Monday, February 10, 2020

The Tim Tebow Effect

In honor of it being the eve of an election, it is good to remember The Tim Tebow Effect, which I have written on many times. I anticipated it in 2013, and as late as 2018 was illustrating how it affected people's opinions of Donald Trump.  Still does.

Bethany also weighed in on the topic in 2016 over at Graph Paper Diaries. She had discovered it, she thinks from Chuck Klosterman, and passed it along to me. The Tim Tebow Fallacy

Her attempt at a formal definition is probably the best summary:
The tendency to increase the strength of a belief based on an incorrect perception that your viewpoint is underrepresented in the public discourse
My favorite anecdote is still the guys calling in on sports radio, staying on hold for 45 minutes in order to be able to spill their furious opinion "Tim. Tebow.  Is not. An NFL quarterback! PERIOD!"  and then hang up.
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2 comments:

  1. Sam L.1:47 PM

    You, me, the guy hiding in the closet, and 50-100 people you've never met can argue about something until the cows come home and poop on your shoes, but I WOULDN'T RECOMMEND DOING SO. Unless the comments are funny. (Very few will be, I expect.)

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  2. Assistant Village Idiot2:28 PM

    If you want humorous comments, I recommend David Thompson's blog. Coffee-spit-keyboard at least once per thread.

    ReplyDelete