A mechanism or tactic · 1970 · Grief
Grieving a person you never met
Collective mourning of a public figure, and the persistent argument about whether it counts. Measured in studies of soap opera finales finding grief markers the same shape as the end of a relationship.
The largest and most defensible category on this site. Losing somebody is what happens when the people you love die, and a very large number of people grieve in public and are told it is a symptom. The only unusual thing about parasocial grief is that the person could not have known you were there, and that deserves care rather than condescension.
Also in this section
The dog15000 BC · A mechanism or tacticThe story told again800 BC · A workPygmalion600 BC · A workThe congregation200 BC · A mechanism or tacticThe priest100 · A mechanism or tacticBinding1438 · A mechanism or tactic
Timelines this appears in