[Shaahayda Rizvi]

Dear Dr. Olson,

Thank you for your generous response and setting me right on the difference between deception/lies and irony. I suppose I confused the upside down, inside out, manufactured  data with   the outcome, which was indeed the irony — the courtroom drama and events that followed were so ironic that I did not know whether to laugh or cry, literally.

So for irony, my take was that it’s generally an unforeseen outcome, a false testimony from one you considered your bosom friend, the very individual you thought would accord safety and security, hands you over to the firing squad, and a host of  incongruous statements.

You wrote, “Irony is the indispensable attitude for engaging the goddess in her depths and darkness—darkness that places the radiance of transcendence in bold relief. Irony is life’s language; it grants one multiple points of view…” It sure did. And what makes me laugh and cry, and perhaps you might smile a little too.  So Just imagine, unbeknown to you, your bosom friend is about to hand you over to the cops — the cops really know more about the friend than you do, so they ask you to stay a few feet apart, and not say a word. You think the cops are acting against your interest, and the day comes when you file your motion against the cops in the kangaroo  court, and describe your friend thus:

“The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.” (William Shakespeare)

 Yes indeed, “Irony is the indispensable attitude for engaging the goddess in her depths and darkness—darkness that places the radiance of transcendence in bold relief.

Shaahayda (with gratitude)