Besides the cringe invoked by seeing poor people defending those millionaires from wealthy “blue on Wikipedia” parents, could it be the sign of a community loss? Maybe it’s too bold to say this, but I feel like people, being unable to form and support real life relationships in vicious life-work cycle and everything done to us, they rely on celebrities, who are one click away. It’s even worse with youtubers, imo. Singers and actors might seem distant from a regular person, as they are, but youtubers are like your neighborhood buddy. I would love to hear what you are thinking about this, maybe I’m overanalyzing.
No this is not at all overanalyzing, this is absolutely the case. It’s very interesting and complex how human beings are reacting to the increasingly severe and strange stimuli of late stage capitalism, particularly in a country as weirdly fucked as America is (IMO). At its core, it is really sad to look around and be surrounded by people on all sides who barely have any real friends or deep relationships.
It’s also interesting to me how celebrities have gone from being untouchable gods who exist on another plane, only meant to be caught in a glimpse of shining light, to your Best Friend who is Cool and Perfect in Every Conceivable Way. It’s the same thing, just adapted to the times. Kings had to take off their jeweled crowns and silky robes in exchange for Patagonia vests and slacks, or Nikes and face tats, depending on the flavor of capitalism you have curated for yourself.
I have particularly had an isolated upbringing and have fallen victim to parasocial relations more times than I care to admit. I’m fighting to have healthy relationships with those close to me but everything under capitalism meets in perfect synchronicity to make this difficult: people move and spread out chasing jobs, people are too busy and exhausted, time is deeply commodified, people never learn how to properly make friends or maintain them or build emotional intelligence, people drop people for the shiny new thing in an instant, groups of people are incredibly niche and unwelcoming to outsiders, people are conditioned to be deeply misanthropic, fake, dispassionate, myself all included.