Why are some people afraid to be judged by society regarding only some things?

[Der/die AtheistIn]

I think, in general, people fear what is unpredictable, because unpredictable might mean danger, and danger might mean death. At the roots of the tree of fear is the fear of death. Up the trunk of the tree and along the many branches and twigs lie a million and one more things to be afraid of. The issue is, most people are not consciously deciphering which socially abnormal behaviors are potentially dangerous and which are essentially harmless, so weird is just seen as weird and that's it.

Now some socially abnormal behaviors are obviously destructive. A guy who runs around on drugs and robs people at gunpoint at shoots at people is seen as weird, but mostly as a danger to society. Someone who is a nudist is probably seen by most as just weird, but by very few seen as a danger to society (though the more tightly wound among us might try to convince us that we're to be more afraid of the nudist and their many moral failings).

So since most people are not very self-aware, weird is just seen as weird, and that's it. And to be weird is to be outed, and having the spotlight on you is not a comfortable feeling because it makes us feel vulnerable, because what if we're not good enough? The thought of not being good enough is a scary thought for most, even in a general sense, it is unsettling. Feeling inadequate sucks. So, instead of going outside of the norm and risking being in the spotlight, most people just decide, usually unconsciously, to just go with the program. Don't rock the boat, do what everyone else is doing.

People don't realize that society as a whole is just one big game of monkey see monkey do. There are legitimate reasons why we do things, i.e. we need to survive, and in order to survive in today's world you need to have money, and to get the money you need to have a job, etc. etc. But besides the need to survive, everything else is a big game of copycat.

Going outside of what's normal puts the focus on you, and if the focus is on you and you're the one being constantly scrutinized, maybe you don't measure up. That's why being famous tears some people completely apart. It must be hard to constantly have that much attention on you unless your personality is built for that sort of thing.

Thank you for your answer. What kind of personality do you think one needs to have in order to be able to handle being famous?