Minor nit: this meeting took place at the North Garden fire station, but the fire station for which they were questioning the cost, community space, amenities, etc. was the new Hollymead fire station.

Posted by Jeff Uphoff on 1 September 2008 @ 8am

Their next planned meeting is at the Hollymead firehouse in question, though.

Posted by Waldo Jaquith on 1 September 2008 @ 9am

True, true. And it’s a darned fine firehouse. (I attended the ribbon-cutting.)

Posted by Jeff Uphoff on 1 September 2008 @ 9am

This is silly. It’s the same sort of irony as when someone advocates for raising taxes but doesn’t voluntarily pay more than they need to.

Just because they think the government shouldn’t have paid for the meeting space doesn’t mean they shouldn’t make use of it now that it’s there.

Posted by Ben C. on 1 September 2008 @ 3pm

Ben C. wins the Alanis N. Morissette award for not knowing wtf irony is. It’s like raaaaaaiiiiiiiiin on your wedding day, it’s like democraaaaats who don’t voluntarily pay more taxes… wait, no. It’s not like that at all. Rain on your wedding day is not ironic. In fact, it’s been a sign of good luck for more than two millenia. People who are concerned that government revenues aren’t sufficient to adequately pay for core government services without incurring unnecessary debt don’t think that individual citizens should feel an obligation to chip in more–they feel that their elected officials should exercise the necessary leadership to collect what is necessary.

Irony is a literary convention defined by the incongruity between what one would logically expect and what actually occurs. Other things that aren’t ironic: The green light when you’re already late, the good advice you just didn’t take, etc.

Things that are ironic: a group meeting in public meeting spaces to condemn taxpayer-funded public meeting on the grounds that there isn’t an interest in such spaces in the public and that they are therefore not useful or necessary.

Kthxbai, Sam.

PS – I know what you’re asking yourself right now, and the answer is: Nadine

Posted by Sam on 2 September 2008 @ 6pm

Sam,

Thanks for being a patronizing asshole on the internet and thanks for the lecture about irony. I’m glad to see you found an opportunity to use your Alanis Morissette line. However, upon review of my previous post, you’ll find I never said this situation wasn’t ironic, just that posting about it is silly after which I provided an example of a similarly ironic situation.

I will respond specifically to the one thing you wrote that actually had anything to do what what I said:

People who are concerned that government revenues aren’t sufficient to adequately pay for core government services without incurring unnecessary debt don’t think that individual citizens should feel an obligation to chip in more–they feel that their elected officials should exercise the necessary leadership to collect what is necessary.

And presumably these Republicans don’t believe they should have to abstain from government services, they feel that their elected officials should exercise the necessary leadership to cut these services entirely and collect less money from the taxpayers.

The key here is that sometimes groups advocate for systemic change without acting as if the system is already the way they want it. Either these are both ironic or neither is.

Posted by Ben C. on 3 September 2008 @ 1am