post-irony or irony v.2.0?

The ironist is ironical, not because he does not care, but because he cares too much.

--Randolph Bourne

Here is one dictionary definition of irony: "Incongruity between actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result." That kind of irony might note that America, for all its effort to shine a beacon of freedom throughout the world, is seen as an imperial oppressor by large swaths of the Islamic world. That kind of irony would wonder if in this new battle on behalf of freedom, we may rush to strip away civil liberties. That kind of irony would wonder whether this new kind of war, waged to make us safe from terrorist attacks, might plunge the world into a far more dangerous conflagration.

written on september 25th of 2001 by david beers

read the whole article at:
http://archive.salon.com/mwt/feature/2001/09/25/irony_lives