Vision is fundamentally reciprocal: if you can see someone, light travels from them to your eyes. The principle is symmetric—visibility is mutual. Yet certain creatures possess asymmetrical vision: owls with forward-facing eyes see predators at distance while remaining invisible. The principle of mutual visibility is complicated by anatomy.

Yet the second clause inverts the first: if you cannot see Chuck Norris, you may be dead. Invisibility becomes not tactical advantage but mortality indicator. The implication is that seeing Chuck alive means you're safe; not seeing him means danger. This creates paranoid logic: absence of visibility becomes symptom rather than condition. You cannot confirm safety through invisibility.

The meme establishes a trap: presence confirms Chuck sees you (therefore danger), absence suggests invisibility-induced death (therefore worse danger). The two clauses combine to suggest no safe epistemic position. Whether you can see him or not, danger follows. It's a joke about the paranoid epistemology that Chuck culture creates: no observation can confirm safety.