Memetics: Planes of Irony

     To truly understand esoteric memetics, one must grasp the different planes of irony and how they directly affect a meme's value.
    

meme (mēm)

• n.
  A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another.

     The dictionary definition of meme is rather broad, but when speaking about memes in modern culture, especially when using adjectives such as "normie, dank, edgy, or wholesome," meme refers to any image that presents the viewer with an idea, concept, or satirical reference to something. Many modern memes have been essentially labeled propaganda by certain members of the left due to their nature of promoting ideas, but we will discuss that more as we progress in our 4chan series. If you want a quick example now, look no further than here.

propaganda (prŏpˌə-gănˈdə)

• n.
  The systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause.

     Most memes, however, in their purest form, are meant to give the viewer a good chuckle, or for the "dank memer," to turn something dark into an object of hilarity. To those who are unfamiliar with the side of silicon valley with free reigns, this comes as shocking, and even a thing of great concern, but this is simply not the case. As the world we live in appears to grow darker, a natural method of human coping has always been to relieve that heaviness. For the drunkard, drug, or sex addict, physical pleasure is their means of escape. Consequentially, these thinks when done out of moderation can cause great damage to the body. Finding a way to laugh at the irony, chance, and poetry of life not only gives us a healthy relief to our surroundings, but helps us view the situations with a little more light. 

     Let's face it: the world is a dark place. It should therefore come as no surprise that dark humor can be found in many online commons. Dark humor is much deeper, personal, and applicable than humor from something unrelated to whatever issues are prevalent, and likewise allows individuals to laugh about their deeper struggles and problems. One could argue that exposing the issues of the world in this nature spreads awareness of them and makes them easier to solve, because acknowledgement of an issue as an issue is the first major step towards fixing it. Recent studies have shown that dark humor is linked to higher intelligence. With the way black humor is being used to acknowledge issues, it logically follows that individuals who are more entertained by dark humor are also individuals who understand the issues presented in it clearly. For more information on these studies, you can click here.

So What Determines the Comedic Value of a Meme?

irony (īˈrə-nē, īˈər-)

• n.
  The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.
• n.
  An expression or utterance marked by a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning.
• n.
  A literary style employing such contrasts for humorous or rhetorical effect. 

     While this isn't an easy question to answer, we can generally measure irony to find how much enjoyment a meme will bring and how deep it goes. Understanding the planes of irony is key when it comes to understanding esoteric memetics today. As more and more people continue to dive into the world of memes, finding esoteric content becomes more and more difficult, and the lines between planes of irony can be easily blurred. The easiest way I feel to explain what the planes of irony are and how they work is by directly showing you through memes.

FIRST PLANE OF IRONY - "NORMIE"

     The very nature of memes makes them necessarily ironic in at least the most basic forms. (Realistic situation compared to a reaction to something that is not the realistic situation) Memes within the first plane of irony often spoonfeed the viewer the irony, and don't require any greater understanding to perceive the intended humor. These memes are often dubbed "normie" by those within the meme community because of their quantity and their use in the mainstream world. Originally, memes from the first plane were indentified easily by the signature "top text bottom text" format in impact font. Many first planers have begun to disguise these memes by using other formats, and so identifying first plane memes should not be considered a simple matter of format and font identity.

SECOND PLANE OF IRONY - NEWBIE

      The second plane of irony deals with two simaultaneous ironic events occuring at the same time. Often as easy as a well picked twitter screenshot, memes from the second plane of irony were originally and often still are referred to as "dank" by many. The viewer has to find for themselves the irony and humor within a second plane meme, but the irony is still to be found on a surface level. Memes from the second plane of irony swept the internet in 2015 and 2016 and have slowly become more mainstream as time has progressed. Memes from the second plane of irony are more likely to use dark humor than those of the first plane, but overall can still be thought of as fairly "wholesome."

THIRD PLANE OF IRONY - DANK

     In the third plane of Irony, memes begin to either combine or require further context to be grasped. The above meme, "Peter Parker Reading a Book," is a meme from the second plane of irony, but it also refers to the Priest unit in Age of Empires II and his iconic "Wololo" phrase he mutters when asked to perform a certain task. The Third plane will not hand the viewer the irony or humor, but the viewer must instead have knowledge from outside of the meme's provision to fully understand and appreciate its value. The ability to understand a third plane meme is like solving a puzzle or stumbling on buried treasure. The increased dopamine output from the brain that the cultured individual receives is what arguably makes the third plane the sweet spot in memes where 

FOURTH PLANE OF IRONY - WOKE

     The fourth plane, or the "self-aware plane," is where things start to get real funky. In plays, movies, or other forms of performance, breaking the fourth wall is when someone or something from within the performance becomes aware of the existence of the audience, and that they are in fact, within a performance. Fourth Plane memes are similar in this sense, but do not necessarily allude directly to leaving or interacting with that which is outside of the fourth wall. Instead, many of these memes (such as the one above) will simply take what would be considered normal within the meme or its format and rearrange, distort, remove, or add to it, creating an implied self-awareness. In my personal experience, fourth plane memes are quite uncommon, so if you see one, make sure you keep it somewhere safe from the coppers. 

FIFTH PLANE OF IRONY - ASCENDED

A meme self-aware of the self-aware meme it is built off of. A novel concept, yes? Reaching the fifth plane of irony is not at all an easy task. Very few memes in the present day have ever succeeded in reaching this level of irony. We can only hope that the future holds more of them. May the dubs be in your favor, fifth plane.

~~ GOING BEYOND THE FIFTH PLANE OF IRONY ~~

     While we are aware of the existence of planes beyond the fifth plane of irony, its a chaotic jungle frontier which few have ever been brave enough to traverse. I myself have never ascended beyond the fifth plane, but can only hope that I too may delve deeper into memetics and better understand the metaphysical. Rumors of the powers one gains when ascending further into the planes include, but are not limited to: the ability to summon karma at will, declaring meme jihad, and manifesting and creating meme magic. It is assumed that when one crosses over the ethereal plane, they gain the ability to manipulate time and space itself within multiverses dealing within the laws of subatomic particles.

     The final plane of irony is thought to be that which Keksandra resides in, and one in which only she is able to comprehend. Even after years of extensive research, no human being has been able to tap into the ironic field after passing through the ethereal plane. Browman et al. [2016] estimates that the level of memeing that Keksandra is separated by "anywhere between six and eight further undiscovered levels of memeing. Many other papers have theorized where Keksandra's meme level exists, but none of them have concrete evidence to support the theories. Bao and Wang [2016] theorized that Keksandra's level of memery taps into quantum loop gravity in specific universes within the mutiverses found in subatomic particles. 

     It is estimated that the first contact with Keksandra's meme levels is set to occur between the years 2340 and 2360 AD, should instruments that are capable of penetrating multiverses within subatomic particles be available anywhere between the present and the cutoff year of 2300. Work into accessing the next dimension of memes is ongoing and the barrier separating the current deepest level and the next level is said to be close. 

Some leaders in the field of memetics that are known to have excelled beyond the fifth plane in more modern times include celebrities like Nicola Tesla, Donald J Trump, and Rick Sanchez. While most of these men's secrets are kept hidden away from the public, their works are reflected in the current metaphysical timeline, which shows us that they are/were indeed ascended beyond the fifth plane.

      

     Keep meming and keep trying to understand memetics. Maybe someday you too will be a leader in meme studies. Sometime, hopefully in the near future, we will publish more articles on this blogg about Meme Magic and other metaphysical aspects that tie into memetics. Until then, Shadilay, my brethren. 

Browman, R., FIelds, K., & Sherman, F. (2016). Estimation of the location of Keksandra's level of ironic internet culture. Quantum Memeing Weekly, 54(14):746-755

Bao, X., & Wang, C. (2016). Theoretical powers of Keksandra's memes: An insight into Keksandra and her untapped memeing ability. Subatomic Memeology. 228(37):1898-1914

THE BLACK PILL

     This article, originally found on the radix journal blog at www.radixjournal.com/journal/2015/10/6/the-black-pill has become inaccessible. Since I believe this article to hold  value, it has been respectfully copied and pasted here for others to view. All credits to this post are to be given to the originally writer at the link above.



THE BLACK PILL

     Traditionally there are two pills—the Red Pill and the Blue one. The Blue one means you stay in the “matrix” of conventional opinion and delusion, you stay comfortable and warm, and you no longer concern yourself with the bigger picture or the long-term future. That has all been taken care of for you. The Blue Pill represents a kind of infantilism.

     The Red Pill represents a rejection of all that, and an awakening to the underlying realities. It is the pill people take just before they become race realists, neo-reactionaries, anti-democrats, alt-righters, identitarians, etc. Far from being sugar-coated, it is laced with the bitter taste of total cynicism about all the myths that have been pimped at us 24/7. But ultimately, it is not a negative pill but a positive and even progressive one.

     But there is a third pill, the Black Pill, the pill of pure egoism, nihilism, and destruction. It is a pill that leads to suicide, death, and decontextualized violence, and it is increasingly a popular resort in the present age, whether taken by the cannon fodder of ISIS, currently being bombed by the Russian air force, or the likes of Chris Harper Mercer, the latest spree shooter at the college in Umpqua Oregon, who, we are learning may well have been “influenced” by Islam.


PILLS

     All three pills, and those who take them, implicitly represent inferior states conjoined with an aspiration of superiority. In this sense, they have a dialectical aspect.

     As the most passive, the Blue Piller is the most inferior, but then the very delusions that pacify and manipulate him also allow him to think well of himself, even to have a sense of superiority. He may well be an upstanding member of society and believe that the world is run in his best interests. He may even believe that his type is hegemonic, even as his ears are being filled with the music of the slaughterhouse to which history is leading him and his ilk. The epitome of the Blue Piller is the “cuckservative,” although liberals, too, are popping much of the same.

     Unlike the Blue Piller, the Red Piller knows that he is not in charge. He knows the dice are loaded, the cards stacked against him, etc. He knows the world is controlled by others with interests disparate from his own. This is his inferiority, but it is an inferiority he recognizes in order to overcome and achieve superiority. He looks the negative aspects of reality squarely in the eye and fights back. The Red Piller is ultimately a positivist and an optimist. Even if he fails in his ultimate goals, he knows that he will, at least, earn himself an honorable death. On the individual level, there is nothing greater to be hoped for. It is only on the collective level that victory counts.

     The Blue and Red Pills have a kind of complementary nature: the trajectory of the Blue Pill is from illusory superiority to actual inferiority, that of the Red Pill from false inferiority to true superiority.

     The Black Pill is the least dialectical of the three. It leads from actual inferiority back to actual inferiority. It is nihilism, but nihilism made flesh calls forth absolute egoism, a sense of the self detached from wider contexts and responsibilities—it is this that makes it evil and murderous.

     The inferior person can either accept context and therefore inferiority, or fight it. The Blue Piller rejects his future inferiority by retreating backwards into illusion. The Red Piller rejects his present lack of superiority by marching forward through positive consciousness and action to redress the situation. The Black Piller, however, chooses neither the palliatives of illusion nor the challenge of positive action. He stares into the abyss—passively because his actions will never be capable of changing it—and, as Nietzsche so pertinently observed, the abyss stares back.

PALLIATIVES

     Earlier societies may have lacked the knowledge and data of the present age, but they were, nevertheless, much wiser than our own, especially in dealing with the problems now manifested in the Black Pill.

     With our three pills, what we are essentially dealing with are three types of people—true alphas, false alphas, and betas, the most numerous category. These types have always existed and for various reasons. The first performs creative action (true civilization), the second illusion (false civilization ＝ decadence), and the third negativity, either as passivity (obedience) or nihilism (“ultra violence”).

     These types, as they derive from human biology, have obvious sexual aspects. Past European societies recognized the violent and revolutionary potential of the betas, and successful societies found ways to mitigate this, the most important being monogamous societies, in which the females were distributed fairly equally, though never completely so. Christian and other monogamous societies, like those of the Orient, were thus able to fix the negativity inherent in the beta male. Islam was much less successful, thus accounting for its rapid decline after its fluke rise in the seventh century.

     Modern Western societies have broken this healthy pattern of the past with disastrous results, and the results would be even more disastrous if we did not now possess palliatives like drugs, TV, computer games, and porn. This is why recently there has been so much concern over slow Internet for Europe’s recent influx of betas.

     Without a society, like the traditional Christian one that finds a way to balance the deficiencies of the beta male with the “sexual welfarism” of the patriarchal society, the truly inferior person has only three choices: passivity, illusion, or evil. As he is truly inferior, any struggle can only result in nihilism instead of victory. But in the muddled modern West, and the disrupted and overcrowded Middle East, this is increasingly what is happening. Nihilism is spreading, both in the guise of the American spree killer and the pawns of organizations like ISIS.

POISONS

     The spree killer rejects the Blue Pill of illusion. He knows that no matter how many POV videos he watches on the porn channel, it is really someone else’s dick, and that by watching it, he is practically sucking on it. He also knows that whatever efforts he makes, he cannot escape his beta essence. There is no more eloquent exposition of this than the video made by “Egg Man,” one of the early rumoured suspects in the Umpqua College shooting.

     He may console himself with the thought that he might meet the right girl . . . one with conveniently low horizons to match his own. It is still possible, even in a society like ours, which is increasingly dedicated to blowing smoke up the collective female arse and raising their expectations for male to unrealizable levels. But he also knows that he might instead become just another beta cuck, a facilitator of feminine frustration, manifested in hatred and bile, divorce and alimony—a polite term for semi-slavery imposed exclusively on the male.

     The nihilistic beta, shorn of his illusions, alienated by society, becomes, once again, the essence of ancient barbarism.

This is an act we see played out, again and again, with every spree killer case. The media screeches about the evil of guns, the evil of madness, or the evil of evil itself. Drugs or computer games might get a mention . . . but there are commercial interests to consider. If some nefarious ideologies are uncovered on the killer’s bookshelf or hard drive, whether it be the White Nationalism of Dylan Roof, the manosphere affectations of Elliot Rodgers, or even—possibly—the Islamism of Mercer, then these might enter the narrative. But all these ideologies are bunkum compared to the central fact of the free-floating radical beta expressing his ultimate nihilism.
"Take the Blackpill" by First Last

     Just as almost all spree killers are essentially socially alienated beta males, so on the greater stage of the Middle East, ISIS is a kind of beta collective. On an individual level, there will inevitably be alpha males amongst its ranks, but man is never just an individual but a creature that lives through his Männerbund, tribe or race.

     The core group of ISIS, the Sunni Arabs of Iraq and Syria, are the downtrodden betas of the Middle East. In Iraq, they were once alphas, in Syria they were, for a while, simply passive. But, in a world flushed with the lie of democracy—the be-all-you-can-be illusion of self-help books writ large on the historical landscape—they are no longer willing or able to accept this path. They have been damned by the Arab Spring.

     As a group, they appear to lack the ability to take the Red Pill of positive nationalism, and their situation is not comfortable enough for the Blue Pilling so common in the West. That particular Pill requires an arduous and sometime expensive trip through the Balkans to Northern Europe. Their only choice therefore is to take the Black Pill, the pill of nihilistic egoism, pointless struggle, suicide and death. And while individual spree killers, like Chris Mercer, come and go, the same cannot be said for populations.

There is No King of Macarithia

There is no king of Macarithia

Nor will there ever be

From the ever spanning mountains

To the cliffs near the sea.

Macarithia rules herself unabatedly

From any mortal fool or soul

Though many have come and gone from her

Wearing a crown in a kingly role.

Men have tried and men have failed

To break the prophecy the Shamans told

No matter their strength or skill or valor

Or wealth in treasures, silver or gold.

There is no king of Macarithia

Says not the royal family

"We've rule her long and ruled her well

With Kings like Berk and Laurence and Bramley"

The beasts and creatures find within the wood

Are fierce in an enchanted way

Beasts not to be tamed or trusted

And much safer just to stay away

The Cedars live with the knowledge and secrets

Of the curses and the lore

Hiding below them the caves and tunnels

And a peculiar unopening door.

There is no king of Macarithia
as all did see at the end of days
For the Living forests have always been keen
eager to plot in mysterious ways.
Any man that remains from that land will tell you
The forest can take and the forest can give
Though none can explain her befuddling behavior
For there are secrets where fairies don't live.
May this ode survive time in honour of the king
Who we knew wasn't king  all along
May it stand as a lesson for those of the future
Until my phoenix sings her final song.