Merriam-Webster’s defines Irony as an “incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result.” We encounter little moments of irony in our daily lives. If I were to make up some, I would say that a Firehouse burning down out be ironic. An Olympic swimmer drowning in a bath tub would certainly be ironic.
Those, as I said, were made up. But life is funny. In fact, there is an old saying that states, “Life is not without a sense of irony.” This old saying is oh-so very true. Here are some examples.
In 2002, the town of Woodstock, Ontario in Canada was experiencing a terrible problem. Their town had become overrun with crows. Big and nasty black crows. Sure, they would cause an all around massive mess with their sizable poops that rained from the skies in truly epic fashion. But the biggest problem came not from the poop, but from their shrieking “CAW!”
The sound of this massive crow population at nearly all hours of the day forced the town’s people to do something about it. They eventually hired a group of people that brought in hawks and owls to frighten them away. This was actually their second plan to get rid of the noisy crows. They’re first? Setting off a huge barrage of extremely loud fireworks.
Irony indeed.
Arnold Bennett was a largely successful English novelist that wrote dozens of books between 1898 and 1931. Bennett lived in Paris. At the time, Paris’ water supply had come under fire for not being safe to drink. Bennett used his celebrity to try to quell peoples’ fears. He took a big swig of water in front a large crowd to prove that the water was just fine and that nobody had anything to worry about.
The water was contaminated with typhoid and he died shortly thereafter.
In an attempt to create greater public awareness for toy safety, in 1974 the Consumer Product Safety Commission had 80,000 buttons created and passed out with the slogan “For kids’ sake, think toy safety” printed on them. It wasn’t the catchiest slogan out there, but it gets to the point.
Not long later, the buttons were recalled due to “sharp edges, parts a child could swallow, and were coated with toxic lead paint.”
Way back in the old-timey time of 2000, a tree branch fell off of a tree in Nevada City, California. This branch hit a power line on the way down and cut off power to the whole town for more than 30 minutes. During this 30 minuet long power outage there was a courtroom trial going on. The trial centered around the Pacific Gas and Electric Company and how they failed to trim vegetation around power lines.
Samuel Worlin Moore walked in to a convenience story to purchase some sundries. To pay, he accidentally placed $200 on the counter and walked away. Realizing his error, he immediately rushed back in to retrieve the money.
A short time later that same day, Moore stormed in to a grocery store with a gun and demanded money from the cashier. When a customer came up behind him, Moore ran away. When the police asked the cashier if the assailant had any distinctive markings, the cashier mentioned that Moore had a very distinctive tattoo.
When news of the attempted robbery broke, the convenience store clerk contacted the police and informed them that he may have seen a man with the same distinctive tattoo that was described in news reports in his store, and he his face was captured by the stores’ security camera.
Moore was soon captured and pled Guilty.
Oh, and that distinctive tattoo that Moore had was that of a gun that had the words “Not Guilty” written near it.
We’ve all seen those ridiculously over the top safety films where the bad actors pretend they aren’t paying attention to their band saw, then they get their hand sliced off while they scream, and stage blood pours all over the place like the fountains at the Bellagio. But every once in a while you’ll see the videos that employ the usage of real footage and pictures of real, horrible accidents. These are the videos that make you squirm in your seat as you try to hold back either your vomit or your giggles of nervousness.
According to Industrial Machinery News (a publication for what we assume is the world of Industrial Machinery), there was once a company that was a shining beacon of light in the dark and dangerous world of factory safety. This company was so safe that they had a five-year perfect safety record, and they were very proud of it.
One day, this company decided to impart upon their employees the importance of proper eye-goggle protection. To show them how truly terrible some eye accidents could be, they choose to run a video that showed nothing but absolutely gruesome and graphic images of terrible eye accidents.
Twenty-five people were injured as they ran out of the screening room, and 13 fainted – one of whom needed stitches when he fell out of his chair and cut hit head.
This example of irony goes waaaay back to 1871 when an attorney named Clement Vallandigham was attempting to explain to a jury that his client was innocent. His client was on trial for the murder of a man with a pistol. Clement argued that the now dead man may have shot himself due to the fact that he was in an awkward knelling position while he held a pistol in his pocket.
To better illustrate this point to the jury, Clement elected to reenact this entire situation. Clement placed what he believed was an unloaded pistol in to his pocket and he knelt down. The pistol was loaded. It went off. Clement shot himself. He died soon after.
Luckily for him, the jury believed that this was a pretty good bout of lawyering. Clement’s client was found not guilty.
Noisy Crows
The sound of this massive crow population at nearly all hours of the day forced the town’s people to do something about it. They eventually hired a group of people that brought in hawks and owls to frighten them away. This was actually their second plan to get rid of the noisy crows. They’re first? Setting off a huge barrage of extremely loud fireworks.
Irony indeed.
Don’t Drink the Water
The water was contaminated with typhoid and he died shortly thereafter.
Buttons
Not long later, the buttons were recalled due to “sharp edges, parts a child could swallow, and were coated with toxic lead paint.”
Dangerous Vegetation
The Tattoo
A short time later that same day, Moore stormed in to a grocery store with a gun and demanded money from the cashier. When a customer came up behind him, Moore ran away. When the police asked the cashier if the assailant had any distinctive markings, the cashier mentioned that Moore had a very distinctive tattoo.
When news of the attempted robbery broke, the convenience store clerk contacted the police and informed them that he may have seen a man with the same distinctive tattoo that was described in news reports in his store, and he his face was captured by the stores’ security camera.
Moore was soon captured and pled Guilty.
Oh, and that distinctive tattoo that Moore had was that of a gun that had the words “Not Guilty” written near it.
The Safety Film
According to Industrial Machinery News (a publication for what we assume is the world of Industrial Machinery), there was once a company that was a shining beacon of light in the dark and dangerous world of factory safety. This company was so safe that they had a five-year perfect safety record, and they were very proud of it.
One day, this company decided to impart upon their employees the importance of proper eye-goggle protection. To show them how truly terrible some eye accidents could be, they choose to run a video that showed nothing but absolutely gruesome and graphic images of terrible eye accidents.
Twenty-five people were injured as they ran out of the screening room, and 13 fainted – one of whom needed stitches when he fell out of his chair and cut hit head.
Court of Law
To better illustrate this point to the jury, Clement elected to reenact this entire situation. Clement placed what he believed was an unloaded pistol in to his pocket and he knelt down. The pistol was loaded. It went off. Clement shot himself. He died soon after.
Luckily for him, the jury believed that this was a pretty good bout of lawyering. Clement’s client was found not guilty.
