Until recently I wasn't aware how incomplete my view of Donald Trump was. His outrageous utterances are captured, live, for BBC television news. Rebuttals, if any, come later, often as summary read by the presenter. Any corrective force is inevitably delayed.
Thus the cumulative impression, here in the UK, is that, day to day, DT gets away with murder and the US does nothing about it. Then I saw Anderson Cooper on CNN cutting out "wasted" time and offering clips of what Trump said then and now.
● The Mexicans would pay for the wall. No they wouldn't, a new US-Mexico trade deal would pay for the Wall. But the money gained would go to the businesses doing the trading. Yeah but the cost of the wall is peanuts. So the US government would tax the traders? Oh no.
● The US shutdown. People wouldn't be able to pay their mortgage, buy groceries, etc. Trump (a billionaire landlord) reckoned the landlords would be understanding, would allow defaulters some slack. Cut to Trump in 2016 advising on how to collect rent "...never stand in front of the door... because you get bad things coming through that door."
Cooper cocks an eyebrow: "Does that sound as if Trump is there to give the tenants time to pay?”
What I loved was how much Trump must dislike Cooper. Cool, calm-voiced, even giving Trump credit where it was deserved, shrugging his shoulders at each contradiction, saying, “Hey but it’s just words, just words.”
I owe the USA an apology. I didn’t think the country could do irony. I was wrong.
Oh,we do irony. We're better at stupidity and embarrassment though. Want more Trump in a nutshell? This one is fun:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA631bMT9g8
MikeM: You've heard of the movie Spinal Tap: it sends up pop music and its practitioners. I watched the first ten minutes and have subsequently grouched: You can't parody a branch of culture which - at heart - is based on parody. Isn't it nice that your prezzie appears to be wilfully co-operating with the parodists. Here, I imagine him saying, go away and make a masterpiece of this.
ReplyDeleteBut you are hard on your fellow citizens. It took an ironical attitude to come up with the idea of stringing those DT clips together. And, if I'm not mistaken, it took another ironist (with musical skills) to glue them together so that the finished thing had an unimpeachable rhythmic structure. As I type the careful use of quavers is still evident in my ears.
Thanks for that. Needless to say your attitude was never in doubt.
We actually live in an ironic society here in the States. It's so damn big, regional, divisive, and unpredictable. Noticing the irony in that versus the image we try to project is what keeps many of us sane. The alternative is to realize we're living a lie. Only a couple of us want to admit that. I'm looking forward to the next two years. I'm quite happy to be alive during these crazy times. Still waiting for a Star Wars ending, too.
ReplyDeleteColette: Are we reading from the same hymn sheet? The secondary meaning (of irony) is my preference: Incongruity between actual circumstances and the normal, appropriate or expected result. Irony observers (in the UK at least) frequently disagree about given examples. Tom Lehrer said he gave up on satire when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Satire and irony are fairly close siblings; they are not always immediately recognisable. That's why smartyboots like me enjoy evoking them in the company of innocents.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt different hymn sheets. I must confess, irony has always been a difficult concept for me. I was thinking in general terms of "a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result." Specifically, that people consider the U.S. to be a land of liberty and democracy. The irony is that we thought we were, but we're not really all that. The joke is on us. I'm probably using it wrong, tho. Honestly, I have always struggled with that concept. Does that say too much about me? If so, I trust you to set me straight or give me a better word to use.
DeleteColette: I hesitate to set up as a pedagogue. Virtually everyone who has commented on Tone Deaf (and Works Well before that) is or was better educated than I am. I ducked out of school aged 15 and have since worn the boiler suit of Autolycus (the snapper-up of unconsidered trifles). Journalism allows this: specialised knowledge can be a hindrance, far better to depend on casual scraps of this and that
ReplyDeleteThe example you cite seems almost too simple to qualify as ironic. At first glance it looks more like misguidance, perhaps even hubris (Excessive pride towards, or defiance of, the gods, leading to nemesis). What worries me is whether those involved may recognise their situation as ironic. To qualify as irony - I'm going out on a limb here - your situation seems to demand being observed and identified by a third party.
I'm also beginning to think that US irony differs from UK irony. Not so surprising really; we both pronounce the word differently. Here are two US examples:
A fire station burns down.
A marriage counsellor files for divorce.
Neither of those quite fit my view. Rather too obvious. And this US situation definitely doesn't fit.
Two people want a divorce, but during the proceedings they discover they still love each other and get back together.
Here's a UK example (from R&J):
"O my love, my wife! Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath, Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty."
Quite foggy, isn't it? But then it is, of course, poetry.
Same hymn sheet? I guess not. I wasn't making allowances for the width and depth of the Atlantic. I shoulda reflected: when I read, say, Gore Vidal I'm conscious throughout that the author's voice is Anerican. But this is in no sense a qualitative judgment, simply a neutral fact. "Colour" spelled "color" flashes by hardly noticed.
I fear I may have wasted time you might have spent rassling alligators.
I can read and rassle those damn gators at the same time. Thanks for your explanation.
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