By your knowing of them ye shall know them

Ubiquitous recognition comes in many forms.

In the 1970s, for example, Mick Jagger's former wife, Bianca, was "well known for being well known."

In the present day, a man called John Basedow is a "fitness personality."

In 2008, Gawker remembers:

Perhaps the weirdest attack John McCain made against Barack Obama in 2008 was his brief summer campaign charging that Obama was a celebrity. Because Americans, you know, like celebrities. And this year's Republicans have finally learned that lesson.

Americans like popular people. They like winners. "Personally identifying with the fabulously wealthy people on television" is basically our national past time.

But Barack Obama was a Celebrity in the traditional sense: he was famous for a reason (politically gifted attractive young Senator with real shot at being the first black president). He was magnetic and charming. Most importantly, his media presence was carefully and effectively managed by professionals. He was apart from the scrum and the masses.

And now we have a new measure of known-ness:

The new breed of Republican rising stars? They are not Celebrities. They are Fameballs. Just take a gander at Hamilton Nolan's instructions for becoming a Fameball and ask yourself how many of them Sarah Palin appears to be following.

In what remains Jakob Lodwick's sole positive contribution to the culture, he defined "fameballs" (in one sentence!) as "individuals whose fame snowballs because journalists cover what they think other people want them to cover."