Re: GG: Fans

[Kate Clunies-Ross <goldbergs@TALK21.COM>]

Anne Marble wrote  (concerning the obsessive fan who threatened GG):

>
> From what I've read in books by former FBI agents and other such experts,
> GG might have been right to be scared. The psycho fans who think they're
> married to or dating the star are the most dangerous.  John Bardo truly
> believed he was a rejected ex-boyfriend of sitcom star Rebecca Schaeffer --
> yet the only time they met was when he shot her. Ugh.

I'd like to second that. A lot has been written about Gould's tendency to
have irrational fears , for example his phobias about flying and about
'germs'.  His habitual overdressing has been descibed as a kind of armour
that protected him against the perceived perils of the outside world, and
even his strange and monotonous dietary habits may have originated in
response to a terror of vomiting that originated in childhood.

But his fear of an obsessive fan or stalker  _was_  justified, although at
the time I guess there was not as much publicity about this phenomenon as
there has been in recent years. The psycho fan doesnt even have to be living
in a fantasy of being married to, or having a relationship with, the object
of their obsession.  Here in Britain we have recently had the trial of one
Barry George,  who was found guilty of the murder of the  very popular TV
presenter Jill Dando. She, by all accounts, was an inoffensive and likeable
lady, but she was in the public eye and that was enough for George to have
seen her and become obsessed with her. He shot her dead outside her house.

It came to light later that he had a history  both of stalking women, and of
being obsessed with  female celebrities , although I have not read  that he
imagined he had actual relationships with them. But why he wished to kill
the object of his passion was not made clear; I would guess that there can
be no   explanation for this kind of thing that would really make much sense
to the "normal" run of humanity.

I am not saying that obsessions are necessarily bad. (I am of course talking
about obsessions about people, ideas, and subjects; not the sort of thing
endured by sufferers of something like obsessive/compulsive disease).
Benign bsessions - not the murderous sort! -  can be a delight, a 'grand
passion',  to the person who experiences them, even if they drive his/her
poor friends and relations to distraction and a  great tearing-out of hair.
But I simply cannot understand why anyone should want to hurt someone that
inspires such emotion in them. The idea that it is  a kind of possessive
jealousy ( "if I cant have you, nobody else will") seems to me an inadequate
explanation. In any case, the lady from Texas who threatened Gould evidently
thought of killing innocent passers-by in order to persuade him to meet her!
No wonder he declined her invitation.....!

I am  sorry if a lot of this is a bit off-topic. But the manner in which
certain celebrities such  as GG inspire such passionate  feelings ( read:
'obsessions' in some cases!) and even become (dare I say it? ) cult-figures,
is really quite interesting.