Irony became a little confusing today. I thought it would be fun and educational to check out the Is It Ironic? website, but it became headache-inducing and confusing as we tried to explain why we felt an idea or situation was or was not ironic and then tried to mesh our interpretation with the vote on the website. Let's take a step back.
What is irony? It is when what is said is not what is actually meant. It is when what is expected to happen does not fit with what actually happens. So when Fast and Furious actor Paul Walker dies in a fiery car crash it is sad but it is not ironic. People die in car crashes daily. People driving at high speeds die in fiery crashes. Paul was in a car going at a high rate of speed. The car crashed. He died. It is sad. It is unfortunate. Yes, he was much too young to die. But it was not ironic. Yes he played a skilled driver in the movies, but that does not mean he was a skilled driver. Again, it's not ironic. Now let's say he was a professional race car driver, a man with proven technical driving skills, a man practiced in the art of weaving in and out of high speed, congested traffic, a man who puts his life on the line every time he gets on the track. Let's say this highly skilled driver was in his Honda mini-van driving to the grocery store when he got in a car accident and died. Would that be ironic? Yes. Here's a highly skilled driver who defies death on the race track only to die on a basic two lane road where all should be safe, driving at a quarter the speed he is used to traveling.
Should you be able to correctly identify what irony is 95% of the time? Yes. Will there be times or examples that confuzzle you? Sure. I'm not 100% positive all the time either. Make it your goal to have the best understanding possible of the term and be able to apply it to what you read and what you view, as well as situations you encounter on a daily basis. Hope this helps.
TIPP is taking shape. It should be in complete shape by Friday with a new, clean, complete rough copy in your hands as you enter the class. Now the shape will probably be malleable, but that is what the peer edit draft day Friday is all about: molding that paper into the best shape it can be in.
As we read a variety of paragraphs today, we were reminded of the need to do the following:
Have a refutation
Make a counter-argument not a counter-statement
Use quotes from a variety of sources to support my arguments
If Wikipedia is my primary source, I'm in trouble
Identify my sources to enhance their credibility
Have a claim that mentions the person's name, uses a form of the word influence and hints at the arguments coming up
We'll play with irony some more tomorrow and have some time to look at some TIPP paragraphs on the big screen.
See you soon.
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