Parasocial interaction plagues media

Michael Eisenstadt, a policy advisor for John McCain, is not real.

I don't mean this in a philosophical sense. It's not his soul that's absent, nor are his mental faculties. It's not a jab at the Republican Party; they're alive and active as ever.

The physical man behind the blog does not exist.

Two filmmakers, Eitan Forlin and Dan Mirvish, originally created the character to pitch a film, according to an article in the International Herald Tribune released Thursday.

Unfortunately, the news ran with the blog, publishing what the Internet said as truth.

The U.S. public and media no longer care for philosophical association. We've become reliant on parasocial interaction.

I'm reminded of Andrew Niccol's film, "S1m0ne." A director creates Simone, or Simulation One, through a computer system. The "actress" enamors her public.

The real people appreciate the simulated human more than any other celebrity on the market.

This film sits on a shelf under the science fiction section.

The disconnected future now morphs with reality. We not only rely on information without knowing its substance; we devour it.

The American audience reveled in Tina Fey's impressions of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. More people directly quoted Fey's version of Palin ­- "I can see Russia from my house" - than those that quoted Palin herself, on anything.

Voters particularly found themselves identifying with a parasocial mentality, the anonymity attached with connecting to someone that distantly provides security. U.S. residents can truly know their potential leader through a screen.

It follows that they are warranted in judging them in whichever manner they may desire, whether they know the candidate's political stances or not.

Why do more investigative work when you already intimately know the person? This isn't new. People have judged each other for centuries.

Celebrities bear the brunt of these evaluations because they represent the cream of the crop; their glittering diamonds must be criticized. And it doesn't hurt that they're in the public eye.

This becomes absurd when it begins to apply to politicians.

Parasocial interaction is completely normal. To accept someone, we identify with them.

The acceptance level celebrities control in this culture is outrageous; socially, the public is inclined to identify with all of them.

This can be okay because they are hollow. An actor has two lives - his professional life and his own life. His professional life blows up the screen; his own life blows up the tabloids.

People couldn't take sides with Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston if they didn't identify with them. They transfer their personal experiences onto a screen, into the bodies of humanoid characters.

That people put that superficial definition on politicians, particularly a potential president, is disgusting.The people place one individual in a seat to lead the entire nation.

Should not that placement be based on the individual's professional ability, and not the caricature we create for them?

If in-depth research accompanied humans, we might care a little less about "American Idol" and a little more about the next pair of hands waiting to grasp the reins of our lives.

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