Hot Take: You’re not being parasocial (well, most of you).
A parasocial interaction or relationship is one where the person believes or acts as though they have a RECIPROCAL SOCIAL relationship when they don’t. That’s not what most of this community is doing.
We don’t have social relationships with these people, but we do have a different kind of relationship. They’ve intentionally built a safe space for people to feel at ease and joyful. They got a lot of us through covid. They have been giving us hope through community and joy during the worst political environment in a long time. They have raised buckets of money for causes we care about. They have shared their life experiences and made many of us feel less alone.
The community in turn has supported the Drawfee crew by contributing to their Patreon, YouTube plays, buying merch, attending conventions, and supporting their other channels and endeavors. We’ve said that we like what they are putting into the world, and have done a small part in making sure they can continue to do it.
That’s a relationship. That’s a RECIPROCAL relationship. And while it’s not social—it doesn’t entitle us to anything from them, or details about their personal lives—it does make the community’s reactions to the news about Karina extremely normal.
These people and the things they have done have been incredibly meaningful to a lot of us, and we have invested a lot in them emotionally and sometimes even financially. Because of that, it is NORMAL to care about their wellbeing. It’s NORMAL to need to vent that concern with other people in your community. It’s NORMAL to struggle with not knowing what is happening. It’s NORMAL to grieve, and in grieving, speculate(bargain).
That’s what I see this community doing for the most part. Pretty much everyone is just having a normal human reaction to something happening to people who are important to them. Most people aren’t acting like they are friends with the Drawfee crew, demanding answers, or spreading rumors. Most people are just reaching out to this community—their community—and expressing their difficult emotions the best way they know how to. That’s not a parasocial interaction with Drawfee; that’s attempting to have a social interaction about Drawfee.
Feel what you gotta feel, gang. Love y’all.