It’s not surprising: my posts about heartbreak, embarrassing confessions about being jilted by a z-list, Roy Orbison-wannabe get the most hits. People don’t want to think about class or examine consumption; they want to know what the TrueAnon guy did.
I’ve never leaned into giving people what they want. I veer more toward giving people what they need. With that in mind, today I’d like to look at something that, much like nepotism, has been misshapen, disfigured by popular culture and our now permanent states of ironic detachment.
Occasionally I will look at Reddit. Honestly, I’d rather look at Reddit than TikTok, but that’s just me.
The other day, stoned and sad, I scrolled through Fauxmoi and Popculturechat, two popular subreddits for celebrity gossip. I go for the comments, which are a fascinating window into how people consume and digest pop culture and mainstream media.
One thing I keep seeing, over and over again in the past year or two, is the continuous misuse of the term “parasocial” and a general misunderstanding of the concept. I don’t doubt the same happens (probably in even more unhinged ways) on TikTok.
This is due to something I wrote about for #6. The Twitterfication of discourse. Running concepts and theories through a short-lived trending cycle to which the ironic posturing is the overwhelming response. Once it has gone through this process, the idea will always attract groans and dismissal, a desire to reduce it.
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