10 Images of Irony

1. 1. AC - September 23rd, 2007 at 7:01 am

   Good stuff - definitely ironic

2. 2. Cyn - September 23rd, 2007 at 7:05 am

   yup yup

3. 3. amurph - September 23rd, 2007 at 7:12 am

   My favorite is the third one. People are so dumb; using crosses and statues and such, when the bible clearly says to not use idols.

4. 4. rotationbias - September 23rd, 2007 at 7:41 am

   The first one is my favorite. So perfect.

5. 5. jfrater - September 23rd, 2007 at 7:50 am

   rotationbias: mine too

6. 6. Juggz - September 23rd, 2007 at 8:37 am

   haha love the last one!

7. 7. Ben - September 23rd, 2007 at 8:39 am

   One of my favorite lists so far.

8. 8. jfrater - September 23rd, 2007 at 10:15 am

   Juggz: yeah - talk about the worst timing ever to launch a campaign!

   Ben: excellent - I am glad you liked it

9. 9. Jason - September 23rd, 2007 at 12:28 pm

   The first one kills me… And the Cardinals shirt makes it all the more hilarious. Go Cubs!

10. 10. jfrater - September 23rd, 2007 at 12:36 pm

    Jason: it is not wonder it has become a meme

11. 11. Fe - September 23rd, 2007 at 1:27 pm

    Okay, help me out, I don’t understand #4, with the women in burkas holding up a sign about the anti- I mean the pope.

12. 12. jfrater - September 23rd, 2007 at 1:40 pm

    Fe: they are saying he has lost his moral balance, whilst they support terrorist bombings of innocent people. Oh - and I did get the sly dig

13. 13. ben - September 23rd, 2007 at 1:55 pm

    Lol i love how the first guy is wearing a cardinals shirt! Cubbies all the way. This is one of the better lists good job

14. 14. Fe - September 23rd, 2007 at 4:12 pm

    Heh, I’ll try to be more subtle in the future, Jaime.

15. 15. ImplosiveFire - September 23rd, 2007 at 4:50 pm

    The first and the last ones are the best
    xD I had a good laugh with them.

16. 16. Kelsi - September 23rd, 2007 at 4:54 pm

    Haha, I have seen a few compilations of pictures like these and I always enjoy them. Good list. xD

17. 17. The Chinatat - September 23rd, 2007 at 5:06 pm

    I always thought Irony was meant to be a deliberate choice on the part of a writer, speaker, or artist.

    Others may interpret things they read or see to be ironic, but that is their own deliberate choice, not that of the author or creator of the situation.

    What these pictures show is not irony, as the situations are not intentionally created.

    Sure they can be interpreted by us as being ironic, but that is our choice.

    What these pictures truly show, is just what a bunch of Dumb F@cks there are in the world.

    And isn’t that ironic

18. 18. ben - September 23rd, 2007 at 6:06 pm

    Actually, Chinatat if you visit the top 10 common english errors list, youll find why this really is irony

19. 19. Mathilda - September 23rd, 2007 at 6:10 pm

    jfrater - You know that I really enjoy your lists. However, I must respectfully disagree with your reasoning for including picture number four. Surely you are not suggesting that all Muslims “support terrorist bombings of innocent people”? Perhaps a more suitable example would be something along the lines of an anti-abortion protester holding a sign saying how God thinks all life is sacred so abortionists should be killed.

20. 20. noel_38 - September 23rd, 2007 at 7:13 pm

    first time to visit this site, and i loved what you posted here your no. 1 list surely hits the mark, i wonder what the guy said to the women when he took their picture “smile?”, one thing’s for sure they had a student driver in pic 5

21. 21. MHL - September 23rd, 2007 at 9:17 pm

    Respectfully disagree on the third one. The slabs there representing the ten commandments are symbols, not idols. There is a rather big difference.

22. 22. Chris - September 23rd, 2007 at 10:05 pm

    MHL: I know what you mean (i’m a Christian btw), but it is funny that they atleast appear to be bowing to the ten commandments.

    Mathilda: I think another way of looking at is that they’re condemning the religious leader of another religion while from what it appears, they say nothing of the violent sects of Muslims. (Not perfect, I know, the Pope is the leader of all Catholics, and terrorists are just a sect)

23. 23. subcorpus - September 23rd, 2007 at 11:41 pm

    great list …
    enjoyed …
    hehe …

24. 24. jfrater - September 24th, 2007 at 12:28 am

    Thanks for the comments guys

    Mathilda: I definitely wasn’t implying that - I am sorry it came across that way. The example you give is equally good, thanks

25. 25. Joe - September 24th, 2007 at 6:14 am

    This reminds me of a time I travelled through Illinois. When I entered the state there was this large sign stating “The people of Illinois welcome you” and right behind the sign was a giant cemetary.

26. 26. Jackie - September 24th, 2007 at 8:09 am

    hahahaha that last one is awesome

27. 27. Kip - September 24th, 2007 at 12:23 pm

    The second one looks like a “Far Side” by Gary Larsen.This is great stuff!

28. 28. hgaratie - September 24th, 2007 at 12:34 pm

    Ahhahaha great list! My favorite is number 2!!!!!!!! And this is completely irrelivant, but number 7 reminds me of this homeless person I saw on the side of the road holding a sign that said “family killed by ninjas, need money for kung fu lessons”………ahahhaha so funny! Thanks!

29. 29. Wowzer - September 24th, 2007 at 8:26 pm

    Second to last one was hilarious; and example of irony to the max. If only the list had been longer!

30. 30. Mathilda - September 25th, 2007 at 5:16 pm

    Thanks, Chris and jfrater. I see the point now. As a side note, with all of the religious pictures, is it a matter of irony, or hypocrisy? Perhaps I’ll do a list of the Top Ten Hypocritical Statements by Religious Leaders! Of course, our host jfrater has set the bar so high with his lists that I fear falling short of the standard.

31. 31. jfrater - September 25th, 2007 at 10:19 pm

    Mathilda: I think you could probably say it is both in the case of the image here - I guess what this shows is that while sarcasmus is an form of Irony, hipocratism is too. I bet Quintilian had something to say on this! 10 points to someone that can find a quote

32. 32. 9000 - September 26th, 2007 at 4:04 pm

    http://www.myconfinedspace.com.....y-defined/

33. 33. Mathilda - September 26th, 2007 at 5:02 pm

    This one seems relevant to the subject of irony, at least!

    “Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish.” Quintilian De Institutione Oratoria

34. 34. jfrater - September 26th, 2007 at 11:17 pm

    9000: perfect example

    Mathilda: ah! Don’t you love Quintilian?!

35. 35. David - October 21st, 2007 at 5:50 am

    On the topic of religion and terrorism, the issue of hiding one’s features surely ranks among provocative actions. Black balaclavas worn by IRA and PLO members and white hoods of the KKK are meant to keep people from being identified and so avoid arrest in relation to their violent activities. Similarly, some muslim terrorists have worn hijab to evade arrest. Anyone who wears a head-to-toe covering is a reminder of that.

    You’d be likely to say the same thing about someone wearing a swastika armband, a confederate flag, a soviet hammer and sickle.

36. 36. jfrater - October 21st, 2007 at 6:17 am

    David: that is a very good point. Thanks.

37. 37. Hobolad - October 21st, 2007 at 6:51 am

    About number four… what’s so immoral/mentally unbalanced? I mean, in some countries people can walk around naked, some places lasses can walk around topless. They might look at our covering up of t*ts rules in the same way as a lot of us see their wearing the bhurka (is that the right word?)

38. 38. jfrater - October 21st, 2007 at 7:09 am

    Hobolad: It is not about them wearing full covering - it is about the fact that we hear virtually nothing from Islamic people in protest to their own people about the immoral terrorist attacks and threats - but in the picture they are complaining about the Pope being immoral. Whether they are covered up or not is not relevant.

39. 39. Hobolad - October 22nd, 2007 at 9:13 am

    Ah ok! I thought it was a continuation of number 2, y’know?

    But I’m pretty sure there’ve been protests against terrorism and whatnot, our news just doesn’t report it ’cause the current trend is, sadly, to bash Islam in general.

    Entertaining list though, so it’s done it’s job

40. 40. excantare - October 29th, 2007 at 4:10 pm

    Just stumbled across this, and that first one is hilarious! I would like to point out, though, that #4 seems like quite an offensive statement to be making - it’s only ironic if you assume that all muslims are terrorists. In this case, I’m guessing, they were protesting against Pope Benedicts use of Manuel II Paleologus’ text that said “you will find things only evil and inhuman” in Islam. I’m pretty sure if an Islamic imam said that about Christianity, you’d all be up in arms. So what’s ironic about them exercising their right to protest against a slur on their religion?

41. 41. jfrater - October 30th, 2007 at 1:03 am

    excantare: read over the comments - my intentions in including that image are clearly explained there

42. 42. Stimpy - October 30th, 2007 at 4:23 am

    I thought #4 was about the word ‘balance’ which is written in a very unbalanced way
    It’s probably not the main ‘joke’ but it is funny!

43. 43. excantare - October 31st, 2007 at 4:51 am

    jfrater: Yeah, I did read over the comments and that’s what prompted me to post I suppose I just instinctively disagree with your theory that “they support terrorist bombings of innocent people”. I don’t think you can assume that these people in particular, or muslims/middle eastern residents in general, support terrorism. Here in Australia, we don’t have daily marches against terrorism, yet we are against it strongly. And I was in Jordan, Turkey and Cairo for six months last year, with a short stop in Palestine, for an archaeological dig, and most people we met outside the dig were very anti-terorism. Especially in Palestine and Cairo, where the people we hired to help us dig were just sick of the fighting, and wanted to get on with their lives in peace and economic prosperity. Some muslims do bomb, true, but some christians do too (Oklahoma City bombers, etc.) so I don’t think you can extrapolate the theory across all middle eastern residents. That’s all I meant

44. 44. dave4248 - November 8th, 2007 at 3:19 pm

    All of these are a scream, but the second one down is the best. The others could at least be explained away,….a little. But the guy photographing the masked women. WHAT’S THE POINT OF EVEN TAKING THE PICTURE?!?

45. 45. jfrater - November 8th, 2007 at 3:22 pm

    dave4248: tell me about it! I agree completely. Why is there so much irony in islam?

46. 46. urmom - November 23rd, 2007 at 5:29 pm

    These are not ironic. at all. check this out:
    Irony is a literary or rhetorical device, in which there is a gap or incongruity between what a speaker or a writer says and what is generally understood (either at the time, or in the later context of history). Irony may also arise from a discordance between acts and results, especially if it is striking, and seen by an outside audience. Irony is understood as an aesthetic evaluation by an audience, which relies on a sharp discordance between the real and the ideal, and which is variously applied to texts, speech, events, acts, and even fashion. All the different senses of irony revolve around the perceived notion of an incongruity, or a gap between an understanding of reality, or expectation of a reality, and what actually happens.

47. 47. Keri - December 7th, 2007 at 5:00 pm

    I like the obesity/McDonald’s one.

48. 48. jasmine - December 17th, 2007 at 2:37 am

    Nice collection of photos thanx for sharing it

    jasmine

49. 49. kikiam - December 18th, 2007 at 9:40 am

    sweet! :p

50. 50. Nope - December 21st, 2007 at 12:54 am

    I agree with excantare. We also have no way of knowing if those particular people protesting the pope’s offensive, bigoted comments are in favor of terrorism or whether they conducted an anti-terrorism march the next day. Indeed, we have no way of knowing if there’s an anti-terrorism picket just off camera. Assuming they support terrorism because of their religion is just ignorant.

51. 51. dgwills - December 23rd, 2007 at 4:05 pm

    The error that western cultures make is to classify islam is only a religion. Islam has always been as much a political party as a religion since Mohommad. Giving muslims a pass because of religon is as dangerous as saying most Nazi’s didn’t support the holocaust, so we can’t blame them for being Nazi’s. Polls have shown that over thirty percent of muslums in the United States support suicide bombing and are willing to admit it. So in response to Nopes comment I would say that assuming someone supports terrorism because of there ethnicity may be ignorant, but if they’re muslim it is a reasonable assumption that they support any effort to destroy the infidels.

52. 52. mierah - December 24th, 2007 at 1:24 am

    hey, jf. how do u know they support terrorist bombings of innocent people? pic 4#

53. 53. jfrater - December 24th, 2007 at 1:36 am

    mierah: please read over the previous comments - they explain my reasons for including that image.

54. 54. mierah - December 29th, 2007 at 9:13 pm

    oh, yeah, jf, we do protest against our own people (u know, the terrorists) it’s just that cnn doesn’t make it their headline news. I live in malaysia, and it’s an islamic country, but most of us are against it. That’s all

55. 55. mierah - December 29th, 2007 at 9:14 pm

    er, against terrorism, not malaysia being an islamic country, btw XD

56. 56. jfrater - December 30th, 2007 at 3:03 am

    mierah: thanks for the comment - I am very interested to hear that. Can you recommend some source online that I might be able to see evidence of these protests? It would certainly be nice to see both sides of the story from time to time!

57. 57. mierah - January 1st, 2008 at 2:36 am

    sure, here’s one website http://www.nst.com.my/
    enjoy

58. 58. mierah - January 1st, 2008 at 3:00 am

    the really interesting ones are in malay, and since i doubt that you can read it, i didn’t bother. search for “terrorism” in a box on the lower left corner of the screen.

59. 59. skywalker - January 25th, 2008 at 1:33 pm

    I don’t find the 4th pic funny at all….

60. 60. Gerry Alanguilan - January 28th, 2008 at 10:50 am

    The funny thing is, on the last picture, the models on the two ads may well be the same!

61. 61. Bananas - February 3rd, 2008 at 10:13 am

    i love the last one. it seems to me that doctors tell you to eat healthy then go out to Tubbys Taco palace.

62. 62. Marc Muramoto - February 20th, 2008 at 10:20 pm

    These are awesome!! They are all really great examples of irony. Bravo to the photographer.

63. 63. Eleutheria - May 22nd, 2008 at 3:01 am

    This is one list that bears an act 2, act 3, and…

64. 64. Vera Lynn - June 20th, 2008 at 9:21 am

    the 1st one is hilarious! And the mcdonalds one, also. Complete Home repairs. Yeah. Right. The one with the crashed van looks photoshopped to me. And I agree. What’s the point of taking a picture?

    Great list.

65. 65. Nick Palla - July 31st, 2008 at 12:22 pm

    At least no one said anything about Missouri,Ive seen the first photo many times,and people keep bashing us Missourians. Saying were stupid people because of a F-ing person wearing a cardinal ’s T-shirt. I happen to have a 4.0 GPA! Take that society!
    (Thanks for not downing us! we have them-there feelins’ two!)

66. 66. joebecca - August 14th, 2008 at 1:12 pm

    funny stuff!

67. 67. Damo - September 2nd, 2008 at 9:16 pm

    I thought the ‘ironic’ part of number 3 was that the head of the person on the right-hand-side is covering the commandments in such a way that it reads “Do murder; Do it”.
    Maybe that’s just me.

68. 68. A - September 11th, 2008 at 9:27 am

    Great! The last one’s my favorite. And totally true, Damo.

69. 69. Christine - September 12th, 2008 at 9:33 am

    Wow, people take this stuff way too seriously… #4 is not meant to be offensive people.

70. 70. Bob - September 12th, 2008 at 11:29 am

    Is number 5 really irony? I understand it’s a safe driving school, but you never really expect a vehicle to crash into any building. I think the safe driving school is just coincidence.

71. 71. krchuk - September 12th, 2008 at 6:08 pm

    ROFLMAO

72. 72. What? - September 12th, 2008 at 6:15 pm

    No, number 4 is offensive. Jfrater - you knew exactly why you put it up, you even say “it is about the fact that we hear virtually nothing from Islamic people in protest to their own people about the immoral terrorist attacks and threats - but in the picture they are complaining about the Pope being immoral. Whether they are covered up or not is not relevant.”

    No, it’s very relevant. If they weren’t covered you wouldn’t have put it up. You assumed that wearing a burka meant not only being Islamic but also a supporter of terrorism. Have you visited Islamic countries and ‘heard nothing from them’ about opposition to terrorism? And, more importantly, why should they not protest against other things as well? Are you suggesting that sign (and every other one held by an islamic person) should read ‘I oppose terrorism’?

    Why not put up a picture of someone holding a shamrock and a ‘I hate the pope’ sign, assuming it to be irony because ‘nothing is heard from the irish about the IRA’?

    I personally think ‘they are saying he has lost his moral balance, whilst they support terrorist bombings of innocent people’ is disgusting and the most racist, bigoted thing I’ve heard in quite some time.

73. 73. Crêpe - October 4th, 2008 at 3:03 am

    Hahaha, the last one is so funny.

74. 74. Green Is Good - October 7th, 2008 at 12:50 pm

    Wow, I know where picture #8 is from. Gave me quite a start at first. That’s right outside Newark, NJ. I always thought that sign was hilarious.

75. 75. Nick Palla - October 12th, 2008 at 6:48 am

    Damo-Number 2 ya mean?
    The irony of it is that the headstone on the left says do not bow down,and they are all bowing

76. 76. mami - October 12th, 2008 at 9:21 am

    OH! MY! GOD! My favourite list so far. I especially love the women being photographed.

77. 77. guitargod - December 31st, 2008 at 9:21 pm

    have ya’ll seen the one of the KKK member being treated by an all black emergency room staff???

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