Isn’t It Ironic?

by | Jan 10, 2013 | Uncategorized

Facebook Like by sofiabudapest via Flickr.

Yesterday I found myself terrified of “liking” something a Jesuit friend had posted on Facebook, because I deemed it too “religious-y,” and thought, “What will my comedy friends think?”

I spend the better part of my Facebook life in this internal tension of speculation over what my friends from my days as a comedian will think about something I “like” or post, and what my friends from the world of religion will think.

“Pick a side Martin!” (By the way that’s Jake, not Jim.)

I don’t want it to appear as though religious life has made me lose my edge, or conversely that I am a heretic, so I don’t commit to the “like.”  I’m not proud of this, but as Jesus said, “It is what it is.”

(Yes, I know Jesus didn’t say that. I was being ironic.)

Which brings me to my point. This recent piece by Christina Wampole in the New York Times articulated my situation (one I share with many others): the intrinsic existential constrictions of living in an age of irony; a time when sincerity is terrifying and pre-emptive self-defense is the first and only option.

Wampole contends that a life of irony “signals a deep aversion to risk.” Indeed, living ironically necessitates a lack of commitment to any particular ideal, person, place or thing.  If everything is a joke, than nobody gets hurt.  Conversely, nobody gets much of anything else either. Wampole offers a prescription for moving outside the fuzzy world of irony and it begins with observing the behavior of four year old children and noticing how they live: freely, boldly and fully committed to the task at hand. And do as they do.

Hmmm….watch the little children and do as they do…that sounds familiar.

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