for a growing sense of shame.
FLEXING BICEP2
Would You Sell Your Soul For A Nobel? A Tale Of Cosmology And Ambition
Too often, scientists skirt ethical boundaries in the race for high honors. And that’s just one problem with the Nobels, a new book argues.
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