no, really. I mean it. really.

[trochee]

In lieu of writing about the careening potential trainwrecks in my own life, I will instead point you to writing by other smart folks, by which I mean smart folks, rather.

I was going to write the following as a comment on that post, but I decided to take it as my own entry:

I must say here that all you people are too fucking smart. I'm impressed and humbled by the intelligence and sincerity -- interesting, considering the subject -- provided to this rather excellent post. boymaenad's comment, there at what-is-currently-the-end, is a stunning example thereof.

Reading all the brilliant comments and intelligent, well-read and well-thought-out discussion there makes me want to quit my machine-learning-and-linguistics and just try to keep up with all you smart people.

Fuck! as if to torture me (and to prove anthrochica's point), I can't seem to express my own sincere admiration without sounding like an ironic sour-grapes bullshitter. See: go reread the last two paragraphs, but assume I'm sneering.

See? anything I say ("no, really!") just sounds like more of the same. No, really!

We as a community are the boy-who-cried-wolf. sadness, disgust, and the sense of ill-fit and worry (or paranoia) in our world have become just another style. Sincerity, through some Gricean maximal pretzel-twist, can only be read as a very clever ironic pose, and true sincerity is just one-up-manship.

Comments

[q-pheevr.livejournal.com]

I was reminded of this post, and the one you link to, when I read the comics this morning:

[Zits, Feb. 9]

If I were directing a theatrical performance of this strip, the one thing I would absolutely insist on is that Jeremy's line in the last panel must not be read in a sarcastic tone; he must be completely sincere. He is not making fun of his mother (although this is almost certainly how she will interpret his response); rather, "ironic" for him is just another genre, like rock, jazz, classical, reggae, and so on. And it's probably one of the most popular genres, too—I expect irony sells rather better than jazz, but not quite as well as hip-hop.

[trochee.livejournal.com]

wow. couldn't have asked for a better comic to illustrate the point.

And I agree that Jeremy is completely sincere about looking for "ironic", which brings the whole thing full circle.

*shakes head to clear it*

thanks for the keen eye...