Rants and Chants

Today, Sarah Palin, already well known for sentences peppered with um, er, uh, ya know, and various folksy metaphors, tweeted her 140-character thought about the proposed mosque near Ground Zero in New York City. Pleading with her opponents to see it her way, she tweeted:

Ground Zero Mosque supporters: doesn’t it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate.

However, “refudiate” is not a word. At best, it is a portmanteau of refute and repudiate and Palin subsequently reposted her tweet with refute. Except refute means “to prove wrong” or” to deny the truth or accuracy of” something, so that doesn’t really fit. In the end, she most likely meant repudiate, as in “to refuse to have anything to do with : DISOWN” or maybe even in the sense of “to refuse to accept.”

Nevertheless, when called out on her use of both refudiate and refute, Palin’s response was to compare herself to Shakespeare:

“Refudiate,” “misunderestimate,” “wee-wee’d up.” English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!

Except, she is not Shakespeare; she is not making up a new word that has a new meaning nor even combining two words whose meanings together add up to meet what she means. Instead, she did mean repudiate – it is the word that comes the closest to what she is asking peaceful Muslims to do. Sadly, her coming off as an ineloquent yahoo is not going to buy her argument much credence with intelligent Muslims.

Since Sarah Palin thinks she is equal to Shakespeare and can make up words as she sees fit, I have decided to do the same, using her name as the root of several words. Please make use of these as often as possible to help spread their use and refudiate Sarah Palin.

Palin (n): An idiot, particularly when it comes to American politics, history, geography, the role of the Vice President, diplomacy and international relations, or seemingly much of anything.

Palinate (v): Like pollinating a flower, this is the spreading of Sarah Palin’s stupidity into the minds of others, particularly where those thoughts bear fruit in the form of sensationalized activism at Tea
Parties.

Palin Comparison (n): A nonsensical mixed metaphor on a political or social topic.

Palindin (n): derived from paladin (“a trusted military leader” or “a leading champion of a cause”)  An untrustworthy sidekick who is likely to go rogue and say stupid shit that sinks your chances of becoming President. A mindless champion of a cause who verbally grasps at straws to make her argument.

Palindrone (n): Any political speech full of aforementioned um, er, ah, and ya knows. Bonus points for malapropisms.

Palinesque (adj): To earnestly say ambiguous, rambling, made-up statements full of um, er, ah, and ya know. Again, bonus points for malapropisms.

Palinode (n):  the opposite of palinode (“a formal retraction”). A Palinode is an informal, spin-doctoring follow-up that attempts to excuse something by defending it, rather than retracting it. For example, Sarah Palin issued a Palinode equating herself with Shakespeare, rather than to admit she mistakenly used a word that does not exist.

Palinver (v): same definition of palaver (“to talk profusely or idly”)

Gone Palin (v): When the person you have chosen as a trusted, intelligent, and supportive partner turns out to be exactly the opposite and sinks your career. Worse still, she proudly writes a book entitled Gone Rogue, flouting her damage to your career as an accomplishment for her.

Should Sarah Palin ever get a divorce, I refudiate her — which is to say, I refuse to date her; she is just too dumb for me. She infudiates me. Or maybe I should say she infeudiates me — since she both infuriates me and makes me want to declare a family feud between my family and hers.

But enough of the joking. Now to the true heart of the matter…

As for the subject of putting a mosque near Ground Zero,  I think it is in questionable tact and taste to do so, but this country has never legislated against either poor tact or taste (just take a drive around). In addition, there is the ambiguity of the term “near.” Yes, within the few blocks proposed is definitely an ironically poor choice of location. However, how close could a mosque be built and avoid being offensive to those who are currently offended by it? Mid-town? Staten Island or Brooklyn? The Bronx? Westchester? Murfreesboro, TN? Sheboygan, WI? Let’s face it, whether it is a block away, a state away, or half a world away, we all live on the same planet and we had all better start figuring out how to live together.

Moreover, any legal effort via any governmental organization to block it would run up against the First Amendment restriction that no law can prohibit the free exercise of religion. At best, the issue can only be resolved through public discourse and negotiation – for those on both sides to not only explain their positions, but to listen and  be willing to find some middle ground and define where would be an acceptable location. To make that appeal, however, peaceful, intelligent Muslims must not be asked to “refudiate”, but to appreciate that if America will be tolerant of them, they should show similar tolerance and respect by considering another location. Moreover, both sides should engage in a peaceful and intelligent dialogue about what constitutes a reasonable, acceptable location. Perhaps Sarah Palin could spearhead a fundraising effort to acquire land just a few more blocks further away? But I suspect she would refudiate the merit of such diplomacy – which makes this probably the first time refudiate has actually been used with the dual meaning of refute (to deny the truth of) and repudiate (to refuse to be involved.) So maybe I’m Shakespeare now.

For more insight, I recommend these two news stories:

• Islamophobia and the Muslim center at Ground Zero
• Controversy Surrounds Construction of Mosques Across U.S.

All legitimate definitions cited in this posting were checked with Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition. A copy of it should be sent to Sarah Palin.