On Irony

Irony is derived from the Greek word, Eirōneía, which means 'feigned ignorance'. Per Wikipedia, 'Verbal Irony' is "a statement in which the meaning that a speaker employs is sharply different from the meaning that is ostensibly expressed." Henry Watson Fowler, in 'The King's English', stated, "any definition of irony—though hundreds might be given, and very few of them would be accepted—must include this, that the surface meaning and the underlying meaning of what is said are not the same."

I would define this kind of irony as insincerely or indirectly making a point via humour. It's my favourite kind of humour as it's incredibly layered, kind of like a bulbous onion. Norm MacDonald was a true master of irony; he would intentionally look and sound ignorant in most his acts even though his content possessed depth and meaning. One example was the roasting of Bob Saget in which his entire set revolved around a collection of old-timey and incredibly lame 1950's style jokes. It was deliberately meant to be unfunny (because of how much he despised the concept of roasting) that it was funny.



Another great example is this clip of Norm MacDonald on The View talking about a conspiracy theory regarding the Clinton Family's dubious connections to dead staffers and their opponents. However, he presents this case in such a silly and absurd manner that his hosts are unable to pin him down as someone on "the Right" or a Republican tin foil-hat wearing loony. Norm wears a shit-eating grin on his face the whole time, deliberately looks ignorant and silly, and succeeds in annoying the hosts - the intended outcome. Norm achieves 2 Ws here, namely - that he brings up a conspiracy theory that the mainstream media has been doing its utmost best to suppress up till that point, and secondly, he exposes and unmasks the mainstream media for the turgid puritans that they are. The hosts end up looking idiotic, taking themselves way too seriously, and talking down to Norm like schoolmasters.



In fiction, irony is frequently employed as a motif. Pvt. Joker in Full Metal Jacket has "Born To Kill" scrawled on his helmet but wears a peace symbol button on his vest to make a point by highlighting the duality of man, and particularly the shadow archetype - or in Joker’s own words, "the Jungian thing, sir". Prima facie, wearing a peace button and having a violent statement on one’s person doesn’t make sense and is wholly absurd & incongruous. But there's a deeper meaning behind it.



Leo Strauss too recognized the value of irony being employed in the intellectual arena.

Per Wikipedia:

"In 1952 he published Persecution and the Art of Writing, arguing that serious writers write esoterically, that is, with multiple or layered meanings, often disguised within irony or paradox, obscure references, even deliberate self-contradiction. Esoteric writing serves several purposes: protecting the philosopher from the retribution of the regime, and protecting the regime from the corrosion of philosophy; it attracts the right kind of reader and repels the wrong kind; and ferreting out the interior message is in itself an exercise of philosophic reasoning."

In an era of a new kind of woke persecution (read cancel culture) where the pen is mightier than the sword...or rather, the keyboard mightier than the gavel, where your words will be used against you in the kangaroo court of public opinion, it is important to harness irony as a tool. A tool to separate the wheat from the chaff; a tool to distinguish friend from foe, for any potential friends - your real target audience - would be able to read through the irony and reach out to you. This is how you sustain yourself in this new era of ridonkulousness.