Irony is a reality signal - According to Timothy Morton, irony is a reality signal because it is an honest, non-harmful way to acknowledge the profound strangeness and inconsistency of the world that we are forced to live within, especially in the time of the Anthropocene and ecological crisis. This idea flips the common perception of irony on its head. Usually, we think of irony as being detached, insincere, or a way to avoid genuine feeling. Morton argues the opposite: in a world that is inherently weird, irony is a appropriate and truthful response. Here’s a breakdown of why Morton makes this claim: 1. The World is Inconsistent and "Weird" Morton's core idea is that reality itself is not a seamless, consistent, rational whole. It's full of contradictions, paradoxes, and "weird" entities (like global warming, plastic, or the biosphere itself) that don't fit neatly into our mental categories. Hyperobjects—things so massively distributed in time and space that we can't perceive them directly—are a perfect example. We can see the effects of climate change, but we can't see climate change itself. This creates a cognitive dissonance. 2. Sincerity Often Fails and Becomes Kitsch When faced with this weirdness, a direct, "sincere" response often falls flat or becomes what Morton calls "kitsch." Kitsch is a pre-packaged, sentimental emotion that tries to smooth over the weirdness and inconsistency. · Example: A straightforward, earnest poster of a polar bear on a tiny ice floe. This tries to evoke a simple, sad feeling, but it fails to capture the mind-boggling, hyper-object reality of global warming—a phenomenon involving carbon cycles, deep time, ocean currents, and economic systems. The sincere approach simplifies something that is horrifyingly complex, and in doing so, it becomes dishonest. 3. Irony Acknowledges the Gap Irony, for Morton, is the mode of speaking that acknowledges the gap between our concepts and the weird reality. It doesn't try to paper over the contradiction; it points to it. · It says: "I know this is strange. I know my words are inadequate. I know this situation is absurd." This is a more truthful relationship to a reality that is itself absurd and contradictory. 4. Irony as a "Reality Signal" This is where the phrase comes together. A "signal" is something that conveys accurate information. · Irony signals that the user is aware of reality's inconsistency. It's a way of saying, "I am tuned in to the actual, weird frequency of the world, not the sanitized, easy-listening version." · It avoids the hypocrisy of kitsch. While kitsch pretends that simple emotions can solve complex problems, irony honestly admits the helplessness and confusion we feel, which is a necessary starting point for any genuine action. --- A Concrete Example: Talking About Climate Change · Kitsch/Sincere Response: "Let's all hold hands and save the planet!" (This ignores the immense, systemic, and paradoxical nature of the problem—e.g., that the technology we use to live also causes the damage.) · Ironic/Morton-esque Response: Making a meme about how you're recycling your plastic water bottle while knowing it will probably end up in the ocean, all while a new IPCC report is open on your screen. The irony here signals an awareness of the paradoxical reality: you are caught in the system you are criticizing. This is a more accurate map of the situation. In Morton's Own Words (From Dark Ecology): "Irony is about the distance between the world and our descriptions of it. In an age of ecological crisis, this distance is not a luxury; it is a fundamental part of the reality we are dealing with. So irony isn't a way of avoiding reality, but a way of tracking it." In summary, Morton rehabilitates irony from a sign of apathy into a tool of honesty. In a broken, inconsistent world, an ironic stance isn't a lie—it's a reality signal that honestly reports the brokenness, making it a crucial first step toward a genuine, non-harmful coexistence with the strange real world.