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Comment by scop | Hacker News Reader

I wasn’t particularly fond of Saget, but I know that Norm Macdonald (a man I did deeply respect) held him in the highest regard and thus I have this sort of laundered respect for him. Isn’t it curious when you don’t look up to a man “directly”, but find admiration for him through someone who you do admire?

Edit/addendum: I suppose it is kind of like when you’re parent loves a certain musician, movie, comic, etc. You may not find them too entertaining, but you always tip your hat to them due to your parent’s respect.

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I think in this particular case it's because many people's first impression of him was as the dad on a cheesy sitcom or as the cheesy host on a family-friendly funny video show. It's not like we had YouTube clips of his edgy stand-up stuff back then, so he kind of got pigeonholed as almost but not quite funny.

During the Chris Farley documentary Bob stuck around for 2 & a half hours telling Chris Farley stories because he wanted to tell each and every one.

I'm in the same boat; you should listen to Saget's tribute to Norm if you haven't already.

I understand that effect well, though I know no name for it, and I've never heard another person mention it before now. Kind of odd given how prevailing it seems. How it shapes our senses.

Since this is the first time I've heard it described, and since it seems like an important artifact of human cognition, I propose we call this the "Scop Effect" (unless of course it already has some other name or definition elsewhere).

This feels profound to me.

It’s called cognitive dissonance.

> According to this theory, when two actions or ideas are not psychologically consistent with each other, people do all in their power to change them until they become consistent. [0]

In this case, OP didn’t like Saget but admired Macdonald — who DID like Saget. OP resolved this conflict by admiring Saget as well.

[0]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

You’ve never heard of reputation until just now?

This is more than a chain of reputability. Someone you hold in esteem confers some of your feelings for them onto their preferences.

A parent likes a certain band. A lover likes a certain restaurant. A deceased person you respected held high opinions of someone you weren't necessarily fond of, but that you're now willing to overlook or reconsider.

There's a tinge of emotion.

Steve hoffstetter also has some very kind words about him. His post was how I even found out. But you could tell he had a very good relationship and it was very sincere

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