[donaldscrankshaw] Donald: What's a metahero?

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Posted by Donald:
What's a metahero?
http://www.donaldscrankshaw.com/posts/1213274936.shtml


   I'm not quite sure what to make of [1]this comment on my post "[2]Doc
   Rampage: The most metaheroic blog in the world?":

     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 [3]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.

References

   1. http://www.donaldscrankshaw.com/posts/1105550414.shtml#955
   2. http://www.donaldscrankshaw.com/posts/1105550414.shtml
   3. http://docrampage.blogspot.com/2004_02_08_docrampage_archive.html#107649256780941433