2 comments
I think it's interesting that at least one end of a parasocial relationship seems to involve relating not to a person (not even in a pretend way) but to a <i>collective</i> of persons where you don't even know the individuals. This is what the relationship looks like on the side of artists, youtubers, but also comments who address their posts as "hey r/something" or "hey HN" (or threads like this) - or bloggers.<p>Feels to me, that is a different kind of parasocial relationship than the pretend interpersonal relationship of relating to a specific celebrity.
What the author is describing sounds a lot like idolatry.