I tried being some kind of smart guy on Twitter. I’d seen somebody’s tweet about Ted Cruz differing with an anti-gay bigot and found the replies plentiful but not at all varied. The theme was that for once Cruz the jerk had managed to be right. A couple of replies posted a famous old standby from The Onion, the one with a photo of a grumpy man underneath this headline: “Heartbreaking: The Worst Person You Know Just Made a Great Point.” It occurred to me that the meme doesn’t show up as often as it used to, or at least not in my Twitter feed. But what service it’s provided. That Onion joke is pithy and well-observed, and the photo’s beautifully on target. The Onion has been lame for so long; who looks at it, let alone quotes from it? Yet this small gem still finds use. Checking the thing’s date, I tweeted: “Just a sidenote, but I guess the last time the Onion was funny and relevant was in 2018.”
Oh boy. First, that’s not The Onion, it’s Clickhole. I don’t care much about the difference—Clickhole’s a spinoff, an Onion for websites—but there it is. Second, to the extent that my tweet’s been noticed, it’s triggered controversy and confusion. I skated on the attribution but was challenged on everything else. Top item: how is this thing a joke and what sense does it make? Now let me tackle those questions.
We see somebody with a bleak, sulky demeanor, a demeanor that makes him a stand-in for anyone who’s generally disliked. The context for the joke is eternal. There’s someone you know and despise, and out of that person’s mouth comes a piece of pure rightness that you can’t disagree with.
Mental conflict’s created for you. You’ve been comfortable detesting this person and now your comfort’s been disrupted.
On reading the original article, I find that the Internet’s improved on the bit. The idea at its start was simply that the detested clown had commanded your respect through a piece of technical excellence: “One moment, everything’s normal, and the next you’re unable to find a single flaw in the intricate and logically sound reasoning of this fucking self-important, endlessly irritating prick.” The Internet’s use of the meme strikes closer to home. It’s not just that the prick’s being flamboyantly smart instead of predictably dumb. It’s that he’s right. He’s right in the most primal way: he agrees with you.
The meme shows up when some famous person on the enemy side makes a comment that places this clown, however briefly, on your side. Over the years you’ve spent some time and energy reminding yourself how stupid, dishonest, and contemptible this person is. But you’ve also spent time and energy on telling yourself how logically sound and morally superior your views are on gay rights or the Middle East or whatever the issue happens to be. The guy isn’t as bad as you thought or you aren’t as good as you thought. You must revisit old assumptions or bury new awareness, and either way it's a drag. Not a big deal, really, but a drag. “Heartbreaking,” says the headline, offering a bit of comic overstatement. Taking a wide view, you can say that the joke reflects the way reality never drapes itself the way you’d really like, the way that flatters you. Some unworthy fact always sticks out and you’ve got to rearrange your mental garments and pretend everything’s decent, and this task recurs until you die.
Or maybe you don’t say all that. The meme’s still there as humor declines and American society grows rank. Looking back, later generations will reflect on how we became so much better at small things while becoming helpless about large ones. One of the smallest and finest accomplishments of late America is The Onion’s (well, in this case Clickhole’s) selection of models to appear with its articles. Time after time the delicacy and aptness and human understanding of these choices have shown a medium working at a higher level than we can expect. It’s just that the medium in question is giving us little photos to go with funny articles. Meanwhile a congressman is saying the gays should all go away, and it’s news that somebody from his party would tell him he’s wrong. As a result, the sour bald man gets posted on Twitter yet again and we’re reminded that originality’s dead. Yet he represents one of our era’s last flecks of quality. Heartbreaking.
—Follow C.T. May on Twitter: @CTMay3