Political kayfabe, affect, and epistemic vice

Mark Alfano (Macquarie University), Melina Tsapos (Lund University)

While kayfabe is most associated with the context of professional wrestling, it is a more widespread phenomenon. We think that it has also become a problematic political phenomenon, associated with its own set of epistemic vices. In this paper, we first make the concept of kayfabe more precise and distinguish it from other related phenomena. As a slogan, we propose that kayfabe is pretence with an army. That is, it is a practice that is very much like make-believe, but with added structures of social enforcement. We then postulate a functional role for modern political kayfabe in the so-called ‘marketplace of rationalizations.’ Because kayfabe is both generative and ambiguous, it can provide rationalizations for otherwise unpalatable political activity. Finally, we analyze the roles of affect and epistemic vice in the production and maintenance of political kayfabe.