9th
Real Irony vs. Hipster Irony
Examples of Irony
On March 30th, 1981, a disturbed man named John Hinckley, Jr. fired six shots from a .22 caliber revolver in the general direction of President Ronald Reagan. Out of the six shots that were fired, the only one that hit the President was a shot that ricocheted off the bullet proof glass of the limousine. So, IRONICALLY, the glass that was meant to save Reagan’s life actually caused him to get wounded.
During World War II, a paratrooper named Rod Serling watched as his best friend got crushed to death by a supply crate that had been parachuted on to their position. The crate was filled with food, ammunition and other crucial supplies. IRONICALLY, what killed Mr. Serling’s friend was the delivery of things that he would have needed to keep him alive.
Astronaut Gus Grissom was sitting in his Mercury space capsule in the middle of the ocean after completing the second successful American flight into space. While he was waiting for the helicopter to pick up the capsule and transport it to a waiting naval vessel, the hatch unexpectedly blew open, which caused the capsule to sink and Grissom to almost drown. The hatch was completely redesigned to prevent such an occurrence from ever happening again. Years later, Grissom was killed during a flight simulation when a fire broke out in the operations capsule of Apollo One. IRONICALLY, the same hatch improvements that were made due to the sinking of Grissom’s first Mercury capsule kept him from getting out of the Apollo One capsule.
Not Examples of Irony
Ronald Billings, who for some reason insists that everyone call him “Ian,” is wearing a 1984 Def Leppard tour t-shirt. Mr. Billings does not actually like Def Leppard. In fact he thinks they are lame. When asked why he is wearing the shirt, Mr. Billings says “Oh, well, you know, I just like the fact that it’s IRONIC, you know?” There is nothing actually ironic about this. This is just a dude wearing a shirt.
In some of the richest areas of the country, where people have the most amount of disposable income, people in their twenties out for a night on the town are purchasing poorly brewed, cut rate beer that comes in a can. They do this not because it’s all that they can afford, or because they even like the taste. When asked why they are drinking this swill when they could easily get something better, these youngsters say “Well, it’s just IRONIC to buy a can of Pabst, you know?” This isn’t irony. This is called “slumming.”
For a brief period of time, it was considered hip for people to wear shirts with name tags on them, similar to the shirts worn by mechanics and other blue collar workers. This was considered “ironic” for two reasons. First off, the person wearing the shirt usually didn’t have the same name as the one on the name tag. (“See, my name is actually GABRIEL, not LOU! Get it? HA HA!”) Secondly, the person wearing the shirt usually worked in an office somewhere, or was getting his degree in physics. This was not actually irony. This was somebody making fun of people who had to REALLY WORK FOR A LIVING.
If the Obama-era brings anything, I really hope that this “irony” nonsense is finally going to die.
