http://wvgazette.com/news/Today/1999091431/
You can read about the latest in the West Virginia irony wars, or at least the Calhoun County version,
Tom Lehman
Doug Henwood wrote:
> Today's Suck, an epicenter of irony, interviews anti-ironist Jedediah Purdy:
>
> "While professional jealousy has long been the scrip in which Suck
> pays its staff, even we were taken aback by the mother lode of
> <http://www.observer.com/cgi-win/homepage.exe?nyo1/br082399spite>,
> bile, and gall unearthed by the sudden success of
> <http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~cellar/winter97/purdy.htmlJedediah>
> Purdy, the home schooled Harvard man whose book For Common Things:
> Irony, Trust, and Commitment in America Today has cashed in so
> handsomely on the pundit-invented trend away from sarcasm and toward
> deep sincerity. Frankly, having gotten behind the
> <http://www.suck.com/daily/97/03/18/irony> backlash and dipped our
> behinds in the <http://www.suck.com/daily/98/10/26/new> earnestness
> back when it wasn't cool, we expected to get at least an appearance
> on public access out of the deal. We also recognized a rare
> opportunity to beat up on a seemingly defenseless punching bag.
> Sadly, while we can't recommend the book, the open secret is that
> there's hardly anything about irony in it. We suspect a put-up job,
> in which the young snake charmer has managed to tie himself to the
> media's hot air balloon. We were determined to get the story straight
> from the young bard himself."
>
> The rest is at <http://www.suck.com>.
>
> Doug