Your moment of lulz: The failed failure paradox

Jef Otte January 18, 2011 9:40AM

On these vast internets, there's perhaps no concept more prevalent than the fail, and for good reason: The well known "pwnge" formula states that fail + evidence of fail = lulz. And lulz are desirable. Sounds simple, but that very formula has also given rise to a bizarre and ironic phenomenon: the forced fail, in which people document themselves trying to fail. And then fail at it.

Let's take a look.

As an "Epic Fail," there's not a whole lot of argument that this video fails. It's clearly fake -- which might even be okay if it was conceptually solid, but it isn't. Failure implies the goal of some success, and since there is no clear goal here but to fail, even the possibility of failure is thereby paradoxically nullified.

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Which invites the question: If one fails at failing, does one therefore, in some perverse way, succeed?

In the wise words of Ronnie from The Jersey Shore, you probably need a mind condom. Because you just got mind-fucked.

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Jef Otte

Contact: Jef Otte