I realize I’m not breaking any new ground when I say that Sarah Palin is a flat-out degenerate. It’s been documented repeatedly here and here and countless other places, and it really doesn’t need to be repeated. America’s (least) favorite folksy hockey mom (and let’s face it—“folksy” is just a kind way of saying “retarded”) is arguably the pin-up poster girl for how deep American’s political and celebrity culture can sink.
See what they did there?
And it’s only getting worse.
As seen in the news this week, the New Oxford American Dictionary bestowed a normally impressive honor of “Word of the Year” upon Palin, praising her for the creation and use of the word “refudiate” on Twitter, which is now apparently the breeding ground for literacy, FYI. In what can only be considered an epic failure in the usage of the English language, Palin somehow combined “refute” and “repudiate” into some hybrid representation of hyper-illiteracy. Normally, a gaffe like that wouldn’t be a big deal if spoken; people trip and fall over their own words all the time while talking. However, the fact that she wrote it on Twitter—meaning she conceived a thought including the word “refudiate,” developed a sentence with the word “refudiate,” typed out said sentence and then, with all the time in the world to review the sentence for grammar, inconsistencies, etc., still hit the “Tweet” button with the full intent of rallying those desperately stupid enough to follow her—is nothing more than pure proof of why this harpy shouldn’t be allowed to wield the power of a George Foreman Grill let alone wield the power of any major political office.
But, of course, this is America, a country full of people who simmer in their own stupidity with a self-aware smile. This is a country full of people who say things like, “Well, sure, Jersey Shore is a complete atrocity, but I can’t help but watch it anyway!” as if admitting something is wrong somehow excuses you from the fact that you’re doing it. Which I guess is the reasoning behind why the New Oxford American Dictionary—who are essentially custodians for our very language—praises Palin for what even an illiterate monkey would consider a totally retarded display of written language. See for yourself:
“…in a release today, the New Oxford American Dictionary defended Palin’s use of the word. ‘From a strictly lexical interpretation of the different contexts in which Palin has used ‘refudiate,’ we have concluded that neither ‘refute’ nor ‘repudiate’ seems consistently precise, and that ‘refudiate’ more or less stands on its own, suggesting a general sense of ‘reject,’ ’ the New Oxford American Dictionary said in a press release.”
So, yeah. I’m not trying to turn this into a Palin hate piece or even an article with a loaded political agenda. What pisses me off is that the good people behind the New Oxford American Dictionary are basically rationalizing this by saying, “Whaaaaat? OK, so it’s kind of stupid and retard and even the word she mistakenly used didn’t even fit in the context she was trying to convey…so what?”
The rest of the world thinks these guys are more sane than we are. Just sayin'.
“So what.” Not to end on a smug note, but it doesn’t get much more “American” than that. I can’t imagine why other countries think we’re insane. With leaders like Palin and entities like the New Oxford American Dictionary that are stupid enough to blindly praise and follow them, it’s only a matter of time before even Japan—a country known for selling used underwear in vending machines—starts point a finger at us and whispering, “Man, those guys are FUCKED UP.”
