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At the core it's not that much different from how people have reacted over the ages to anyone dissing their favorite athlete, or the Pope, or making fun of the

At the core it's not that much different from how people have reacted over the ages to anyone dissing their favorite athlete, or the Pope, or making fun of the prophet Muhammad. Once you take on a person or idea as part of your core, any attack upon that person or idea becomes a VERY personal attack upon you, and the response is visceral and irrational (I suspect that it actually suppresses the higher functions of the brain). I've watched so many people come apart at the seams when one of their sacred cows were attacked, even becoming violent in some cases. The only difference nowadays is the speed with which people can reach this level of reveredness.

hackyhacky 3y ago
> the Pope, or making fun of the prophet Muhammad over the ages. Good point. Religion is the ultimate parasocia relationship.
- xwolfi 3y ago
  Your God doesnt even have to exist for It to be powerful at moving hordes of monkeys towards the ennemies Its priests foam insults at.
- rightbyte 3y ago
  The direction is the other way though. And it is a one way relationship. It is not the same concept as "influencer" fans, unless the diety is alive of course.
  - achenet 3y ago
    the Egyptian pharaoh was a living diety. Kinda funny to think of them as old-school influencers.
  - hackyhacky 3y ago
    How is it the other way? The relationship of a believer to God is similar to that of a fan to, say, Taylor Swift. In both cases, the follower imagines a personal relationship that doesn't exist. The only substantial difference is that behind Taylor Swift's fictional public persona there is an actual human being (which is mostly irrelevant to the parasocial relationship). edit: spelling
TeMPOraL 3y ago
> The only difference nowadays is the speed with which people can reach this level of reveredness. There is one other difference too: there's now an entire economy built around getting people to "this level of reveredness" for someone - doesn't matter who or why, the specific person or idea are not the point - and then pitting those someones against each other in dramas that are totally genuine and not at all unscripted. The point is to trigger and maintain this "visceral and irrational" response, because while in this state, the followers will happily buy pretty much any kind of high-margin, low-value garbage their favored online persona endorses, and they'll even feel good about it. It's a money printed machine. I mean, it's one thing when people got angry over someone insulting the Pope, or the prophet Muhammad. It's different when you imagine Pope and prophet Muhammad were two besties, pitting their followers against each other, so they can sell them merch, raking in amounts of money they could've never get on their own. The latter is what's happening today, at scale.

hackyhacky 3y ago

> the Pope, or making fun of the prophet Muhammad over the ages. Good point. Religion is the ultimate parasocia relationship.

xwolfi 3y ago
Your God doesnt even have to exist for It to be powerful at moving hordes of monkeys towards the ennemies Its priests foam insults at.
rightbyte 3y ago
The direction is the other way though. And it is a one way relationship. It is not the same concept as "influencer" fans, unless the diety is alive of course.
- achenet 3y ago
  the Egyptian pharaoh was a living diety. Kinda funny to think of them as old-school influencers.
- hackyhacky 3y ago
  How is it the other way? The relationship of a believer to God is similar to that of a fan to, say, Taylor Swift. In both cases, the follower imagines a personal relationship that doesn't exist. The only substantial difference is that behind Taylor Swift's fictional public persona there is an actual human being (which is mostly irrelevant to the parasocial relationship). edit: spelling

TeMPOraL 3y ago

> The only difference nowadays is the speed with which people can reach this level of reveredness. There is one other difference too: there's now an entire economy built around getting people to "this level of reveredness" for someone - doesn't matter who or why, the specific person or idea are not the point - and then pitting those someones against each other in dramas that are totally genuine and not at all unscripted. The point is to trigger and maintain this "visceral and irrational" response, because while in this state, the followers will happily buy pretty much any kind of high-margin, low-value garbage their favored online persona endorses, and they'll even feel good about it. It's a money printed machine. I mean, it's one thing when people got angry over someone insulting the Pope, or the prophet Muhammad. It's different when you imagine Pope and prophet Muhammad were two besties, pitting their followers against each other, so they can sell them merch, raking in amounts of money they could've never get on their own. The latter is what's happening today, at scale.