I'm thinking about parasocial relationships again and how inherently fucked up they are.
I'm not just talking about stalkerish behavior, I'm also talking about idolizing public figures, I'm talking about the CONCEPT of public figures.
The commodification of personality in this way is inherently toxic and exposing. Famous people lose the right to privacy because journalists seek to document every minor facet of their lives.
It's easy to distance ourselves from their right to privacy because "oh they're famous" or "They're called PUBLIC figures for a reason", which is an inherently toxic mindset.
Things we should know about famous people:
β’ What they choose to fund
β’ Anything else they CHOOSE to share
β’ The kinds of people they surround themselves with
Things we do NOT need to know:
β’ What they had for dinner last night
β’ How cool the last extravagant party they threw was
β’ The last person they had sex with
It is okay to consider someone a role model, it is not okay to worship the ground they walk on.
The fact that people even think we have a right to the personal information of someone famous is extremely telling about how much we actually value the person instead of the product derived from a slice of the person.
That being said, if a famous person is known to be a piece of shit, do what you would do with a normal person if THEY were a piece of shit and stop associating with them