Irony detection

I’m trying to invent an irony detector to sell to suckers. It keeps setting itself off.

This post brought to you by the spirit of Steven Wright. He didn’t say it — but he certainly could have.

The thought came to because I’ve noticed, many times, that the “irony detection fail” is a strong defining feature of weaker minds, especially the shrill and self-righteous ones. You see this all the time in online debates and flame wars: a lot of people just don’t get irony. It’s like it’s a feature of consciousness and cognition that just isn’t available to you unless you’re in the happier half of the bell curve.

Excellent example: the chiropractor who legally threatened me because I had written somewhat that I am cautious about criticizing chiropractic because chiropractors have a well-established track record of being litigious. The irony was so intense you couldn’t actually look at it safely without a welder’s mask … but he was oblivious.