Society

No democracy without irony

4 reading minutes

written by Jonas Follonier · March 4, 2022 · 0 comment

Le Regard Libre N° 83 - Jonas Follonier

Irony is saying something with the intention of expressing the opposite of what is said. It is, therefore, an art that requires a certain level of intelligence on the part of both the sender and the receiver. Destroy education—the conditions that allow people to listen to one another, tolerate one another, and put themselves in each other’s shoes—and you will destroy irony.

Often used to make people laugh, irony is also used to express doubt or to challenge others or an idea. Even in a joke, precisely. Irony is a sense of detachment.

Irony is a way of questioning what is taken for granted, accepted, obvious, reasonable, or ambiguous. That is why undemocratic, totalitarian regimes do not like him very much.

So, of course, anyone who resorts to irony can easily slip into contempt or disdain. As Philippe Val suggests in this month’s feature, it is important to distinguish between irony that includes both the speaker and the target within the same humanity, and irony intended to exclude the other from the realm of humanity for one’s own benefit.

But Patrick Chappatte rightly points out, in that same issue, that this second type of irony—or pseudo-humor—is simply bad, unsuccessful, and unfunny, but that an open society is not meant to ban what is poorly executed. The only standard for determining what should not be tolerated in human relationships, speech, works, and actions is the law: anything that violates the law must be condemned.

Given this, how can one not be concerned when observing—sometimes even among one’s own loved ones—that certain people do not understand—or pretend not to understand—the difference between an actor and a character, between literal and figurative meaning? What else can we see in the call by activists—who are very much in vogue right now—to censor, remove, or alter content in the name of the right to respect, other than a dangerous attack on liberal democracy? How should we respond to those who still insist that they are not Charlie (even though it was never about liking that kind of humor)?

What Happened to the Actress from French-Speaking Switzerland Claude-Inga Barbey, the target of a wave of outrage on social media, which prompted her to end her video column for everyday use Le Temps, should give us pause: French-speaking Switzerland is affected by this global trend toward a culture of offense and victimization. These «woke» activists (call them what you will—it’s certainly the label they’ve given themselves) are known for reacting and acting on emotion, but not engaging in debate. This is indeed a political ideology practiced like a religion—and even a sectarian one at that. Just like another enemy of debate, freedom, and humor—namely, Islamism (all things considered).

All of these are reasons why it is urgent to get back to the basics: irony—its definition, its conditions, its manifestations, its limits, its friends, and its enemies. To simply enjoy its flavor, while spending time with geniuses. And why not, finally, question our very intuitions on the matter?.

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