Before the Internet, it was a lot harder for crazy people to get attention. On a December night in 1980, Mark David Chapman stood outside an Upper West Side apartment building and put four bullets into a Beatle. His admitted motive – one that has not wavered in all the ensuing years – seemed a peculiarly cruel anomaly then. He was chasing fame. Thirty years later, who isn't?
Speaking to Larry King a decade ago, Chapman talked about the "rock bottom" self-esteem of celebrity stalkers, noting, "They feel that by writing fan letters or actually coming in close contact with a celebrity, they feel important. If you have nothing to start with, and your life consists of fantasizing about celebrities or being with them, that can become very dangerous. And that is a phenomenon in this country now that has to be addressed." This may sound strange, but that psycho killer has a good point.
Earlier this month, Chapman was up for -- and denied, for the sixth time in his three decades behind bars at Attica -- parole for the killing of John Lennon. His recent hearing gives new insights into the mind of a man who has had a lot of time to think about his actions, who's most certainly been well coached by his attorneys, and who predictably attributes his salvation to Jesus, but who nevertheless possesses a perverse amount of insight into the cult of celebrity. At his hearing, Chapman spoke of choosing Lennon not because of a fixation on the former Beatle in particular, but because "by killing John Lennon I would become somebody." He had also considered Johnny Carson and Elizabeth Taylor -- "They were famous. That was it." He chose the musician because he was "more accessible," and his motive was simple. "Instant notoriety. Fame."
http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/celebrity/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2010/09/17/mark_david_chapman_fame_monster
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