But it was a little embarrassing to see Beck get so out of control.

petunia on March 30, 2009 at 7:42 PM

Someone should be able to ask the Connecticut AG “what law did they break?” And not left him off the hook for being unable to answer the question.

Irony is a mode of expression that calls attention to the character’s knowledge and that of the audience. See, when I as a conservative say the country’s too rich because it allows parasites like blueneck to exist, that’s ironic.

It’s kind of the way I feel when I hear a lib talk about “nuance”.

The typical idiot Lefty complaint is NOT that America is too wealthy, it is that the wealth is somehow “inequitably distributed”. Typical Lefty wealth-destruction schemes are rarely about actually (and intentionally) destroying wealth per se, but are instead about redistributing it.

You’re perhaps the third or fourth person I’ve ever heard/read using such a construction, so I hardly think it’s typical. The general desire is to reallocate wealth, not decry its very existence above a certain level.

You seem to equate irony with someone stating the opposite of what you’d expect them to say, with such an assessment based perhaps on membership in a particular identity group (like “true Conservatives”).

Yet identity politics is virtually the sine qua non of Lefty ideology. Will you also claim this as some form of meta-irony on your part?

Is this approach of yours just too nuanced for the rest of us to get? With the Lefty emphasis on nuance being some meta-meta-irony?

There’s a vastly simpler explanation. Perhaps you’re projecting your own flaws (and deviation from standard conservative principles) onto Blueneck, as evidenced in your earlier ad hominem screeds against him.

I generally don’t assume that someone who does the opposite of what they say is being ironic. It’s far more often a safe bet that they’re simply hypocritical, foolish, or just have trouble being intellectually honest and speaking the truth. Where have I seen that before on the political spectrum?

Irony is a mode of expression that calls attention to the character’s knowledge and that of the audience. See, when I as a conservative say the country’s too rich because it allows parasites like blueneck to exist, that’s ironic.

drballard on March 31, 2009 at 4:13 PM

In a word… no.

As Sabrina Matthews brilliantly pointed out, irony is a Scotsman cloning sheep. Irony is naming a national airport after the guy who fired the air traffic controllers. (One of my favorite moments in President Reagan’s terms in office, by the way.)

Your use of the phrase “too wealthy” isn’t ironic, it’s simply questionable. It implies that there is a correct maximum amount of wealth for the country, and if we were only at or below that level, “parasites” like Blueneck wouldn’t exist. This is nothing at all like conservative thought… because it implies a “solution” to folks like Blueneck involving reducing the wealth of the nation.

Hypocritical? Telling? Unfortunate? Intemperate? Foolish? Ridiculous?

Possibly…. but ironic? I think not.

drballard on March 31, 2009 at 4:13 PM….

Now you don’t want me to exist?

Hey somebody out there help a poor troll out!

By the way, the definition of irony is rain on your wedding day or a black fly in your Chardonnay. Look it up.

You sure have some hot assistants on you website. I feel a toothache coming on!

drballard on March 31, 2009 at 3:32 PM

So we’d be better off if we were all dirt poor. Truly amazing logic there.

darktood on March 31, 2009 at 2:58 PM

Psst – traitor. Get firefox and use the spellcheck.

Oh, and as a free gift, here’s a tip for editing the Biography pages on that site:

If someone is going to brag about being nominated for the “prestigious Earnest and Young Entrepreneur of the Year”, it might be useful to spell Ernst correctly.

Just sayin’…

Nevermind all that. Did you take a GOOD look at that site? (I wonder if it’s too late to get into dental school…)

Blueneck on March 31, 2009 at 9:00 AM

.
Even if your infantile rant is true, he is still a better, and wiser American than the CT AG, or that trader in the white house.

If someone is going to brag about being nominated for the “prestigious Earnest and Young Entrepreneur of the Year”, it might be useful to spell Ernst correctly.

Just sayin’…

And what’s with the tooth polishing? Is the only “DR” you can think of a dentist?

Blueneck is clearly a thoroughly bigoted troll, but it hardly seems irrational when your ID is drballard, and your name links to doctorballard.com (which is the website for Ballard Family Dentistry) for someone to leap to the conclusion that you might be a dentist. How ignorant and shocking!

Perhaps it’s all an elaborate smokescreen on your part, but from the onlooker’s perspective, “I think he doth protest too much”.

P.S. You’re not doing a bang-up job of establishing conservative bona fides with notions like your “realization” that “America is too wealthy”.