Furor

/ˈfyo͝oˌrôr,ˈfyo͞oˌrôr/

noun

frenzy, a state of great public excitement
It is to this ardor for making oneself the topic of conversation, to this furor to distinguish oneself which nearly always keeps us outside ourselves, that we owe what is best and worst among men, our virtues and vices, our sciences and our errors, our conquerors and our philosophers, that is to say, a multitude of bad things against a small number of good ones.
– from Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 – 1778)