Irony becomes Ironic

Belmont Club » “A crisis of globalization”

It is supremely ironical that the response of some liberal ideologues is to simply to take the axe to what others regard as the safest tree in the forest.

I'm convinced that Irony is dead. It was taken out by the bullet meant for God. Instead, irony got plugged right between the "I" and the "Y". Oh, Irony is still allowed to operate in small and discrete matters -- it's the free ride when you've already paid, they say. But that future "free ride" for which you pay and pay and pay, but in the end ain't free and ain't even a ride? Where the whole outing turns into a long hike to a labor camp? That's an unintended consequence.

There is an Irony at the center of the Free Enterprise system: that people peacefully seeking a better life for themselves help produce a better life for everyone in society. There is an Irony at the center of Socialism: That smart, talented people who acquire power to use for the betterment of Society end up spreading misery. Now both these outcomes should be commonplace observations by now -- like the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. The only reason the results are ironic is we have to forget the last time it happened -- because the knowledge must be suppressed to allow the Social Welfare state to expand. So instead of being a literary construct, Irony, seemingly safely entombed in its mausoleum, has become a world historical force. I mean, ain't it ironic?