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It doesn't shock me at all because the entertainment industry implicitly attracts the mentally ill.
Think about it: Whenever you hear any famous person talk about how they got where they are, and what compelled them to follow this path, they give some version of the "Destined for great things" story. "I knew I was meant for something bigger than just ____." What they're saying without actually speaking the words is, "I always knew I was 'better' than the 9-to-5, 'ordinary' life that most people have to live. I wasn't meant to be a 'lowly' teacher or bartender; I was destined, handpicked by fate to be a world-famous actor/singer/rock star/athlete/etc. I always knew that one day, I would get paid exorbitant amounts of money for doing relatively nothing, and have my name be on everyone's lips and minds."
They're not necessarily TRYING to sound like a narcissist, but it is indeed a sign of narcissistic personality disorder. "I'm better than Normal People. I shouldn't have to work hard, like at a 'Normal' job. Rules shouldn't apply to me. Everyone needs to pay attention to me." That's what "I was destined for Greater Things" is code for. Every celebrity is by definition a narcissist, because they actively pursued a lifestyle that would make them forever be the center of attention, and their entire job is maintaining that level of attention, and once you're out of sight you may as well kill yourself because you only have value so long as everyone is talking about you.
When you approach the entertainment industry with the base foundation of, "Everyone involved in it is mentally ill by default (and Narcissism is only the START of it; most of these people are a stew of neuroses even before they get famous)," a lot of things start to make a lot more sense.
And then, when you look closely at the type of people who worship those same celebrities... you see a lot of the same patterns. Sickness attracts sickness.
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And no, snake is right. We were discussing this in another thread a few weeks ago; people only behave themselves because they fear punishment. Some people don't fear any man-made punishment but they're terrified of "God's" wrath. The further any society gets from being "god-fearing", the faster it spirals down the drain, because people will always revert to sociopathic tendencies when all threats of repercussions are removed. That's just the way human nature works. He's dead on about that.
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