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I’m not sure I’d consider a Dem wearing a MAGA hat or a hipster wearing a hillbilly shirt “ironic” because it’s not really usurping the viewers’ surface-level u

I’m not sure I’d consider a Dem wearing a MAGA hat or a hipster wearing a hillbilly shirt “ironic” because it’s not really usurping the viewers’ surface-level understanding of the message. Whereas I think several people wearing a “Think Different” shirt would be ironic because in trying to communicate that they think differently they’ve actually communicated how alike they are. What they’ve said on the surface is not at all what they’ve actually said. I think the MAGA hat dem example misses the critical two-different-messages aspect that makes something ironic.

wombatmobile 5y ago
Yes, the key quality of irony, as opposed to coincidence, is that in an ironic couplet, the second construct unwittingly reverses the first.
coldtea 5y ago
>I’m not sure I’d consider a Dem wearing a MAGA hat or a hipster wearing a hillbilly shirt “ironic” because it’s not really usurping the viewers’ surface-level understanding of the message. Irony doesn't have to be some huge usurping, tho. Same way a joke doesn't have to be good, it can also be a mediocre or bad joke.