Gern makes some valid points about the cult of celebrity. In the absence of any valid religious beliefs among the masses, money becomes a sacrament, and fame a form of sainthood. I don't buy the argument that we all individually share guilt when a public figure is assassinated, but there is a degree of truth in the statement that fame reduces many individuals possessed of great talent to mere icons of fame, and as symbols they become targets of those sick individuals who would achieve their fame through the destruction of people like Lennon and Harrison.