I think a lot of people connected with him on that level during their teens or young adulthood.
A while back, I worked for some bands, no one really big but people I think we all heard of, I helped with their social media and some other things, and got to know them. In my experience, this is always a disappointment and sometimes a disaster. The image they craft and put out there is nothing what they are really like. They all fight, they all burn bridges, some of them do pretty horrible things. I came away from that very disillusioned. Taking too close a look is never a good thing, imo.
Morrissey has probably been more open about these things than the people I reference above, but I have always felt his image was carefully crafted and a bit different than who he really is, good and bad, and I think he let's the facade slip now and then. I think a lot of musical stars maintain the facade better than he does, so we see the ugly parts, like we were talking about in a thread over the weekend.
The music business really is cutthroat and I think Moz, being so sensitive, does have a hard time dealing with it sometimes, and he does stupid things. I don't think he is really a deliberately vicious person. I also don't think he's alone, I do think he has friends and a social life and in the FB groups I belong to about the Smiths, Moz, etc. pics are posted from various times in his career and he does look pretty happy, imo.
This place tho, it can do a number on your head if you don't just see it as a place with strangers who really have no place in your real life and you can turn it off anytime you want to. I really don't think this is a Morrissey site, it may have been at one time, but not now, too many negative things have taken over. I have met people I like here but there are people I would never ever associate with in real life if I knew them. Do you think maybe you associate Morrissey with all the negativity here?
I think because you are aware of what you are so frightened of, you can do something about it, you know?