Irony

I love irony. I frequently find humor in irony and, if it makes me laugh, it's good with me. But, I've been thinking about irony and false witness. Often, irony is contingent on saying one thing but meaning another, which is usually fine as long as everyone "gets it". However, I do know some people that don't seem to understand irony. I could, and in the past, have, written them off as humorless, which I've always thought is about the worse thing a person can be. One important aspect of irony is that, by it's nature, some people will get it and be insiders and some won't and be outsiders. If everyone got it irony wouldn't be ironic. Favoring a method of humor that, by it's nature, excludes some people and judging those who also favor it and those who don't understand it feels very shallow to me right now. Some irony-free people are people I value, trust and respect. When I say something ironic in front of them and they give me that look of incomprehension or confusion and then I have to explain that "no I didn't mean I really liked what I said I liked. In truth I disliked it but I was saying I liked it to be funny" and then they ask why would that be funny or just give me that look I realize how, um, unforthright I sound.

I can't imagine that I'm going irony-free from this moment on; I have too much weakness for an easy punchline. I do think that I'll sometimes be more aware of how my words are taken by others.