torture

When an annoying catchphrase gets its own kitteh meme, it’s time for me to rip on it.

And so I find myself today in the unenviable conundrum of having to disabuse people of the notion of using the horrid, pseudo-philosophical “It is what it is,” a bit of non-conversational drivel that has become the “go to” answer of competitors, executives, lowly office workers and wannabe urban Lamas who can’t think of anything better to say, but hope to sound like they’ve undergone some type of enlightened group training… perhaps for clowns.

It seems that folks are saying “It is what it is” as a kind of lackadaisical shrug; an acknowledgment that they can’t or won’t do anything because there’s nothing to be done. One just has to take it, or follow orders, or give up. It’s the reverse of the 1970s mantra “Question Authority,” from an era when asking questions and striving for change was considered part of one’s responsibility to society and country. John Kennedy’s call to “Ask not…” has become simply, “Don’t ask.”

One isn’t being Zen-like by saying “It is what it is,” one is being lemming-like, marching into the murky acceptance of things the way they are, abandoning any hope of real change, improvement or, heaven forbid, problem solving. This mindset is perhaps being fueled by the economy, and nobody wanting to speak up for fear they’ll be canned. It’s downright un-American. Would Jimmy Stewart have said “It Is What It Is” to the people of Bedford Falls? No, he told old Potter to stick it.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t things that one must accept in life, and there is a time to know what’s important to fight for and what isn’t. But when everything becomes a shrug and a wink, then the next thing you know, they’re at your door asking if you’d like to take a train ride someplace nice… like Buchenwald.

Yeah, I always come back to the Holocaust. I am what I am.

{ 1 comment }