Note...It seems the post and responses have been brought down despite the fact there was no admission of wrong doing by the administrator. Fansites should never be used to attack other fans whether they are a member of the group or not. A week was too long to take any action in this instance and could have series consequences for person concerned. It was interesting the administrator made a comment that someone had contacted her employer to allegedly discredit her reputation about the post. But is was perfectly acceptable to her to discredit someone else's reputation via a fan site she administered and someone with a disability.
The Online Kitchen Party on Facebook for the Great Big Sea Community has been the subject on some discussion of my blog as it is where I find a lot of my information about the fans of Great Big Sea and some of their friends. A couple of days ago I had the opportunity to witness one of the worst attacks of cyber bullying on a Great Big Sea and Alan Doyle fan I have ever seen. It is not the first cyber bullying attack on this fan. What makes this worse and totally unacceptable is this fan has Autism and in particular Asperger’s Syndrome. I shall refer to her as K.
The Online Kitchen Party on Facebook for the Great Big Sea Community has been the subject on some discussion of my blog as it is where I find a lot of my information about the fans of Great Big Sea and some of their friends. A couple of days ago I had the opportunity to witness one of the worst attacks of cyber bullying on a Great Big Sea and Alan Doyle fan I have ever seen. It is not the first cyber bullying attack on this fan. What makes this worse and totally unacceptable is this fan has Autism and in particular Asperger’s Syndrome. I shall refer to her as K.
It
all started when a member of the group Jackie Sherry had been blocked from what
she thought was The Official Alan Doyle Fan Club page on Facebook. The Facebook
page is administered by this Great Big Sea and Alan Doyle fan K. She has been a
fan for many years and is an active participant in the fandom. Jackie Sherry
was blocked because she had allegedly criticised a photo that K had posted of
Alan Doyle.
This
is the post Jackie Sherry wrote on the Online Kitchen Party
“I have been
from The Official Alan Doyle Fan Club on Facebook…seems the owner (name)…didn’t
like when I posted I thought her comment about a physical view/photo of Alan
Doyle was inappropriate…(at first I said offensive but I meant inappropriate)
especially someone who gets paid to represent him: ( She basically said I was
being offensive to *her* for my comment. Discussions since been deleted by
her...then an admin of hers started Pm’ing me…if I can screenshot I will”.
September 8 , 2015 on Facebook.
Alan
Doyle stated on his official Twitter account soon after being asked by another
fan the only official Facebook page associated with him was his own. K removed
official from the title soon after these comments were made. Many of the official
fan pages are generated by Facebook in the hope that some fans may pick them up
have the word official in them. Some are never picked up and remain unused.
They are not endorsed by the people whose name they use.
The
members of the Online Kitchen Party were quick to weight in and cyber bullying
K (with a developmental disorder of Autism not to be confused with a mental
disorder). They showed little empathy, understanding and knowledge of the condition
of Autism that affects a person’s ability to socially interact appropriately
with others. This is a challenge for most people with Autism in their daily
face to face interactions but even more of a challenge in an online environment.
Obsessive tendencies (and in this case Great Big Sea and Alan Doyle) is another
characteristic of Autism. These obsessive tendencies and passion were confused
with getting paid to promote something. A stickler for the rules is also
another characteristic of Autism.
On
and on the cyber bullying went. Post after post and not an administrator in
sight. There were 131 post in all. Some of the members posted hundreds of words criticising K’s online and
personal behaviour over many years. I certainly can understand Jackie Sherry’s
position when she was blocked from what she thought was the official Alan Doyle
Fan Club Facebook page and she may be hurt. But these people are mature adults
on social media and are interacting with a whole lot of people who they have
probably never met and most probably strangers, not friends they have established relationships with. They are also not an adolescent teenager being
rejected by their peer group and do I assume have skills in managing
relationships.
For
the record I was also unfriended on Facebook by K after I had raised issues
about her posting a post to flame another person who in her opinion thought the
contribution she made to a particular situation was not perfect. I was
unfriended when I wrote that well to be honest some of the things K posted on
her social media pages including photos and videos were not of a high standard
and I would remind her next time she posted something. People just get offended
and block people when they can’t say or do exactly what they want. That is the
nature of social media.
Most
of the members engaging in cyber bullying were mature age women and some men
who chose not to walk away from this situation. I am wondering why these fans
sites are so important to these people when the people on them are on most
occasions strangers and people they have never met. Who cares what they think?
I don’t. I have never seen many of the members that chose to enter this
conversation before online and they are certainly not contributors that I have
noticed sharing information, photographs and other stuff online.
A
member who posted put it nicely when she said if you do not feel respected
online then walk away. She controls who
she interacts with online. That is so true. Another member felt the posts should be
left there to remind other members and control their behaviour online. But K
being cyber bullied has a developmental disorder not any other kind of disorder
that can be cured with threats, intimation and behaviour modifications. As the
members who posted stated the Online Kitchen Party has a long history of
negative behaviour that is well documented. Perhaps there needs to be some
awareness and education in cyber bullying and netiquette online and a greater monitoring by an administrator or administrators. Perhaps members so critical
of K’s behaviour should look at their own behaviour as apparently normal
functioning mature adults free from any diagnosed developmental disorder before
criticising others. Cyber bullying others is not okay.
The
administrator Helen Reynolds responded
“First : Thank
You for all being 10 years more mature than the old OKP days and for keeping
this real, honest and really anything negative was from observations and
experience not to be hurtful. Second: This is a COMMUNITY page for the Great
Big Sea community. The music has brought many people together and we’ve known
one another through his over and over. Third: I apologise for not getting here
sooner. I just relocated and don’t have the Internet yet. Fourth and Finally:
Thank you to everyone who contributed positively to the discussion and thank
you Lynda Here….”10
September 2015
It
is of course a community and fans are welcome if you agree with Helen Reynolds
and her friend LyndaHere and her bootlegging and piracy and criminal stalking. The person
being cyber bullied on this page runs an opposition page.
It
is also unfortunate many of these members are not familiar with the condition
of celebrity worship syndrome and the research. K in my opinion has never and
does not fit the criteria associated with Celebrity Syndrome Worship other than
we all probably think about our favourite celebrities a bit more than we should.
I have reposted the post I wrote a couple of years about celebrity worship
syndrome for those fans interested. They may like to take the test to see where
they fit in the celebrity syndrome worship.
Celebrity
Worship Syndrome published 6 January 2013
The basis of the article was from the research conducted by Maltby et al (2003) in their article “A Clinical Interpretation of Attitudes and Behaviors Associated with Celebrity Worship”. They developed a scale and argue there are three levels of attitudes and behaviours associated with Celebrity Worship Syndrome, entertainment-social, intense personal and borderline pathological.
The study of around 700 people aged 18 to 60 found “ 22 per cent of our sample had the low-level form of Celebrity Worship Syndrome (entertainment-social), while 12 per cent showed signs of the moderate (intense personal) form which meant they had an intense personal type relationship with their idol. Around 2 per cent of people had the most serious form of the syndrome, meaning their celebrity worship was borderline pathological."(UK Mail).
Maltby et al (2004) provides an overview of the three levels in the article ‘Personality coping. A context for examining celebrity worship and mental heath’. “Low levels of celebrity worship have entertainment–social value and comprise attitudes and behaviours like ‘My friends and I like to discuss what my favourite celebrity has done’ and ‘Learning the life story of my favourite celebrity is a lot of fun’. This stage reflects social aspects to celebrity worship and is consistent with Stever’s (1991) observation that fans are attracted to a favourite celebrity because of their perceived ability to entertain and capture our attention”.
“Intermediate levels of celebrity worship, by contrast, are characterized by more intense–personal feelings, defined by items like ‘I consider my favourite celebrity to be my soul mate,’ and ‘I have frequent thoughts about my celebrity, even when I don’t want to’. This stage arguably reflects individuals’ intensive and compulsive feelings about the celebrity, akin to the obsessional tendencies of fans often referred to in the literature (Dietz et al., 1991; Giles, 2000)”.
“The most extreme expression of celebrity worship is labelled borderline–pathological, as exemplified by items like. ‘If someone gave me several thousand dollars (pounds) to do with as I please, I would consider spending it on a personal possession (like a napkin or paper plate) once used by my favourite celebrity’ and ‘If I were lucky enough to meet my favourite celebrity, and he/she asked me to do something illegal as a favour I would probably do it’. This factor is thought to reflect an individual’s social pathological attitudes and behaviours that are held as a result of worshiping a celebrity”.
The researchers conclude celebrity worship syndrome was not an uncommon behaviour. They argue like many attitudes and behaviours carried out in moderation should not be of concern. Celebrity worship for entertainment and social reasons was not related to any mental health problems. However, when carried out for intense personal reasons and the way they engage people may be at risk of severe mental health problems including stress, anxiety and depression. Celebrity worship is seen as a coping strategy and a way of disengaging with life.
“Therefore, it may be necessary to begin to speculate how it may be possible to intervene when celebrity worship takes on intense–personal characteristics to a point of concern. The present findings inform this issue. For example, those who engage in intense–personal forms of celebrity worship are characterized as tense, emotional and moody (neuroticism). They deal with stress by disengaging (both mentally and behavioural) and by living in a state of denial…As a result, individuals who demonstrate a worrying level of intense–personal celebrity worship and who suffer from mental health problems might be best helped by understanding and addressing their emotionality”.
So do you have CWS symptoms?
So do you have CWS symptoms?
Say yes to the following and you may have low-level CWS:
- My friends and I like to discuss what my favourite celebrity has done.
- I enjoy watching my favourite celebrity.
- Learning the life story of my favourite celebrity is a lot of fun.
- I consider my favourite celebrity to be my soul mate.
- I have a special bond with my celebrity.
- I have frequent thoughts about my celebrity, even when I don't want to.
- If someone gave me several thousand pounds to do with as I please, I would consider spending it on a personal possession, like a napkin or paper plate, once used by my favourite celebrity.
- If I were lucky enough to meet my favourite celebrity, and they asked me to do something illegal as a favour I would probably do it.
- I would be very upset if my favourite celebrity got married.
What was interesting about this survey was the criteria offered by psychologists for the third level borderline pathological and suffering seriously from Celebrity Worship Syndrome and the statement ‘if I were lucky enough to meet my favourite celebrity and they asked me to do something illegal as a favour I would probably do it’. @Lyndahere did take it upon herself to do something illegal which was to make bootlegged videos of live concerts and engage in music piracy on YouTube. She then distributed links via social media and has loaded them up onto other sites for distribution. The other statement that defines this type of condition “If someone gave me several thousand pounds to do with as I please, I would consider spending it on a personal possession, like a napkin or paper plate, once used by my favourite celebrity”. @lyndahere spends thousands of dollars on travel, accommodation and tickets to see Alan Doyle and Great Big Sea and every show creates bootlegged videos for people to view on YouTube and listen to on other sites.
References.
"Do you
worship the celebs?Mail Online".
Dailymail.co.uk. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-176598/Do-worship-celebs.html. Viewed 4 January 2013.
"Do
you have Celebrity Worship Syndrome? Mail Online".
Dailymail.co.uk. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-176674/Do-Celebrity-Worship-Syndrome.html. Viewed 4 January 2013.
Maltby, J., Houran, M.A., & McCutcheon, L.E.
(2003). ‘A Clinical Interpretation of Attitudes and Behaviors Associated with
Celebrity Worship’. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 191, 25-29.
Maltby, J., Day,L., McCutcheon,L.E., Gillett, R., Houran, J & Ashe,
D.(2004). ‘Personality coping. A context for examining
celebrity worship and mental health, British Journal of Psychology, 95, 411–428
Wikipedia
Celebrity worship syndrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.mht. Viewed 4
January 2013.
