Insanity Wolf: The Internet's Blond Beast

Meet Insanity Wolf; the strung out, crack-addicted, older brother of Courage Wolf.  What differentiates Courage Wolf from Insanity wolf is that while Courage Wolf will give advice that might counter-act social norms, he would not advocate that people commit random acts of mindless violence.  Not Insanity Wolf.  Insanity Wolf doesn't just believe that violence is something that people shouldn't be afraid of.  He believes that violence is a great and wonderful aspect of life and that everyone should lash out whenever others wrong them.

Just like with Courage Wolf, Friedrich Nietzsche would be pleased with Insanity Wolf's outlook on life.  Not because he believes that violence should be utilized as liberally as Insanity Wolf would have us believe, but because Insanity Wolf has a freedom from what Nietzsche views as oppressive systems that seek to deprive individuals of their will to power.  The way Nietzsche arrives at this conclusion is developed in his book, On the Genealogy of Morals.  Nietzsche explains that the original way people thought about actions being "good" or "bad" was by analyzing whether or not actions were good for society as a whole or bad for society as a whole.  The criteria for judging this was to see if an action was life sustaining or not.  According to Nietzsche, there were no further moral divisions.  Either something was life sustaining and "good", or not life sustaining and "bad".  Simple enough.


Nietzsche notes however, that today we don't view the world in such terms.  Instead, Nietzsche claims that today we look at the dichotomy as not "good" vs. "bad", but rather "good" vs. "evil".  Nietzsche's goal in On the Genealogy of Morals is to determine exactly how society came to shift from one division to the other.  In a nutshell, Nietzsche blames the Jewish people.  Nietzsche traces the beginnings of the shift from "good" vs. "bad" to "good" vs. "evil" to the time of the Babylonian captivity.  Nietzsche explains that the Jewish people felt helpless during their oppression, and as such began to think about how they could return power to themselves.  Since they could not use physical force, Nietzsche explains that the Jewish people turned to morality, labeling the Babylonians as "evil" for oppressing them.  Nietzsche explains that this was a monumental turning point, because prior to this time there were those who had power, and those who did not, but there was no moral consequence to either label.  Now there is a moral weight attached.  Nietzsche claims that an attitude like that of Insanity Wolf is the best way to free ourselves from the new moral oppression designed by the Jewish people and carried out to perfection by the Catholic Church.

 Beyond being violent, Insanity Wolf does not lose with grace and dignity.

So how could the attitude of Insanity Wolf, that if we get beaten on XBOX we should then viciously beat our friends with said XBOX, make things better?  Nietzsche would argue that it is not the actions that Insanity Wolf advocates, but the attitude he espouses that we should emulate.  What Insanity Wolf represents is a complete and unapologetic embrace of power.  Insanity Wolf knows that he is powerful and can commit acts of violence and he is unafraid to do so.  Insanity Wolf mirrors one of Nietzsche's most controversial and misunderstood images, The Blond Beast.  The Blond Beast is introduced in The Genealogy of Morals as an individual who, "thirsts for enemies and resistances and triumphs".   The reason the Blond Beast is a controversial image is because it is frequently misinterpreted as an endorsement of Nazism.  It is seen as alluding to the image of the perfect person that Adolf Hitler envisioned as a blond haired, blue eyed, male.  This is a twisting of Nietzsche's original meaning.  Nietzsche uses the Blond Beast to mirror one of the most lasting symbols in philosophy, the lion.  That is what Nietzsche envisions for mankind's future.  That mankind can become like the lion, unafraid of its own power, and self-assured in its potential and abilities.

This is the real Insanity Wolf.  That's right.  He exists in real life, and is still out there somewhere.  Terrifying.

Courage Wolf: The Ubermensch of the Internet

This charming fellow is Courage Wolf.  If life's got you down, he has the answer, and he's not afraid of what consequences the action will bring.  He's got everything in life figured out, and he's more than happy to share his advice with the world.  The defining aspects of courage wolf mostly have to do with his cavalier attitude, and message that most of life's problems can be solved with a little courage.  Or insanity.

One philosopher who would smile upon Courage Wolf's attitude is Friedrich Nietzsche.  Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher who wrote most of his books between the years 1879 and 1888.  In those nine years, Nietzsche published a book a year, an astounding accomplishment even by modern standards.  In one of those books, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche introduces one of his core concepts, that of the Ubermensch, or over-man.  Nietzsche writes:

"I teach you the overman. Man is something that shall be overcome. What have you done to overcome him? … All beings so far have created something beyond themselves; and do you want to be the ebb of this great flood, and even go back to the beasts rather than overcome man? ...And man shall be that to overman: a laughingstock or painful embarrassment. You have made your way from worm to man, and much in you is still worm. Once you were apes, and even now, too, man is more ape than any ape.... The overman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the overman shall be the meaning of the earth.... Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman—a rope over an abyss … what is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end." (Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Prologue, §§3–4)

What Nietzsche describes in the above paragraph are the three fundamental traits that the ubermensch should have.  First, the ubermensch must be one who is unafraid of life, and whatever it brings.  Second, the ubermensch must be willing to be a bridge to the rest of mankind.  The final and most important step for Nietzsche is that the ubermensch must be able to see life for what it is.  He acknowledge that life inevitably brings pain, and he must not advocate trying to stop pain, but rather advocate fighting through it.  Beyond this, the ubermensch must be a mentor.  He must be willing and able to allow others to see his example, and empower them to also rise above their chaotic nature.  The ubermensch to Nietzsche is absolutely imperative if mankind is ever to become what it is meant to be.  Without the ubermensch, Nietzsche worried that society would become nothing more than a herd of sheep, obeying and never thinking.  With this in mind we return to Courage Wolf.

In this one example, Courage Wolf demonstrates all the qualities of the ubermensch.  He is unafraid.  He is willing to pass his wisdom on to us, the lowly masses and he recognizes the pain life brings.  Courage Wolf never advocates that attempt to rid life of pain.  Instead, he advocates that we always see what can be learned from our current situation, and apply that to the future.  These qualities espouse exactly what Nietzsche envisioned when he thought about what the role model for humanity should be.

Nietzsche's philosophy is often misunderstood and misapplied because most of the works we read now are not even Nietzsche's own words.  The most egregious of these misrepresentations is the charge that Nietzsche is an anti-semite.  When Nietzsche had a nervous breakdown in 1889, his sister, an ardent follower of the National Socialist Party (Nazi), and an anti-semite, took over the publication of his works.  Most of the language that has become known to link his work to anti-semitism were added after his death in 1900.  In fact, Nietzsche wrote an essay specifically denouncing anti-semitism, which caused him to break from his first publisher.  Courage Wolf provides an ideal example of what Nietzsche's pure hopes for humanity are.  That humanity has the courage to overcome its problems, and is able to accept life for what it is, and overcome it.

Even though Courage Wolf can safely lay claim to the title of "Internet Ubermensch", he is not a clear choice for the title of best internet representation of Nietzsche's overall philosophy.  For that title, Courage Wolf faces some stiff competition from another meme that rivals even Courage Wolf's level of insanity.

What is a Meme?

I'm willing to bet money that anyone who hasn't been living under a rock for the past fifteen years has come into contact with a meme at some point while surfing the web.  Yet, despite this fact, many people have no idea what the term "meme" means.  This is mostly because the term meme is fairly ambiguous and subject to interpretation.    There is no exact definition of a what a "meme" is and no way to clearly distinguish "memes" from "non-memes", but I'll do my best to at least provide a starting point for a definition from which we can build, at the very least, a workable understanding of the term. While its modern meaning, especially in terms of the internet is of the most importance for our purposes, the term meme has a very interesting history that is worth briefly summing up.

Originally the term meme comes from the Greek term "mimema" which means, "something imitated".  It came into use in the modern age when philosopher Richard Dawkins shortened the term to the word "meme" in his book The Selfish Gene in 1976.    Dawkins wanted to use the term meme to mirror the term gene.  While a gene refers to the mode by which physical traits are passed on from generation to generation, Dawkins observed that there was no comparable term to describe the passing of psychological traits and predispositions from generation to generation, or even from culture to culture.  Thus, Dawkins coined the term meme, to describe the transfer of ideas.

Today, the term meme still mirrors this root definition, but with a couple of important, yet subtle modifications.  For one, when used with respect to the internet, a meme is something that is viral, or widespread and well-known.  Thus, the first big split between Dawkins' definition and the current definition is based upon what function a meme serves.  Dawkins used the term meme to describe a mechanism by which an idea is passed on.  The modern usage of the word meme describes not the process that passes ideas on, but rather the idea or cultural phenomenon itself that is passed on.

Another modification that distinguishes the modern use of the term meme is that it is used to describe a cultural phenomenon that is widespread and transmits an easily understood idea.  A meme is also supposed to engage multiple cultural and personal backgrounds using an easily accessed theme in order to become successful.  Thus, a meme is not just an idea, but a specific kind of idea. Some examples of internet memes are things such as Lolcats (or  www.icanhascheezburger.com), Unforgivable (a viral video series on Youtube), or even the guy who cries, "Leave Britney alone!" on Youtube are all memes.   All of these examples are memes because they are simple, transmit a clear message, are widespread and most of them use themes or ideas that people from all walks of life can relate to.  Most memes use some aspect of pop culture in order to get their audience on the same page, so that they will accept the message the meme wants to put forward, because pop culture is easy for people to relate to. 
 
The term meme is often ambiguous and can refer to just about any internet phenomenon under the sun.  Hopefully this definition at least provides a useful starting point for conceptualizing the term meme, so that future discussions about memes can be easier to understand and hopefully can be entertaining as well.

Why I'm doing this

The basic point of this endeavor is to prove that philosophy's not dead.  Most people today don't see the applicability of philosophy to their lives.  While some small portion of this disconnect may be the fault of the general public, the vast majority of the blame lies with the philosophic community.  As a whole philosophy is becoming an isolated community that is beginning to talk only to itself.  Most people who acknowledge that philosophy is important don't see it as accessible and therefore don't pursue it any further.  I don't want this to be the future of philosophy.  My fundamental hope is that through this blog I can provide people with some kind of accessible, quirky and, dare I say, fun examples to help break through the walls of the "ivory tower" language that all too often encases philosophy and makes it exceedingly difficult for even people well-versed in philosophy to understand.  Philosophy is ever-present and underlies the currents of much of the pop culture that we have become familiar with.  And much of it is very present in the internet memes we have come to know and love.  Or hate.

But I have to come clean.  This isn't just an altruistic project.  I have my own self serving motivations that compelled me to establish this blog.  Mostly it gives me a somewhat valid excuse to look at pictures of cats with humorous captions on the internet and say I'm doing "work".  It also means I can psychologically justify buying philosophy books and not feel like I'm just burning money.  Basically this is my way own little way of acknowledging the eventuality that I'll die alone. Surrounded by fifty cats.