Why We Hate Tim Tebow
It’s not really about his religiosity, or even the way he uses his fame to evangelize. People, including me, are put off by Tebow because he is SINCERE, and cynical people dismiss all sincere worldviews, whether secular or religious.
Tebow exposes our cynicism. He is unafraid to care deeply and unironically about things. Maybe some of those things—football for instance—are silly, but his passion and depth of feeling are something we all hope for. (I’d like to think I lack Tebow’s sense of certainty because careful examination of the universe does not lend itself to certainty, but I might be wrong, and even if I’m not I’d argue it’s an internet-wide character flaw* to ridicule sincerity.)
Basically, it’s not about Tim Tebow. It’s about the lens through which we view him.
*obviously I don’t mean that everyone who uses the Internet struggles with sincerity, but many of us do, and imho the culture of the Internet celebrates—and not without reason—investigation and interrogation (and silliness and irony)—over certainty and sincerity.
