Famously, many Americans lack a sense of irony. A generalisation, yes, but as with most generalisations, not necessarily false. On my first visit to the US, I interjected in mid-conversation as my American friend told a story, to say “... you’re not serious!” It was as if I’d slapped her. She stopped right there and announced, with anger “... I AM serious!” I tried to explain.
On June 22nd last, in this column, I called for the Bible to be banned, in agreement with Christian fundamentalists at a school in the US state of Utah who had done just that as they found it “one of the most sex-ridden books around”. I concurred with this unsurprising absurdity where some hardline evangelical Christians are concerned – to heighten the absurdity through irony.
The outraged reaction from usual suspects was not unexpected. It never is where such people are concerned. Sometimes I feel they buy this newspaper to ensure a daily dose of outrage. It goes well with their morning coffee, apparently.
What was disappointing was the number of common-sense people who read the article literally. Aware of the influence of American culture in Ireland, I had never suspected it now extended to including the loss of a sense of irony. And I say that as someone who likes most things American.
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In truth, whatever one’s state of belief or unbelief, rather than banning the Bible – or the Koran, or the Torah – I believe each should be on every school curriculum in the western world because there would be no western world as we know it without the Bible in particular, if not also those other two books of the three Abrahamic religions.
It is not possible to understand the West without knowing the Bible and its values.
As for those who condemn by reflex, they remind me of a favourite Jesus joke. (Cue, outrage!). He came across the crowd stoning a woman caught in the act of adultery. Stopping them, he demanded: “Let him that is without sin cast the first stone.”
Silence, until a little old lady shuffles through the crowd, throws a stone at the abject woman, and retreats back into the crowd again.
And, lo, Jesus pronounced: “Mother, sometimes you make me sick!”
Irony, from Latin ironia, Greek eironeia, where intended meaning is opposite to literal meaning.
