This post is bursting with irony! Reading it I was thinking that the phenomenon of Donald Trump is living proof that God has a great sense of humor and doesn’t suffer fools without irony. For those who have eyes to see, Donald embodies the Basilea tou theou rather than the worldly stable genius Emperor he thinks he is. On the level of his fascist glory and undesirable character traits he fulfills the role of the “prosperous fool” Aristotle found so ironic. Based on the definition of irony — the use of words or an expression that indicates something different from and often opposite to the literal meaning, the manufactured, delusional myth of Trump the King belies the reality of Trump the lowlife scumbag. The compassionate Jesus probably would have perceived him in terms of Basilea tou theou and said “forgive him father, for he knows not what he does,” thus acknowledging that Herr Trump is just another flawed human being acting out of the psychological conditioning he was subjected to growing up in the household of a narcissistic father without empathy. Nevertheless, this asshole is doing a lot of damage to the Republic and he needs to exit the stage before things get too ironic.
This post demonstrates one key difficulty in ironic statements: the wider the audience is, the less likely they are to know one's underlying beliefs.
Probably the most famous instance of literary irony is Jonathan Swift's "Modest Proposal." Nobody ever misses the irony in Swift's proposal that the English eat Irish babies, because the taboo against cannibalism is both essentially universal and deeply felt. So the audience automatically seeks alternative interpretations of the text that don't violate this shared taboo.
Here, Jesus is speaking to Jews under occupation. This audience would share a revulsion toward Caesar's likeness on coins; they would share indignation over occupiers backhanding their fellows in the face. Thus, they would seek interpretations that feel compatible with these emotions.
But the Bible didn't stop with the Jews. It expanded, and continues to expand, its audience far beyond its original milieu. And in the process, the audience has come to regard some very sly irony, situated in a very specific time and place, as being timeless platitudes. It's perhaps unfair to regard the modern Biblical audience as "irony impaired." They simply lack the contextual clues that Jesus would have depended on to make the irony work.
This post is bursting with irony! Reading it I was thinking that the phenomenon of Donald Trump is living proof that God has a great sense of humor and doesn’t suffer fools without irony. For those who have eyes to see, Donald embodies the Basilea tou theou rather than the worldly stable genius Emperor he thinks he is. On the level of his fascist glory and undesirable character traits he fulfills the role of the “prosperous fool” Aristotle found so ironic. Based on the definition of irony — the use of words or an expression that indicates something different from and often opposite to the literal meaning, the manufactured, delusional myth of Trump the King belies the reality of Trump the lowlife scumbag. The compassionate Jesus probably would have perceived him in terms of Basilea tou theou and said “forgive him father, for he knows not what he does,” thus acknowledging that Herr Trump is just another flawed human being acting out of the psychological conditioning he was subjected to growing up in the household of a narcissistic father without empathy. Nevertheless, this asshole is doing a lot of damage to the Republic and he needs to exit the stage before things get too ironic.
This post demonstrates one key difficulty in ironic statements: the wider the audience is, the less likely they are to know one's underlying beliefs.
Probably the most famous instance of literary irony is Jonathan Swift's "Modest Proposal." Nobody ever misses the irony in Swift's proposal that the English eat Irish babies, because the taboo against cannibalism is both essentially universal and deeply felt. So the audience automatically seeks alternative interpretations of the text that don't violate this shared taboo.
Here, Jesus is speaking to Jews under occupation. This audience would share a revulsion toward Caesar's likeness on coins; they would share indignation over occupiers backhanding their fellows in the face. Thus, they would seek interpretations that feel compatible with these emotions.
But the Bible didn't stop with the Jews. It expanded, and continues to expand, its audience far beyond its original milieu. And in the process, the audience has come to regard some very sly irony, situated in a very specific time and place, as being timeless platitudes. It's perhaps unfair to regard the modern Biblical audience as "irony impaired." They simply lack the contextual clues that Jesus would have depended on to make the irony work.
Well thought out and well said! I appreciate that insight!