This is an excellent and critically needed article. As someone who is not famous I was struck by the similarities of being stalked for 30 years . I could not got to the supermarket without my ex receiving false reports about how my daughter was dressed and what items were in my grocery cart. I was photographed without consent while sitting at a cafe having a cup of coffee. Emergencies concerning my kids were actually set into motion and scheduled on my first day of a new job or the morning I was supposed to come home and rest after a colonoscopy. And today I have serious physical conditions as a result of three decades of being hunted and my privacy and right to exist violated.
As for the public’s lack of empathy towards famous people I think it boils down to heartlessness and envy. I think it is horrible and horrifying that so many people enable this abuse to continue. True fans of anyone would seek to protect and support the recipients of their admiration. I so vividly remember as a young girl watching in horror as Elvis Presley was allowed to self destruct . Girls swooning and screaming in infatuation while being completely blind to him performing while trembling and sweating - obviously ill and in need of medical care. This is not love or respect. It is a horrifying comment on the lack of awareness and compassion on the part of the public.
When Covid first struck and the theatres went dark so many people expressed such sadness. I could not help thinking well, maybe as beautiful and wonderous as the arts may be perhaps an industry the harms and abuses it’s artists, children, women, men alike is not so beautiful in the eyes of the universe and we have all been cosmically sent to our rooms for a rethink.
In order for any of this to change I think the concept of competition has to be discarded from education all the way up through the highest realms of society. Until people really internalise that they can only be their best when everyone can be their best and that someone else’s success in a just society (which also has yet to exist) never is at the expense of theirs will people begin to believe that there is enough room in the sky for every star.
A large proportion of people see the problems you described as "the price you pay" for fame and riches, which makes the tremendous wealth inequality bearable to them.
This is an excellent and critically needed article. As someone who is not famous I was struck by the similarities of being stalked for 30 years . I could not got to the supermarket without my ex receiving false reports about how my daughter was dressed and what items were in my grocery cart. I was photographed without consent while sitting at a cafe having a cup of coffee. Emergencies concerning my kids were actually set into motion and scheduled on my first day of a new job or the morning I was supposed to come home and rest after a colonoscopy. And today I have serious physical conditions as a result of three decades of being hunted and my privacy and right to exist violated.
As for the public’s lack of empathy towards famous people I think it boils down to heartlessness and envy. I think it is horrible and horrifying that so many people enable this abuse to continue. True fans of anyone would seek to protect and support the recipients of their admiration. I so vividly remember as a young girl watching in horror as Elvis Presley was allowed to self destruct . Girls swooning and screaming in infatuation while being completely blind to him performing while trembling and sweating - obviously ill and in need of medical care. This is not love or respect. It is a horrifying comment on the lack of awareness and compassion on the part of the public.
When Covid first struck and the theatres went dark so many people expressed such sadness. I could not help thinking well, maybe as beautiful and wonderous as the arts may be perhaps an industry the harms and abuses it’s artists, children, women, men alike is not so beautiful in the eyes of the universe and we have all been cosmically sent to our rooms for a rethink.
In order for any of this to change I think the concept of competition has to be discarded from education all the way up through the highest realms of society. Until people really internalise that they can only be their best when everyone can be their best and that someone else’s success in a just society (which also has yet to exist) never is at the expense of theirs will people begin to believe that there is enough room in the sky for every star.
A large proportion of people see the problems you described as "the price you pay" for fame and riches, which makes the tremendous wealth inequality bearable to them.