English needs a new term
 

Okay, there's a phenomenon that needs a catchy term -- coin a new word, or a multi-word phrase -- to better describe it.

(I'm leaving the POL label off this for now, but this discussion could certainly go that way, and I will be merciless in dleeting it if this devolves into the usual POL horseshit, so be forewarned)


Here's my first example:

Setting, Cleveland. You're in the stands watching a Browns game, surrounded by ardent fans, suitably attired. There's a controversial play -- it looks like the CLE running back has fumbled the ball away in a critical situation, and that might cost the Browns an important game. (I know, work with me, this is a hypothetical)

Now, the officials are looking at a replay, to determine whether the player's knee was down before the fumble. If it was, CLE gets to keep the ball, and might win the game. If it was not, CLE loses the ball and loses all hope.

The replay goes up on the jumbo screen... and everyone has a look. It's a fairly close call, not a perfect angle.

...what do the fans around you say?

Of course, they ALL conclude that his knee was down. It's patently obvious! Any blind man could see it! Plain as day! HE WAS DOWN!


There are obviously situations where people's predisposed desires for a certain outcome not only guide their impressions of right and wrong, but they go beyond that and actually guide their impressions of true and false. Here, I don't know for certain, but I suspect that quite a lot of those Browns fans truly believe the knee was down... they want it to be true so badly than in their eyes, it's what they see.


This is a phenomenon that any psorts fan can relate to. It also seems to happen in a wide range of other settings, including the political. I have yet to see or hear a particularly effective term for it, or if I have, it's just not coming to me at the moment.


So, I present to you, the minds of FOFC, a request. What should thinking English speakers adopt as a term to describe this phenomenon? People shaping their impression of actual facts to suit the end result they desire.... we ought to call it... what?

Horseblinders Syndrome.

is this similar to saying

Cleveland fans were predisposed to think the runner was down.

There is a whole slew of work in social and social-cognitive psychology that relates to this. To start, check out the little wiki article on Cognitive Biases:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_bias



EDIT: "Confirmation Bias" may be the correct term to describe the phenomenon you wrote about above...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

OJ Syndrome

Well if it's Cleveland, it's gotta incorporate "Earnest Byner" in some way.

I think Quik wants something he can market, like a soft drink.. you know something catchy the people will get behind.

Blias

blinders + bias = Blias, the new taste sensation!

wow does that suck

I'm sure the lawyers of the board have a whole thesaurus of terms for this.

Blias + Duke homerism =

Excellent submission, and it might well be the correct clinically adopted term. I don't know, however, if it has any shot to be embraced by the non-clinical community. The great unwashed have a fondness for more down-to-earth terms.

Before we get too carried away with this, someone should check with Rich Hall. This has "sniglet" written all over it.

A term is going to be tough. The most applicable existing term would be that they are looking at the replay "through brown-(orange-?)colored glasses".

I got nothing original, though. How about a phrase - seeing it with your heart's eyes. I know it sucks but somebody outside my office just said "see it with my own two eyes" so it popped into my head. The more people that hate it, the better. Any cliché with a lifespan has a lot of haters.

The Browns have fans?

Wait, the Browns are back in the NFL?? When did this happen??

I'm not wild about it, but you're completely on my wavelength. The "blinders" concept, one way or another, rings a bell with me, too.

Homerphobia - the fear that a call will go against your team.

Listen to this guy...I hear he knows a thing or two about this sport of football that people keep talking about.

Reality blinkers

Heart's eyes is what I came up with as I read the initial post.

Hometown myopia?

I've been trying to tell everyone how smart this guy is.

Slant truth?

Adjoined convergence?

"selling to themselves"

Also known as "enron-ing".

Phenomenon in general: me-ality, meeality

As applied to sports: fanaticall (fan at i call)

That has surprising potential, I think.

What you're describing is similar, but not exactly like, the concept of the Echo Chamber.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo_chamber


Similarly, I think a big part of why everyone in the stadium thinks his knee was down is that, not only do they want it to be, but everyone around them seems to think so too.

Optical delusion

Asshat!

Bush Administrationism.

People will lose posts!

Cleveland Fan #1 - "He was down!"
Cleveland Fan #2 - "No fumble! No way!"
Cleveland Fan #3 - "Aw, c'mon ref, he was effin' DOWN!"
Cleveland Fan #4 - "I'm sensing a little confirmation bias. Let the ref's do their jobs!"

Hmmm, I don't know...

I'm not sure this directly applies, but I think it's close.

Wizard's First Rule: "People will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true." (From Terry Goodkind's, Wizard's First Rule book.)

So in this case, Brown's fans believe the knee was down because they want to believe it's true.

Although I don't think you can go around saying "Wizard's First Rule"...that's not real catchy.

Cleveland Fan #1 - "He was down!"
Cleveland Fan #2 - "No fumble! No way!"
Cleveland Fan #3 - "Aw, c'mon ref, he was effin' DOWN!"
Cleveland Fan #4 - "Dude, Wizard's First Rule. Let the ref's do their jobs!"

That's....just bad.

It's too bad IMetTrentGreen's name isn't easily converted into a verb.

You are using your [fill in your team's colors] colored glasses.

If you want something you can use with sports fans, "goggles" tends to work well. As in, you're looking at that play through your [team] goggles.

Example:
Me: "I don't know, I really think Sundin is one of the top five players in the league."
Friend: "Guy, take off your Leaf goggles, would you?

You had all day to post that, and you had to do it 30 seconds before me?

slow poke