Fwd: RE: Fwd: Re: Sixties and Oldies

Gillies, Lindsay Lindsay.Gillies at FMR.Com
Mon Feb 12 14:03:19 CST 1996


Rich/NYC:
Irony is tending toward the mean.  When irony is discredited as it is
today  how does it recapture its "edge"?

Lindsay:
Irony never loses its edge.  Like Occam's razor, as long as there is
something left to slice, we lovers of irony will operate...

Rich/NYC:
First off apologies for my previous missive-didn't mean to get so worked
up.  I guess my point is sure irony will never "lose its edge"  in an of
itself but seems to me it should be directed at evils and their utter
stupidity not the weak and powerless.   Doesn't Pirate mention something
about "cheap nihilsm" I think in the hell chapter-we are drowning in it
folks IMHO.  Everybody's a target.
 -------------------------------------------------
Besides being durable, irony is also (1) corrosive and (2) subject to 
discriminating perception.
Mishandled, as you seem to see it being, like a useful acid it escapes 
control and chews up everything, a sort of Less Than Zero neutron bomb.
Nevertheless, deployed with discrimination, it is heard with discrimination, 
though only by those with the ears.  I don't mean this in an elitist way, 
quite the opposite---intellectuals, in my experience, are most prone to 
ironic carpet bombing.
 -----Lindsay



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