Liking Things (Un)Ironically

This semester, I’ve been teaching a class on postmodern theory and culture to my undergraduates, and so we spend a lot of time talking about irony and whether we ought to engage in it quite as much as we do. So it was with interest that I read Russ Ramsey’s piece on “the beautiful flaw in liking things ironically.”

I believe the phenomenon of liking things ironically is cynical, disingenuous, and self-protective. It comes across to me as more of a boast: “I laugh at the things that actually seem to stir the hearts of others, and I count it as to my credit that I am not so easily moved.”

The beautiful flaw in liking something “ironically” is that if you’re not careful, what you start off liking primarily for the way it plays in our culture eventually begins to grow on you, and you start liking it for what it really is.

You can read the rest here.