Palintology: The Study of All Things Sarah Palin

Palintology is the study of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. It is embodied in the website Palintology.com, where Trish Houser has erected a website to following the career, exploits and anything vaguely associated with anything and everything Sarah Palin. Some in the blogosphere think it is a tad bit creepy. A couple liken it to a cult-like religion.

It actually looks a bit harmless. And it is loaded with Sarah Palin videos and articles. But there is nary a sign of anything resembling negativity.

But if Trish Houser's website isn't enough for you, Palintology is going on everywhere at the moment. Some of it is favorable Palintology. Some of it is unfavorable Palintology. Some of it is impartial Palintology. But the study of all things Palin has been and remains the hottest topics on the internet.

Much of this is due to her being an unknown quantity. Unlike Senator Barack Obama, who the public got to know little by little over the course of several months on the Democratic campaign trail, Sarah Palin has been thrust into the presidential political arena virtually from nowhere. Despite the Republican claim that Governor Palin is the most popular governor in America, their disingenuousness shines through when it is evident people in America were and are unfamiliar with her and her politics.

Which is a key reason that the internet is burning up with queries and search terms about Sarah Palin, her family, her state, her politics, her love life... everything. Political pundits and rumormongers, news reporters and articles, videos and comedians all add to the media frenzy that has become Sarah Palin. Add to this her presence on the campaign trail and at the Republican National Convention, the fact that she has been elevated to the second highest position in the United States (pending election), has made the media circus even more frenzied than it normally would have been had she merely been caught in an extramarital affair as governor of the state of Alaska. But even rumors of that kind of thing have hit the internet and has become part of the craze to become involved in Palintology.

And this writer, too, has become part of it. It is as if I and many others have become obsessed -- converted, if you will -- to Palintology. There is this avid need to know, to pursue, to search, to glean, to ascertain, to discern, to experience -- everything that can possibly be found out about Sarah Palin. In the space of a week, the governor of Alaska has become the center of study of millions, a cult of personality of an immediate nature, much larger than life. Certainly much larger than a mere hockey mom or a runner-up beauty queen.

But Palintology could become a detrimental course of study. Not to those who study but to the studied.

Sarah Palin, at the moment, is basically being vetted by the press, the media, the news, the people. Everyone is interested in Palintology at the moment. It is the most popular class on campus, the newest fad religion in town. And it will continue to be so for a while longer. The test will be to see if the focus of all the study will be able to shoulder the burden of scrutiny. And not only the scrutiny, but the insinuations and accusations, the allegations and implications. Some will be true; some will be false. Most of it will not matter either way, becoming just so much information detritus. But can the governor of Alaska persevere in the face of such an intense perusal of everything about her universe?

That remains to be seen. But Palintology is a fad cult. Its days are numbered, like all things spawned of ignorance. Knowledge will ultimately illuminate it, just as it does all cults, and people will eventually drift away from it.

Sarah Palin more likely as not is fervently praying for that day to be tomorrow...