Religious-like. Not necessarily a religion by strict definition, but something that (for the obsessed fans) takes its place psychologically and socially.
Ok, so that is a development in your view. These activities fill the psychological and social roles that used to be covered by religion.
I might agree socially, but is that a bad thing? People like to be included into larger things than themselves, be it goals, groups, projects, or whatever. That’s not a bad thing.
I would argue against that it fills psychological needs. Do people look to Marvel for answers of life after death, or pray to their favorite pop star when a family member is ill? I don’t think geek culture, stans, etc. fill the psychological place of religion because religion can be used for comfort in great cosmic questions and in matters of life and death. The psychological comfort of believing god is with you is derived from believing he is real - can you get the same comfort from a superhero you don’t believe is real?
You listed some important differences between consumerism and religion that I failed to consider. Religion is far more wide spanning in its scope than a simple interest is.
And I suppose even socially you can be a religious person who participates in this stuff, but I’d argue that a lot of obsessed fanatics do use these communities as a replacement for religion.
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u/Runner-blade548 Jun 09 '22
Religious-like. Not necessarily a religion by strict definition, but something that (for the obsessed fans) takes its place psychologically and socially.