As of late, a few blogs have discussed this issue – and so here is my take on everything. The subject I am referring is - the behavior of fans in the Manilow world.
The way I see it, fans of any artist have their extremes. That is the way life is. I can only attest to what I see in the Manilow world because it is the world I thrust myself into. First, the idea of fanatical behavior is subjective, but (and it should be a huge but with lights flashing and everything) some behavior is obviously outrageous no matter who is watching, i.e., rushing the stage, pulling on Barry and not letting go, grabbing a part of his personage – no matter how you slice that, it is outrageous.
Now here is what those of you visiting my blog A LOT lately have been looking for. My two cents on the matter.
The competition between the fans is always there (Stevie Wonder can see it), but like anything in life one can partake in it or not. Who cares about the number of dances one has? Handshakes? Meet & Greets? Platinums? Granted, I truly believe some people come on to talk about it because they are legitimately happy and want to share their experiences; there are others that use the experience to gloat “see what happened to me and it didn’t happen to you.”
Whenever this discussion is brought up, some of the behaviors are rationalized by saying that the ones talking about it are being jealous. As I stated about the mentioning of these special moments – the same goes for the jealousy of said events. Some posts may be made in jealousy, while others are simply stating the truth because it is so obvious.
I enjoy the friends I have made because of Barry, and had I never ventured onto the board a few years ago – our paths never would have crossed. However, there are some times I hate I ever did. The times of just enjoying Barry and his music was nice without all of the drama that people bring. Life is so short, and the bickering and nastiness is so unnecessary. Even if you stay on the outskirts of it all, you cannot help getting disgusted.
An outsider just “googling” Barry Manilow will happen upon the site and wonder what the hell is going on? Are these teenagers carrying on like this? What is wrong with Manilow? Yes, it will and probably does happen. Barry is about to get out promoting his CD; the average person wanting to know more will “google” his name. At this point, there is no telling what they will find.
When people have fun, it is a wonderful thing, but sometimes that crosses a line. Think for one moment, there are a group of people carrying on, and saying things (sometimes not appropriate for public viewing) about you – how would you feel? What about if you were trying to entertain people and a few of said people pull at you? What about going out with friends and you are stared at like you are on display behind a piece of glass? Yes, he is an entertainer but not a zoo animal or lab specimen.
I know I have blogged about this before, but I just had to get it off my chest. Now get to cutting and pasting and sending it to each other like I am sure you will do. Maybe it will cause someone to think before they type. It is a free country, but we are not free to say and do anything in the name of fun at the cost of people’s feelings or dignity.
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