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People often discuss parasociality and how people online interface with influencers or celebrities and, like most online discourses, it has very polarizing extremes. Starting with something simple, what does "parasocial" mean? Well, a parasocial relationship is defined by the Cambridge dictionary as, "involving or relating to a connection between a person and someone they do not know personally." One may have a parasocial relationship with a fictional character but the more often discussed parasocial relationship is that of one with a celebrity and the fan. The fan knows everything about the celebrity's life, whether it be from the celebrity's own admission or something reported on by gossip accounts online, but the celebrity knows nothing of the fan, not even the name. It is a one-sided connection and the attachment formed is not really existent for one of the sides. Obviously, the fan should have no connection to the decisions of the celebrity, not their diet nor what they do as their hobbies. They "know" the person but don't REALLY know them other than what is online. Sometimes fans can get really abrasive with what they demand of the celebrity, which can cause some to end up going offline completely (for instance, Mitski is completely offline because the amount of invasive fans she would get). However, although the celebrity has no responsibility to their fans, they still have a responsibility for their platform. I see a lot of people try to argue that celebrities don't have to speak out for social issues because it can be performative, but that neglects to realize that because of the influence those famous people have, they have a sway on the opinions of those who have parasocial relationships with them. Celebrities who have spoken out for Palestine, for instance, brought a very visible rise to the support and aid sent to Palestinians. A lot of people who tout themselves as extremely against parasociality seem to think that these famous people shouldn't be using their platform to speak out about issues because its not their responsibility. To that, I have to say that it is all of our responsibilities to speak out against injustice, why is a celebrity with even more power than the average person given a pass on caring about these things. Ignoring the power of these people because you think it diminishes the parasocial power these celebrities have is deciding to remain blind to someone who could turn waves over (07/31/2024). — Mars ᓚᘏᗢ |
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