This will probably end up being one of my “poorly argued” posts. In fact, it will likely be more of an exploration than an argument, but the subject is one I have been thinking about for a day or two, so for what’s it’s worth, here goes.
The “Clown World” meme has been drifting around the internet for nearly a year. In theory, I should like it, but I don’t. Although I get the overall background for the meme and the expression as useful weapons in the so-called meme war, I cannot say I am terribly keen on them or what they imply. Launched as a means to mock illogical and inverted progressive social initiatives and SJWs in general, Clown World and its associated Honkler meme have also been used to attack leftist politics Naturally, those on the receiving end of this unwanted criticism and trolling blame white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and other haters for the spread of the memes. Entire videos analyzing and dissecting Clown World and Honkler are readily available on the internet for those interested. I myself am not terribly interested – let me explain why.
Dismissing leftists as clowns seems appropriate and fitting, but is essentially nothing more than playground mockery, and as far as I can tell the vast majority of leftists are utterly immune to mockery of that kind. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be engaging in the stupidity they promulgate with such enthusiasm and zeal. Yes, many claim these sorts of memes are effective trolling and triggering devices and serve as vehicles of ridicule, but I doubt that most hardcore leftists, or even milquetoast liberals for that matter, feel any sense of indignity or humiliation when they encounter images of Honkler or the planet Earth wearing a rainbow wig and a clown nose. If nothing else, it merely enrages them and provides more tinder for their endless witch hunts.
The people spreading the memes appear to mostly youngsters from the secular right. They seem to get a real bang out of it, and that’s all fine and well, but is that all the non-religious right proposes to do? Launch an endless parade of mocking memes against an enemy is incapable of being belittled despite the obvious depth of its lunacy?
The other thing that bothers me about Clown World is of a more semantic nature. Referring to leftists as clowns seems to trivialize the evil in which they engage. A clown’s primary purpose is to amuse people and make them laugh, which underscores the barb within the Clown World meme. Leftists are deadly serious about their stupidity and evil, so there is something stinging about laughing in the face of such stupidity and evil – in wholeheartedly dismissing leftist antics and schemes with a good, deep-bellied laugh. Nevertheless, such jocular rejection establishes the risk of not taking leftists seriously. And if there is one thing I have learned in life it is this – leftists need to be taken seriously, no matter how utterly ridiculous, foolish, asinine, and insane they or their policies appear to be. They need to be taken seriously because they draw their inspiration and motivation from demonic sources, and through the utilization of these demonic sources, leftists have been incredibly successful at imposing their ridiculous, foolish, asinine, and insane policies and worldview upon society – to the point that they control practically everything.
Now, I am not implying that people shouldn’t ridicule leftists, but we need to understand that ridicule alone is not enough. If it were, leftists would have been defeated or would have repented centuries ago. But leftists have not been defeated, and they certainly have not repented; and it doesn’t seem they will suffer any major defeats or engage in mass repentance in the near future. So laugh and ridicule all you want if it makes you feel better, but in the grand scheme of things, collective mockery from the secular right has not amounted to much on the battlefield. In fact, I believe the demonic source controlling the left relishes the scorn and derision it receives. It feeds off the jeering and the sneering and gets drunk on the satire and the sarcasm. The more the secular right jokes and jibes the more powerful the demonic source fueling the secular left becomes because the teasing and the taunts enables the demonic source to hide in plain sight.
Yes, demonic source. And there is nothing this demonic source likes more than to be dismissed as imaginary and non-existent, which is what memes like Clown World fundamentally risk doing. As far as I can tell, memes like Clown World do not openly acknowledge Satan as the driving force behind the left’s stupidity; instead, they relegate the evil purely to the left itself – that is to people – people who can then be made fun of and dismissed as clowns. And this marks a line of demarcation in the overall effectiveness and usefulness of memes from the secular right, as far as I am concerned. By not acknowledging Satan as the source of leftist evil, the secular right ends up missing the mark, which is exactly what Satan wants. Instead of attacking Satan, the secular right merely attacks the secular left who earnestly return the favor. A basically pointless battle ensues; the demons watch with delight from sidelines.
Memes like Clown World might be more effective if they laughed at the source of leftist evil rather than at leftist people and policies alone. The ultimate meme would be one mocking Satan himself; one that declares him essentially powerless and impotent, unable to tempt or to influence. I imagine such a meme would drive Satan to tears. I am sure there are memes like that out there somewhere. If not, perhaps we should create one using only the fabric of our individual lives. I imagine no meme in the world would annoy the Devil as much as an individual life lived beyond the grasp of his temptations. An individual life lived in such a manner would mock the demons more than a million Clown World memes ever could.
Note added: I started thinking about this because I have dismissed the left as clowns myself occasionally in blog posts. The most recent example was more a matter of happenstance than purposeful criticism, but it got me wondering about the effectiveness and usefulness of mockery.
The “Clown World” meme has been drifting around the internet for nearly a year. In theory, I should like it, but I don’t. Although I get the overall background for the meme and the expression as useful weapons in the so-called meme war, I cannot say I am terribly keen on them or what they imply. Launched as a means to mock illogical and inverted progressive social initiatives and SJWs in general, Clown World and its associated Honkler meme have also been used to attack leftist politics Naturally, those on the receiving end of this unwanted criticism and trolling blame white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and other haters for the spread of the memes. Entire videos analyzing and dissecting Clown World and Honkler are readily available on the internet for those interested. I myself am not terribly interested – let me explain why.
Dismissing leftists as clowns seems appropriate and fitting, but is essentially nothing more than playground mockery, and as far as I can tell the vast majority of leftists are utterly immune to mockery of that kind. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be engaging in the stupidity they promulgate with such enthusiasm and zeal. Yes, many claim these sorts of memes are effective trolling and triggering devices and serve as vehicles of ridicule, but I doubt that most hardcore leftists, or even milquetoast liberals for that matter, feel any sense of indignity or humiliation when they encounter images of Honkler or the planet Earth wearing a rainbow wig and a clown nose. If nothing else, it merely enrages them and provides more tinder for their endless witch hunts.
The people spreading the memes appear to mostly youngsters from the secular right. They seem to get a real bang out of it, and that’s all fine and well, but is that all the non-religious right proposes to do? Launch an endless parade of mocking memes against an enemy is incapable of being belittled despite the obvious depth of its lunacy?
The other thing that bothers me about Clown World is of a more semantic nature. Referring to leftists as clowns seems to trivialize the evil in which they engage. A clown’s primary purpose is to amuse people and make them laugh, which underscores the barb within the Clown World meme. Leftists are deadly serious about their stupidity and evil, so there is something stinging about laughing in the face of such stupidity and evil – in wholeheartedly dismissing leftist antics and schemes with a good, deep-bellied laugh. Nevertheless, such jocular rejection establishes the risk of not taking leftists seriously. And if there is one thing I have learned in life it is this – leftists need to be taken seriously, no matter how utterly ridiculous, foolish, asinine, and insane they or their policies appear to be. They need to be taken seriously because they draw their inspiration and motivation from demonic sources, and through the utilization of these demonic sources, leftists have been incredibly successful at imposing their ridiculous, foolish, asinine, and insane policies and worldview upon society – to the point that they control practically everything.
Now, I am not implying that people shouldn’t ridicule leftists, but we need to understand that ridicule alone is not enough. If it were, leftists would have been defeated or would have repented centuries ago. But leftists have not been defeated, and they certainly have not repented; and it doesn’t seem they will suffer any major defeats or engage in mass repentance in the near future. So laugh and ridicule all you want if it makes you feel better, but in the grand scheme of things, collective mockery from the secular right has not amounted to much on the battlefield. In fact, I believe the demonic source controlling the left relishes the scorn and derision it receives. It feeds off the jeering and the sneering and gets drunk on the satire and the sarcasm. The more the secular right jokes and jibes the more powerful the demonic source fueling the secular left becomes because the teasing and the taunts enables the demonic source to hide in plain sight.
Yes, demonic source. And there is nothing this demonic source likes more than to be dismissed as imaginary and non-existent, which is what memes like Clown World fundamentally risk doing. As far as I can tell, memes like Clown World do not openly acknowledge Satan as the driving force behind the left’s stupidity; instead, they relegate the evil purely to the left itself – that is to people – people who can then be made fun of and dismissed as clowns. And this marks a line of demarcation in the overall effectiveness and usefulness of memes from the secular right, as far as I am concerned. By not acknowledging Satan as the source of leftist evil, the secular right ends up missing the mark, which is exactly what Satan wants. Instead of attacking Satan, the secular right merely attacks the secular left who earnestly return the favor. A basically pointless battle ensues; the demons watch with delight from sidelines.
Memes like Clown World might be more effective if they laughed at the source of leftist evil rather than at leftist people and policies alone. The ultimate meme would be one mocking Satan himself; one that declares him essentially powerless and impotent, unable to tempt or to influence. I imagine such a meme would drive Satan to tears. I am sure there are memes like that out there somewhere. If not, perhaps we should create one using only the fabric of our individual lives. I imagine no meme in the world would annoy the Devil as much as an individual life lived beyond the grasp of his temptations. An individual life lived in such a manner would mock the demons more than a million Clown World memes ever could.
Note added: I started thinking about this because I have dismissed the left as clowns myself occasionally in blog posts. The most recent example was more a matter of happenstance than purposeful criticism, but it got me wondering about the effectiveness and usefulness of mockery.
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