I’ve just seen the news on the Daily Mail website and gasped.
I had already started to see from the people who had been covering the story quite intensely, that they had started to feel quite sorry for him. There was obviously a problem underlying all of this. Reality bites i’m afraid. I’m sure the last few weeks, being made to face his reality has been excruciating for him. He’s obviously had to process that a lot of his claims were just not plausible to the wider public. No one hated this man. If anything they were intrigued by it. I was only thinking the other day - they’ll probably make a movie out of it.
Unfortunately those people in academia, in the media, in publishing, indulged this man’s fantasies which is just the worst thing you can do. I speak as someone who has struggled with MD - Maladapituve Daydreaming since my teens. It is a mental health condition linked to BPD. I’ve never acted out and have always had a clear sense of reality and fantasy, but the compulsion has still been very damaging. I am of course only speculating, but it’s hard not to. It has been a very bizarre story, which to me, came out of nowhere.
I’m sorry to hear he’s passed away. I really wish he hadn’t taken this extreme measure. It would have blown over as a news story eventually. Very sad.