What's a metahero?
I'm not quite sure what to make of this comment on my post "Doc Rampage: The most metaheroic blog in the world?":
It is possible that this is supposed to be humorous. It certainly sounds like it, with the declaration that a metahero is better than all other kinds of gods and superheroes and everything. Or it could be, and this is the impression that I get, that this person takes himself way too seriously. And he's also severely humor impaired.
My post is supposed to be funny. Doc and I were both having fun with the question of whether making a word up means you get to decide what it means. But, since it seems to be lost on my commenter, let me see if I can explain my post a little better. I won't quote the whole thing, but here's how it begins:
So the whole point of my (hopefully humorous) post was that the term "metahero" did not exist as a word with an agreed upon definition in the English language. This is still the case. Now if my commenter wants to create a new definition of metahero, he's free to, since the whole "agreed upon definition" thing is still up for grabs. And if he's written a whole book on the subject, then he's certainly being aggressive about it. The problem is that the fact that he's written a book doesn't make the other definitions wrong. A book nobody's heard of does not an agreed upon definition make. And even if his book is wildly popular and his definition becomes the agreed upon one, criticizing people for using alternate definitions before there is an agreed upon definition exudes solipsism.
Hi all. Your estimation of the definition of metahero is so off the mark that I find it even disturbing. Meta- does not mean the same as super-, and a metahero is nothing like a superhero. Also, metaheroism has absolutely nothing to do with blogging, and it certainly is not an attribute of someone who has nothing to say or who just doesn't wish to be left out. A metahero goes beyond heroism in every sense. A metahero not only defines completely out of existence things like heroes, superheroes, gods, angels, wizards, demons, etc. A metahero also offers an alternative that is much better than anything any of those other types of heroes/villains could offer.
I don't know of anyone else who's ever written about a valid, bona fide metahero, but I'm currently in the process of writing just such a tome which will not only negate all forms of heroism but also redefine personhood, progress and reality itself. In case you're wondering, it takes a metametaphysician to create a genuine metahero. If you wish you know more about how I'm using any of these terms, or to understand how a metahero can be infinitely more powerful and wonderful than any kind of god or superhero without that person also being some kind of hero, feel free to email me and be specific in your inquiries or comments. Or if you wish, just wait for the book everyone will be talking about. You won't be able to miss hearing about it.
It is possible that this is supposed to be humorous. It certainly sounds like it, with the declaration that a metahero is better than all other kinds of gods and superheroes and everything. Or it could be, and this is the impression that I get, that this person takes himself way too seriously. And he's also severely humor impaired.
My post is supposed to be funny. Doc and I were both having fun with the question of whether making a word up means you get to decide what it means. But, since it seems to be lost on my commenter, let me see if I can explain my post a little better. I won't quote the whole thing, but here's how it begins:
In this post, I wish to address the question of whether the blog Doc Rampage is, in fact, the most metaheroic in the world. As Doc Rampage is also the pseudonym for the blogger, I will refer to the blog as Doc Rampage and the blogger as Doc.
What does metaheroic mean, you ask? Good question. I couldn't find metaheroic or metahero on Dictionary.com, but I remembered that Doc had defined metahero for us once, so I looked it up:
[Long quote from Doc's website goes here.]
Doc posits that since he invented the term, he gets to decide who's foremost, and that's him. Which sounds good in theory, but did he really invent the term? After all, putting "meta-" in front of "hero" is just too easy to do for me to believe that Doc's the first one to think of it, so I did a Google search on metahero. Lo and behold, Doc's not the only person to use the term metahero. In fact, a number of people have used it as their screen names for various forums. Some of those people could have been Doc, but none of them have his e-mail, and one claimed to be a guy named Alex living in Mexico, so I'm thinking not. So what do all those other people who are using the term metahero think it means? Well, a lot of what I saw was fiction, which used the term metahero as a synonym for superhero. Like Doc, they figure that "meta-" means "beyond," but by "beyond" they mean "more advanced." Which is all very nice and all, but I think superhero is a good enough word, so what right do they have going around preemptively removing words from the English language before someone can apply a more original definition to them? I like Doc's definition better.
So the whole point of my (hopefully humorous) post was that the term "metahero" did not exist as a word with an agreed upon definition in the English language. This is still the case. Now if my commenter wants to create a new definition of metahero, he's free to, since the whole "agreed upon definition" thing is still up for grabs. And if he's written a whole book on the subject, then he's certainly being aggressive about it. The problem is that the fact that he's written a book doesn't make the other definitions wrong. A book nobody's heard of does not an agreed upon definition make. And even if his book is wildly popular and his definition becomes the agreed upon one, criticizing people for using alternate definitions before there is an agreed upon definition exudes solipsism.
