Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
A Call for the End of Irony
()
Today's L.A. Times has an article about a new bar in Silver Lake that's - guess what? No, go ahead and guess, you're going to be so surprised - ironic!! Isn't that awesome?? I love it!
The bar is called Stinkers, and according to the Times it's got a picture of Burt Reynolds in the ladies room, a "cornucopia of vintage bumper stickers," and "brazenly kitschy delights" like fake stuffed skunks and - wait for it - pull-tab beer cans. Oh, what a throwback!
OK, but seriously - am I the only one who is completely, 110% over this? The Times describes the bar as "post-post-irony," which, if you do the math, means that irony went away and came back. Did I miss some blissful period of time in which irony took a much-needed vacation? WTF? Why didn't anyone tell me? Well, I suspect that it's actually because that never happened. Rather, this bar is yet another commodity in a very, very long line of ironic commercialization that began with $70 t-shirts and that now bleeds unsuspecting hipsters dry of their hard-earned paychecks.
Support for LAist comes from
The true irony here lies in the fact that the people who will go to Stinkers and comment on how "amazing" and "awesome" it is in deadpan mock-seriousness are being completely had. From my understanding, the whole "irony" thing started with the Dave Eggers of the world, people who are so painfully, profoundly self-aware (some may say narcissistic, but that's neither here nor there) that they can't even express emotion without being self-depricating. But can one be painfully self-aware and yet still feel the overwhelming urge to drink in a bar solely because it's overdone decor affirms one's self-perception? That doesn't seem right...
Bobby Green, the owner of the bar, manages to carry the irony even further, when later in the article he fails to realize that he didn't think of Burt Reynolds as a symbol of ironic hipsterdom first. "I despise the myriad Buddha-head, martini-drinking, glossed-over bars in L.A.," he says. Really? Because this Stinkers place seems so familiar also... oh that's right, 1970's ironic throwbacks smack me in the face every time I walk down the street in Silver Lake. Yes, my wealthy, pandering, entrepreneurial friend, conformity is conformity whether your skinny jeans are J Brand or vintage.
Anyway, this irony thing is now just tripping over itself. We're becoming a generation (and yes, full disclosure: this is my generation) that's so judgmental and defensive that all we can safely do is mock, and we can't even do that originally. We can only mock a symbol that we've all silently agreed upon beforehand (tough break, Burt). What happened? When did we get so unoriginal, and so fucking annoying?
Are we pissed because the generation before us will go down in history as being way more original than us? Are we tossing off the burden of being children of 60's and 70's activists - people who stood up to stuff, whereas we've sat by and let our country go to shit - by mocking everything that reminds us of them? Or are we just being brats? Hmm....fascinating.
I'd like to think that our recent political activity, from Prop 8 rallies to Obama's entire campaign, symbolizes the end of the ironic era. Maybe as we realize that action - real, passionate, vulnerable action - is actually kind of cool, irony will finally, finally go out of style.
Someone should probably let the bar owners know.
Photo by hragvartanian via Flickr
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist