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Are you suggesting there's very little new under the sun, Flicka?
The thing about the Bright Young Things, though, is that they grew up pretty quick once the Depression came along, Mencken quit editing The Smart Set, and Richard Whitney went to prison.
To be fair, I know a good deal of people who are ironic all the time and it has nothing to do with income in my experience. Irony in the self-deprecating sense (what we in Swedish call "self-irony") in the face of hardship is actually a tradition here, going back to the Viking era sagas. You must pretend to be stoic and ironic even in the shadow of the gallows or you lose face completely. Also, if you don't make fun and light of your own troubles, you obviously think you're special and that's a cardinal sin in Swedish.
The irony discussed in the NYT article is the kind that doesn't live earnestly, and doesn't strive for things that are meaningful to them because that would mean they care, and caring is passe to the Ironic Crowd.
Something like that makes me wonder if these individuals don't have some type of mental illness or if not that extreme, something going on that is not that normal psychologically. If you honestly don't care about people, places, or things other than yourself (and especially if you don't even care about yourself) that's not normal.
However, I'm likely to think that this is all just an act and these people care very much about what others think, hence the heavy emphasis on NOT caring to look cool.
with swastika tattoos so I asked one of them what it was all about and he said that they were promoting their individuality
You expect this sort of behavior among adolescents -- but if you're in your twenties or thirties or forties and still trying desperately to show the world how "cool" you are, can you truly be considered an adult?
We are in an a time that someone is not expected to have their own home when they are in their twenties and thirties. When I was in my twenties and thirties I was too busy supporting my family to be cool. The world needs to have more role-models that carry their own weight so it will be cool to be a real adult.You expect this sort of behavior among adolescents -- but if you're in your twenties or thirties or forties and still trying desperately to show the world how "cool" you are, can you truly be considered an adult?
Or even better, just abolish the concept of "cool" altogether.
And replace that with Responsible.
We are in an a time that someone is not expected to have their own home when they are in their twenties and thirties. When I was in my twenties and thirties I was too busy supporting my family to be cool. The world needs to have more role-models that carry their own weight so it will be cool to be a real adult.
It used to be cool to be responsible. It used to be hip to be square. No irony in my statement!
It used to be cool to be responsible. It used to be hip to be square. No irony in my statement!