In our native terms, the ironic style is often compounded with the sardonic and the hard-boiled; even the effortlessly superior. But irony originates in the glance and the shrug of the loser, the outsider, the despised minority. It is a nuance that comes most effortlessly to the oppressed.
Interpretation
Irony reflects a perspective often held by those who are marginalized or oppressed.
Christopher Hitchens highlights that irony is not just a stylistic choice but a genuine expression stemming from the experiences of those who feel like outsiders or are part of a despised minority. It emphasizes a unique viewpoint driven by resilience in the face of adversity, suggesting that irony is most adeptly wielded by those who have faced oppression and can offer a critical perspective on societal norms.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about art forms that use irony to critique society.
In a public dialogue with Salman in London he [Edward Said] had once described the Palestinian plight as one where his people, expelled and dispossessed by Jewish victors, were in the unique historical position of being 'the victims of the victims': there was something quasi-Christian, I thought, in the apparent humility of that statement.
What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Never ask while you are doing it if what you are doing is fun. Don't introduce even your most reliably witty acquaintance as someone who will set the table on a roar.
[E]xceptional claims demand exceptional evidence.
The worst days are when you feel foggy in the head - chemo-brain they call it. It's awful because you feel boring. As well as bored. And stupid. And resigned.
Let me tell you something: for hundreds of thousands of years, this kind of discussion would have been impossible to have, or those like us would have been having it at the risk of our lives. Religion now comes to us in this smiley-face, ingratiating way — because it’s had to give so much more ground and because we know so much more. But you’ve got no right to forget the way it behaved when it was strong, and when it really did believe that it had God on its side.
A man is rational in proportion as his intelligence informs and controls his desires.
He threatens many that hath injured one.
A wave of blood goes up to my head, my stomach shrinks together, as if something dangerous has just missed hitting me. It's as if I've been caught stealing, or telling a lie; or as if I've heard other people talking about me, saying bad things about me, behind my back. There's the same flush of shame, of guilt and terror, and of cold disgust with myself. But I don't know where these feelings have come from, what I've done.
Today, in American imperialism, the commodity has reached its most grandiose historical manifestation.
It's only possible to see people when one is able to see the world as others see it.
You will never glory in God till first of all God has killed your glorying in yourself.
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