# Meta-Irony

###### tags: `Higher Ironies Project`

[TOC]

## Philosophical Foundation of Meta-Irony

As discussed in the [previous section](/7PLp1rfdQCSzrEbZN1KSkQ?both), **Post-Modernism** is founded upon a philosophical contradiction. It asserts there is no such thing as objective truth and yet its aim is to use **deconstruction** to prove things to be be objectively false. **Post-Modernism**, it turns out, still believes in at least one objective truth: that all truth is subjective. **Post-Modern deconstruction** claims to dismantle all supposedly objective truths, but really it rests on a fundamental belief that there *are* such things as "true" and "false"--otherwise, what would the point of **deconstruction** be?

But of course, these beliefs are contradictions. If all truth is subjective, then the statement "all truth is subjective" cannot, in fact, be an objective truth. Conversely, if one holds the statement "all truth is subjective" to be objectively true, then one doesn't actually believe that all truth is, in fact, subjective. **Post-Modernism** has no way of escaping this fundamental paradox.

This leads to the question that we ended with last chapter: what happens when **Post-Modernism** is given a taste of its own medicine? What will be the result when **deconstruction** is, itself **deconstructed?**

**Meta-Irony** proposes an answer: agnosticism.

<p align="center"> <img width="350" height="500" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/What_is_truth.jpg"> </p>

*What is truth?" -- Pontius Pilate to Jesus Christ (John 18:38)*

## Meta-Irony Defined


**Meta-Irony** can be defined as follows:
* **Meta-Irony:** Irony that subverts the idea of using **traditional irony** to convey a **sincere** message.

As we discussed in the section on **[Traditional Irony](/jsglmXe9SvKVl4f2HI7JJA)**, although **traditional irony** does **deconstruct** and subvert **sincere** messages, it does so in the service of its own **sincere** message--usually, the opposite of the message it is **deconstructing** and mocking. Remember [*Tensions Mount After North Korea Destroys All Of Asia*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8nrdiQqFAs/): although the video employed **traditional irony**, it still conveyed a **sincere** point. Or remember [*Charlie the Unicorn*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsGYh8AacgY): although the video was obviously **ironic**, it still adhered to a somewhat coherent structure while it was busy **deconstructing** the type of children's content it was parodying.

But now look at the image above, or remember [*charlie teh unicron episode 1*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5Nz8p3EP7A), and attempt to discern a **sincere** message contained in either.

When you inevitably fail, consider the following:

* **Traditional irony** has become the norm in internet communication, and therefore has lost the **subversive** edge it once had.
* If one wishes to be truly subversive in an age of **traditional irony,** then it is the expectation of **traditional irony,** not of **sincerity,** that one must **subvert.**
* **Traditional irony** still contains a **sincere** message.
* One way to **subvert** the expectation of **traditional irony** is by using **irony** in such a way that ***no sincere message is conveyed.***

This is **Meta-Irony.** **Meta-Irony** is the absence of **sincerity.**

This absence of **sincerity** can be conceptualized in two different, but related ways:
* As a literary device, **Meta-Irony** is the ***subversion** of **subversion.***
* **Traditional irony subverted sincerity** by conveying a **sincere** message that was the opposite of whatever the ordinary meaning of its words were, or by defying the ordinary expectations of the situation it established.
* **Meta-Irony** **subverts** **traditional irony** by conveying *no* **sincere** message, in defiance of the expectation that **irony** will be used to serve some **sincere** point, or by establishing situations in such an absurd way that it is impossible for one to have any expectations at all.
* As a reflection of the philosophy of our time, **Meta-Irony** reflects the fundamental agnosticism about truth that is left behind when even **deconstruction** has been **deconstructed.**
* **Deconstruction** *did* expose many falsehoods and contradictions in previously-held **sincere** beliefs--but **deconstruction** itself rests on a contradiction. Therefore, how can *anyone* know what truth is--what should **sincerely** be believed?

All of this said, **Meta-Irony** is a difficult concept to wrap one's head around. Exploring examples of how **Meta-Irony** is used can help to clarify the concept.

## Meta-Irony as Humor

When discussing trends in internet humor, it can be tempting to over-intellectualize. It is true that internet humor is an art form and, like all art forms, it reflects the philosophy of its time. However, in the case of any number of individual acts of internet humorists, the point may very well simply be to be funny.

It is also worth noting that, as **traditional irony** has become the norm and become progressively less **subversive** as a result, it has lost its edge not only for the purpose of **deconstruction** but also for the purpose of humor. As a result, many uses of **meta-irony** on the internet come from a place of simply wanting to original jokes.

Original is certainly one word that one can use to describe **meta-ironic** humor.


These **Meta-Ironic** memes are certainly **subversive**; they defy any expectations you might have--or, indeed, any expectations it would be possible for you to have. Their **subversion** comes from the fact that even **traditionally ironic** memes are expected to have a **sincere** point---but these **Meta-Ironic** memes simply don't.

This type of **irony** is not entirely new, of course. The use of **meta-irony** in humor---or, in other words, humor through randomness---has long been a feature of the internet. It has been a source of controversy for just as long; just watch this exchange between Bob and Larry back in 2003:

<p align="center"> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/j4Ph02gzqmY" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> <p/>

But regardless of whether one finds **meta-irony** to be funny (and this is mostly a matter of personal taste), what it clearly *isn't* is insightful. It has no actual point, other than *to be **subversive**.* Indeed, **Meta-Irony** can also be conceptualized as ***subversion** for subversion's** sake***. Whereas **traditional irony** used **subversion** as a means to an end---namely, the exposure of falsehoods or contradictions to mockery---**Meta-Irony** treats **subversion** *as an end in itself*.

But why? What is the point of **subversion for its own sake**?

## Meta-Irony as The Consummation of Deconstructionism

We live in a **Post-Modern** age, in which **deconstruction** is the norm. **Meta-Irony** is **Post-Modernism** taken to its logical extreme. When everything else has been **deconstructed**, then ***deconstruction deconstructs** itself* and, in so doing, rejects the notion of true and false that was the impetus for **deconstruction** in the first place. So too, **Meta-Irony deconstructs Traditional Irony** and rejects the notion of conveying any **sincere** message.

But after **deconstruction** has been **deconstructed,** what remains?

<p align="center"> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Fav-SS0L78Q" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> <p/>

When everything **sincere** has been **deconstructed**, including those **sincere** beliefs and values that gave people a sense of purpose and meaning in their lives, then result is very often biting cynicism towards life and a crushing sense of nihilism. **Meta-Irony** is very often an *expression* of that cynicism and nihilism. The absurdity and meaninglessness of **Meta-Ironic** art often comes from a belief that life itself is absurd and meaningless. The **subversion** of **Meta-irony** is not there to make a point---**Meta-Irony** has no **sincere** point of its own to make---but rather to express cynicism towards the idea that there is anything that makes sense or has meaning, and to express the angst that comes from living in a meaningless world.

It is not a coincidence that **Meta-Irony** has become more and more prevalent as our society has taken **Post-Modern** assumptions about the world more and more for granted. And long before the term "**Meta-Irony**" was coined, there were those who raised concerns about the trend in **irony** towards the erasure of all **sincerity**. Consider these quotes from famous authors C.S. Lewis and David Foster Wallace:

<p align="center"> <img width="450" height="600" src="https://i.imgur.com/QkHf2NI.png"> </p>

<p align="center"> <img width="450" height="690" src="https://i.imgur.com/d31iuvJ_d.jpg?maxwidth=520&shape=thumb&fidelity=high"> </p>

And although you may find the memes in the previous section amusing (I will admit that I do), you can easily see how if that was the *only* form of humor you ever engaged with, it would quickly "become insipid," as Lewis says. **Meta-Irony** takes **subversion** and **deconstruction** to their logical extreme, which is the ***subversion of subversion*** and the ***deconstruction of deconstruction***. But this turns out to be a dead end---once **subversion** has been **subverted** and **deconstruction** has been **deconstructed**, then there is nowhere left for **subversion** and **deconstruction** to go, and no **sincere** truth left standing.

So, what is there is left to do?

### Deconstruction for Its Own Sake

The original point of **deconstruction**, as put forward by **Post-Modernism,** was to expose falsehoods. But when **deconstruction** itself is **deconstructed**, this is shown to be a self-contradictory impulse. So, why continue to **deconstruct?** Why tear down false **sincere** beliefs when one does not wish to replace them with *true* **sincere** beliefs?

The answer, very often, is simply: "what else am I supposed to do?" There may also be an element of "misery loves company" at play in **Meta-ironic deconstruction.** If one feels the weight of a life without meaning, one is naturally liable to become jealous of and bitter towards those who still do have **sincere** beliefs of their own, and a desire to tear them down so that all will be equally miserable. But just as much as any malicious intent (deliberate or otherwise) I think a lot of **Meta-ironic deconstructionism** comes from a lack of purpose--a lack of purpose in the deepest possible meaning of those words. A lack of purpose in a world where every **sincere** belief has been **deconstructed** and shown to be absurd.

This is related the the final possible reason to use **Meta-Irony.**

## Meta-Irony as Emotional Detachment

There is one crucial aspect of **irony,** in both its **traditional** and its **Meta-** forms, that I have not properly discussed yet: its tendency towards **emotional detachment.** Both **traditional irony** and **Meta-irony** can be used for humor, and humor can often be beneficial, or at least harmless.

But some humor is not harmless. Some humor is designed not to lift one's spirits but to avert one's gaze from something that one does not wish to look to closely at. Some humor is designed to allow people to **emotionally detach** from things that they do not wish to bear the emotional weight of--to make light of everything by turning everything into a joke.

This is one of the reasons that so many jokes are made about horrific acts of evil like the Holocaust or 9/11---by turning them into a joke, one avoids having to reckon emotionally the evil those events represented and the toll of the lives that were lost. **Traditional Irony** has long offered a means of **emotional detachment** from difficult truths one does not want to confront. **Meta-Irony** has taken this to a new extreme.

<p align="center"> <img width="690" height="450" src="https://i.imgur.com/5rPxBcK.png"> </p>

This **Meta-Ironic** meme, for example, makes a joke out of the bravery of "Tank Man," the man who took a stand against the Chinese government's tanks following the Tiananmen Square Massacre, who was presumably killed by the Chinese Communist Party shortly after this picture was taken. It is juxtaposed with a random protest in Germany in which a protestor is pepper-sprayed for climbing onto a tank. This image is not **sincerely** making the point that Germany is a more repressive regime than China; rather, it is making an absurd joke to **emotionally detach** from what Tank Man stood for and the evil he stood against.

Now, **Meta-Irony** may be seen in one sense as more a symptom of **emotional detachment** than as a driver of it. The reality is that, on the internet especially, where **irony** is so pervasive, it makes sense that people would be inclined to shield themselves with **emotional detachment**. After all, the internet is not a kind place to **sincerity.** By avoiding ever expressing any **sincerity**--even a **sincere** emotion such as sadness--one protects oneself against being labeled **cringe** or being subjected to a barrage of **deconstructive traditional irony.**

But eventually, if one too often **emotionally detaches** from any negative emotion, **emotional detachment** through **irony** will become one's default response to *any* strong emotion.

<p align="center"> <img width="480" height="460" src="https://i.imgur.com/ER06xx1.png"> </p>

The ability to experience and deal with negative emotions is vital if one is to experience positive emotions as well. Unfortunately, many have lost the ability to engage with **sincerity** on **sincerity's** own terms. Their tendency to use **Traditional** and **Meta-Irony** to **emotionally detach** by making jokes has rendered them unable to take mere **sincerity** seriously.

This is a grim view of what happens when one dwells too long in **Meta-irony.** Cynicism, nihilism, **emotional detachment**, **deconstruction** for no other end than to spread one's own misery--**Meta-irony** takes **Post-Modernism** as far as it can possibly go, and discovers that it is a dead end.


But there is another path. There is another way to answer the question I posed at the beginning of this chapter: what happens when **deconstruction** is, itself, **deconstructed.** The next chapter will deal with the other possible answer.

Next Chapter: **[Post-Irony](/YI8fzFBRS4KUdc6YFnuQfQ)**

<p align="center"> <img width="690" height="350" src="https://preview.redd.it/lyd5md4v3q351.jpg?auto=webp&s=718f32b4e8adacfc40c2523dbde86583d1a3ccd5"> </p>