"...but youngsters with no special talent, like Ms. Cinkle..."<p>Not so sure that's fair: I see this a lot with young 'stars' being 'talentless', in this case, being smart enough (both to use it for a good cause and to be able to use it in this way) to capitalize on her 'fame' "to generate money and attention for earthquake relief for Japan" or raise money "for Cystic Fibrosis Walk" is pretty impressive, and remember, she is 14 years old; I don't think most in her situation wouldn't be capable of doing that.<p>EDIT: I just felt like adding this because I see this sort of thing a lot, sure, she may not have demonstrated talent in the video but what she's done afterwards has definitely demonstrated that she's a smart kid, and, 'sly bashing' like that is so unnecessary (and prevalent).
« <i>In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.</i> »<p>Andy Warhol was right, and here we are.<p>Indeed, capitalising on those 15 minutes, and making money out of it while you can is a good idea.
The phenomenon of kids becoming famous very young isn't new. If anything, kids are older now when they become famous. Michael Jackson's career started at <i>five</i> -- this didn't have a very good outcome for his psyche later in life, but the point stands.