Stalking

There are many varied forms of stalking but all of them boil down to the obsessive need to follow the actions of a certain person past the point of what is socially acceptable and normal by societies standards. One type of stalking is the obvious crazed psychopath version of films and news horror stories of past boyfriends or classmates gone wrong. However a much more accepted and everyday occurence is the stalking of celebrities by the paparazzi. Where is the line between the two sorts? When is it ok and when does interest become obsession? Personally, like most other people I feel that the private stalking of ordinary people by a certain member of the public is essentially wrong and is in fact "being bad". The stalking of the press however seems to be a much safer one as their intentions are absolutely clear. They are not there through a disturbing obsession with the person but only because they have a job to do and it is how they and the papers and magazines they work for make their money. An example of mass media coverage is of course Michael Jackson and all of the massive publicity he got from his strange lifestyle. Yet private stalking and its dangerous effects are shown with cases such as the shooting of TV personality Jill Dando. An apparently random killing for no reason yet she must have been followed for some time for the killer to know her schedule and daily timetable. There appears to be a fine line between what constitutes as stalking that classifies as being bad and that which is media stalking whose results sit in every household across the world.