There are people who find themselves interesting by proxy alone. They need someone interesting to be friends with, so that people might be interested in them as a side dish… And then change their mind about them both, elevating the uninteresting person over the interesting one.
The basic play
This is more or less the play, I believe it to be instinctive rather than an act of evil. They may also not FEEL LIKE they’re doing anything wrong. Just something they’ve discovered to work in past lives, maybe then by design, and now they do it out of sheer instinct:
- First, establish an idealized connection to the star in the mind of their target individual (like a fan). “Otherworldly friendship.” “We are very tight, very close.” “We’ve been friends since forever.” “I owe so much to Star; they’ve helped me so much,” which means to say “I love Star, I would never hurt them, or speak ill of them, as I care for them as much as Star holds me in high esteem; I am valuable to Star.”
- Once the subject believes Star and Friend are as close as friends get, they start implying that Star is selfish and abusive. Still, Friend is a long-suffering victim of a powerful, gorgeous, and well-loved master manipulator that people can’t see the true face of because of their status value.
- Gradually, the target person the Friend is speaking to will start seeing Star as a manipulator and a narcissist, and start feeling like Friend deserves protection and comfort. Power-position has shifted.
Variation for attention alone: Persons of interest.
There is a variation to this strategy when we’re talking about a more opportunistic situation. Imagine there’s been a murder, and the murder suspect is of high interest. A former friend can start exaggerating their connection to the suspect (or the victim), even to the police to gain status and a sense of importance in the exciting event.
They may exaggerate their knowledge of the suspect or the matters at hand to gain attention for themselves, without caring for a minute about the disturbance to the investigation they will cause. They are not interested in protecting the murderer, they simply want to feel important.
Judgment and a victim of perception
These people play on a person’s need to be a critical thinker and open-eyed. Ironically, their need not to be a fool is played against them to make a fool out of them. So instead of actually seeing the situation for what it is, a “critical person” will allow themselves to be helped to see whatever the manipulator wants them to see.
A person of interest does not have to be a celebrity either, and definitely a non-famous, attractive person that celebrities take a genuine interest in will be a subject to sabotage of this nature, dressed as “concern” for the celebrity… And sometimes, the concern is real.
Stick around, baby cakes, for tips on deciding who is NOT full of s***.