- Joined
- Jan 16, 2017
When I was younger I did form relationships of great admiration and trust for people who seemed to offer me something I wanted - we're talking about business partners or people I collaborated with on art. All of those people let me down, they were just very charismatic and were able to use charm to hide the fact that they didn't know what the fuck they were doing any more than I did. I wanted guidance in my career and these people seemed successful, so I followed them, and ended up disappointed.
I think this is the same process but even less healthy because it's so one-sided. People in their 20s, particularly men, often grow up without anyone to look up to. Either their dads are absent or they suck (or seem like they suck). It's easy to feel lost in your early 20s in particular, you're cut loose from your family and education and suddenly you have all these choices you have to make, all these responsibilities, and no idea which of those choices are the right ones. So if someone comes along and says "this is what you should believe, this is the role you should play, these are the answers to all the question you feel so lost about", it's very tempting to fall into that. The e-celeb may not be trying to start a cult, they just express their opinion because that's what you do on the internet. But seeing someone confident, who you can relate to, who has firm and (supposedly) thought-through opinions that perhaps fit with what you already believe, following such a person makes you feel less alone and overwhelmed with choices. What should I believe? Well I can just believe what Metokur/Asmongold/Hassan/Boogie believe, they're cool and funny and (supposedly) successful.
It's an easy, pre-fabricated set of choices that you can take and believe in, but the problem is that you end up following the person more than their ideas. And most people are fallible, and once you have your ideas of morality and politics caught up in your relationship with some guy behind a screen, you're going to end up loyal to them more than their values, so when that person fucks up and reveals themselves to be a piece of shit or a failure, many people will stay loyal because that person represents who and what they want to be.
I think this is the same process but even less healthy because it's so one-sided. People in their 20s, particularly men, often grow up without anyone to look up to. Either their dads are absent or they suck (or seem like they suck). It's easy to feel lost in your early 20s in particular, you're cut loose from your family and education and suddenly you have all these choices you have to make, all these responsibilities, and no idea which of those choices are the right ones. So if someone comes along and says "this is what you should believe, this is the role you should play, these are the answers to all the question you feel so lost about", it's very tempting to fall into that. The e-celeb may not be trying to start a cult, they just express their opinion because that's what you do on the internet. But seeing someone confident, who you can relate to, who has firm and (supposedly) thought-through opinions that perhaps fit with what you already believe, following such a person makes you feel less alone and overwhelmed with choices. What should I believe? Well I can just believe what Metokur/Asmongold/Hassan/Boogie believe, they're cool and funny and (supposedly) successful.
It's an easy, pre-fabricated set of choices that you can take and believe in, but the problem is that you end up following the person more than their ideas. And most people are fallible, and once you have your ideas of morality and politics caught up in your relationship with some guy behind a screen, you're going to end up loyal to them more than their values, so when that person fucks up and reveals themselves to be a piece of shit or a failure, many people will stay loyal because that person represents who and what they want to be.