Sports fan politics - “Refudiate”

What is sports fan politics? It’s where you pretend to care about something that you wouldn’t care about if someone from a political party you support had said/done it. I got the term from Ed Brayton on this podcast which deals with the book “mistakes were made” (which is excellent and should be read by all).

Here is a good example of sports fan politics:

Gathered from our referrers page, here are some reactions to Sarah Palin’s now-famous “refudiate” post on Twitter.

Many people (but by no means all) seem to be focusing on Palin’s neologism, and missing the real point — the bigotry and hatred her statements on the so-called “Ground Zero mosque” endorse.

…

Ben Smith: Sunday reading: Refudiate

The New Yorker: Meme Watch: ShakesPalin

The Atlantic Wire: Palin Demands Muslims ‘Refudiate’ NYC Mosque, Sparking Criticism, Mockery

Language Log: Refudiate?

Bob Cesca: Refudiate

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/36778_Refudiation_Round-Up

“Refudiate” seems to be a combination of “refute” and “repudiate”. It seems to be the kind of brain fart that I would make on a daily, nay, hourly basis.

I’ve made silly typos and I’ve garbled words. In my “problems with feminism” video I pronounce Simone de Beauvoir’s last name as “boo-vee-ey”. Oops.

It doesn’t matter. It’s inconsequential crap. If someone writes something that is basically incomprehensible then I can understand making a fuss about it. It’s like the people who say “you expect to take me seriously” when I make a typo in a blog post pr essay transcript. The idea that you discount the argument of a person based upon a mistaken work or typo is self evidently stupid as they will not do so when they see it in the writings of a person they like. It’s something that happens only when you don’t like the person or the ideas (and therefore the person) and the brain seeks to reduce dissonance by settling on whatever reason it can to dismiss those ideas or that person. This is a psychological theory of the mind known as “cognitive dissonance” and it' is a very important theory.