30.1.08

Talk about irony.

What's the point of £19 million, if you could die at any moment - and not be able to do anything about it, and still have to go through the NHS system?

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not to rain on your wedding day Alanis, but bad luck does not constitute irony. Still sucks though.

Tabula Rasa said...

agree with b-mop. not ironic for him.

??! said...

Ok, ok. Badly written, has been modified. Is now ironic?

km said...

God has a strange sense of humor.

So, OTP, why is this not ironic? Bad luck may or may not always constitute irony.

A lead ball falling on my head is bad luck. (ok, funny and painful too.) But refusing an offer of a free helmet just before walking into the lead ball factory is ironic.

In fact, this sort of irony (lottery winner stricken by a rare disease) *could* be classified as "cosmic irony".

There, now you can call me a literal-minded, humorless, nitpickin' pedagogue.

??! said...

Yeh! You tell 'em, unkelji. Whole time shouting at me for not Urfing, she is. My nerves are so stressed.

Anonymous said...

See - I was thinking cosmic irony, maybe (which is my least favourite kind). But I just don't see what one has to do with the other.

The helmet would prevent the lead ball damage, sure. If he was sick and all that stood between him and good health was money which he didn't have, and now he has money but something else bars his recovery - then yes, totally cosmic irony.

But the medical situation, as I understood it, remains the same. Having more money couldn't have changed the situation for him 3 year ago and it doesn't change things for him now. (and I realize I am spending a lot of time and energy thinking about this and it is weird)

km said...

No, no, OTP, the cosmic irony here is that money can buy him cars and diamond rings and shit but not the one thing he needs to truly enjoy life: good health.

//we are slip-sliding into Buddhism/Hinduism 101 here, so let me just STFU.

??! said...

The money bit IS the irony - if you understand the quagmire that is the NHS, that is. Even with all that dough, he can't get it treated privately by specialists, because it's not operable. Hence, irony.

Anonymous said...

@ KM - i had long response typed up but then i was creeped out by my own preoccupation with this so I shall also follow suit and STFU.

@??! - I don't understand the quagmire that is the NHS (does anyone really?), which might be why I don't see this as ironic.

Espèra said...

No offense, but isn't that a wee bit selfish of him? I mean, that dude could just say, "Oh wow, give it all to charity, what's the point if I'm not living to spend it? But see the brighter side, I'll be going to heaven!" or something like that.

You know, die optimistically. Because death = uncertainty. But uncertainty is not = unhappy.

??! said...

Esp:
None taken. Although he just won it, so we don't know - he might do it.

Espèra said...

Nah. More likely than not, he'll spend it on treating himself or giving it to his wife or something.