July 13, 2009
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An irony in three acts
A philosopher I know said he thinks that most of the people in my generation are ironists. An ironist is a person who says he believes something, but really doesn’t.
An ironist is willing to abandon any fashion or creed, any person or place, and move on without remorse. Their life is nowhere, for they have tied it to nothing; whatever they say may mean the exact opposite, depending on how things turn out. For if things turn out poorly, they didn’t mean what they said. Its infinite flexibility makes the life of an ironist impossible to attack; there is no point of weakness, for nothing actually means anything to them.
The appeal is clear: you stake nothing, you lose nothing. The ironist will never be sad; but the question is, will he ever be happy?
Comments (8)
That’s a sad way to live. Pretty hopeless.
happiness is illusory; the proper question is, is he satisfied?
I see a lot of this, but I don’t know that I’d say *most.* The place I see it most frequently is amongst corporate-types. I wonder, does the job attract ironists to it, or does it turn people into ironists?
I think I call those people contrarians. Irritating people. Could be a different sub group. Not sure.
you *must* be talking about religious/spiritual beliefs because it is impossible to hold “ironic” scientific beliefs; such a scientific ideology would quickly lead to inconsistencies and falsehoods.
that said, i don’t think the practice of abandoning religious beliefs is a new phenomenon; recall Cardinal Richelieu’s policy of raison d’etat. nor do i think it’s a bad phenomenon; recall the Spanish Inquisition.
one of my heroes, Bertrand Russell, once said, “I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.” (i suppose a corollary might be “I would never kill for my beliefs, either.”)
most people simultaneously hold multiple, mutually exclusive worldviews. the naive physical description of the universe developed by a person in his/her infancy is inconsistent and context-dependent. a child who believes that “matter is conserved” will also believe that burning causes stuff to “disappear.” s/he will abandon the former belief in favor of the second depending on his/her circumstances. forcing a person to reconcile these two beliefs leads to lots of confusion.
likewise for moral beliefs.
fortunately, physics escaped the trap of naive misconceptions and has turned out to be a fairly useful and consistent description of the universe.
on the other hand, most religions (and legal systems) are inconsistent and contradictory. the only way a person can claim a certain faith (or political ideology) is if s/he is willing to temporarily suspend one belief (killing is wrong) in favor of another (the death penalty is right).
but again, this is hardly a new phenomenon.
@jim_the_american -
His comment was actually more so about the mundane: fashion trends, favorite TV shows, sports teams—anything with which people can associate themselves. Based on his time at OSU, he felt a marked lack of sincerity in the basic student’s lifestyle, as though people were always at a distance from anything they said or did, the presence of an authentic commitment to anything totally absent from the average personality.
It was personified in one of his philosophy students who would take up the most ridiculous positions and defend them seemingly in earnest, though he never really believed any of them. This represents the quintessential example of the trend, though the overall trend is not limited to merely abstract things like philosophical positions.
The post was originally longer in which I applied the thought to relationships, and how it is difficult to be ironic about people. (If you’ve ever seen Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, it is quite relevant here.) It seemed too discursive, however, so I just left it at the concept.
(Though about science – it would seem anti-realists are the most blatant ironists there are, no? :-p)
Are you an ironist? Probably not. If people are not aware of your irony, how will you feel? If they dislike you because of your irony, how can you feel happy? Some people may, when others understand their irony and they think their mission is accomplished. I hope this makes sense to you.
@nganyung -
I am an ironist about things which I don’t really think matter too much, like fashion or anything trivial. But I try not to be an ironist about the big and important things like relationships or the meaning of life. If people know you are being ironic, it is alright because hopefully they will be friends with you as a person, and not just because you associated yourself with some certain thing. At least that is how it ought to be.