usrnm wrote:
This has become my object of fascination when it comes to DGR. Seth is pretty understandable at this point. There's nothing surprising or interesting to me anymore, he's a known entity now.
But his followers? The nature of their relationship? It's fascinating to me. I don't quite understand it yet. I just can't get past the fact that so many people relate to Seth in a way that I judge as, for lack of a better word, pathetic. They pay him money and follow his accomplishments and THANK HIM for providing whatever he is giving them. But I still don't understand what it is. Add on top that he talks like a kid and seems to be catering to children, and full-blown 50 year old men are commenting every single day hoping he'll acknowledge them and showing up to his group runs. And I'm still like, WHAT DO YOU GET?? To me there are some people that just have the predisposition towards parasocial relationships. People who obsess over podcast hosts, fictional TV show characters, influencers, basically any relationship that is essentially a one-way street where one party doesn't even know the other exists. On some level it makes me sad to know that there always have been and always will be people with so many issues that their primary relationships in life are not reciprocal at all.
I'm sure there are plenty of legitimate criticisms against me for writing this. But I just wanted to see if anyone else is as fascinated as I am with the type of one-way relationship that characterizes so much of the DGR fandom. It makes me feel like becoming a cult leader and just taking it steazy - there is apparently no shortage of warm bodies to fall in line behind me!
I agree 100%. In fact, I use the term "true believer" deliberately as a nod to "The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements" by Eric Hoffer. DGR hasn't quite risen to the level of a "mass movement" thankfully so it's not as extreme as some actual legit cult or something, but nevertheless there are some parallels in my opinion between the type of person that Hoffer argues is susceptible to being drawn into a group as a fervent adherent and the type of person that devoutly supports Seth's vlogs and lifestyle.
There are plenty of other related phenomena that are predicated on similarly unreciprocated relationships and group conformity: MLMs, cults, and conspiracy theorist groups come to mind. To get more controversial and piss some people off probably, also most religions. And most of all, the fanatical red-hat / Q people who worship Trump. It is what it is, can't really have this discussion without acknowledging the most egregious example.