Nationality: American

Occupation: Student

Residence: San Diego, CA

Text:

In March of 2023, just before opening day, Congressman George Santos published a video on Twitter wearing a Mets jersey where he incorrectly chanted “Let’s go Mets”. This video was posted while he was enveloped in an enormous fraud scandal, which would ultimately lead to him being expelled from Congress and sentenced to seven years in prison. The moment that the video was released, my friend was convinced that George Santos had just cursed the Mets for the 2023 season. Despite starting the year as World Series favorites, the Mets went on to win less than half of their games and miss the playoffs. In 2024 after George Santos was expelled from Congress, the Mets unexpectedly made a playoff run which was proof to my friend that Santos cursed the Mets and the curse was lifted when he was gone.

Context:
My friend lives in New York’s third congressional district, which is the district Santos represented and where the Mets play home games. He was not old enough to vote when Santos was elected, but he hated him and wanted him to be removed from office. After Santos posted the cringeworthy video on Twitter, jokes appeared online that he had just cursed the Mets and that the Mets could never win with him in office. My friend latched onto this idea, and throughout the season whenever the Mets lost he would text me about how the George Santos curse is killing the Mets.

Analysis:

This belief is a clear example of Frazer’s idea of the Law of Similarity in magic. The Law of Similarity states that a magician will produce a desired effect by mimicking it. In this case George Santos was (unintentionally) the magician, and he transferred the negativity surrounding himself onto the Mets by wearing their jersey. Following this idea, it makes sense that the curse would be lifted after Santos was expelled. Prior to being expelled from office Santos was hated for being a fraudster, but after he was expelled people began to find him amusing. This changing energy surrounding Santos was reflected in the Mets turnaround, where they unexpectedly had a great season in 2024.