Contradiction with Terms

By Roger Colins 

___________________________________________________________ Contradiction. If you don't already know what it is; contra|dic¦tion Pronunciation: /kɒntrəˈdɪkʃ(ə)n 1. a combination of statements, ideas, or features which are opposed to one another: 'the proposed new system suffers from a set of internal contradictions' 2. a situation in which inconsistent elements are present: 'the paradox of using force to overcome force is a real contradiction' 3. [mass noun] 'the statement of a position opposite to one already made: 'the second sentence appears to be in flat contradiction of the first'     [count noun]: 'the experiment provides a contradiction of the hypothesis' (Courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary) Normally, when we come across contradiction there is one of two choices. First is most obvious. The contradiction is erroneous and false, we do away with it immediately. The next option is to read between the lines and divine the underlying conflict that's been illustrated by use of simplification with two opposing factors in order to evoke, incite or elicit a specific cognitive equation. The solution is down to you. It is possible we have been remiss. It's always possible. There is a third option and the reader should allow a moment to guess at this point, whilst a clue is hidden in plain sight. The third choice you didn't see is halfway between the first two options and the holding ground for literalism. To contradict. The effect of literal contradiction is neither sarcastic nor ironic but that of both, neither and one. Firstly, literal contradiction possesses two elements in opposition as would any, whether ironic or sarcastic. 'He's on fire and yet so cool.' - All contradictions must always delineate opposition. Next. Literal contradiction will not be sarcastic or ironic. In order to achieve sarcasm there has to be double entendre; two meanings, and in order to achieve irony, a third. Therefore our literal connotation arrives at one. Contradiction is not three nor two but one meaning. The contradictory statement is not contradictory; hence, literal contradiction. If there are any more than three positively identifiable connotations, we venture into the realm of wit. Irony and sarcasm can of course be witty, but having numerically counted the references of each we have no other choice but to assign their appropriate value. All together now and in descending order, wit, irony, sarcasm, contradiction and statement. Let's attack it from the reverse angle. A statement can only have one possible outcome. If it has any others then it loses it's lethargy. 'The black cat has a white tail.' No real room to manoeuvre. Sarcasm more often crops up in spoken language thanks to insinuative pitch and timing, not that it cannot be found in literature but only that it is difficult to replicate without expert timing and flawless context. Two meanings appear to be much harder than one or three and most certainly, more difficult than our literature flooded, wit. Life or Death The beauty, if you can call it that, of contradiction is that it can disguise itself as any one of the others. If it looks clever, then surely it must be. Wrong. Contradictions by their very nature spark off a ream of purposeless dreaming without end and this is nearly always mistaken for something truly valuable. If something is witty then it says one thing in many ways. If something is ironic, it says it in two ways to get a third and if something is is sarcastic it says it one way to get two. A statement is of course one to get one. Mistakes can mean life or death.  Why do we chance it? Now, if you were passing on life or death  information. Do you really think you would use anything except a pure, unadulterated statement? 'Stop!' or would you try 'Red lights usually mean Go, don't they?' perhaps 'Strange, a traffic light on a straight road?' and if you're ever so quick you could venture 'They're going to swap green for red one of these days.' Am I Dreaming? At the very same time, have you ever come across fictional literature that used only statements? If so, I bet you put the thing back down and carefully nudged it away with a stick. That previous sentence may well have been sarcastic but if so, can you get any more than two definitive meanings out of it? The book was bad. The book was so bad I treated it as if it were diseased. There any deeper meaning? No. If it were contradictory then you could get a million, should you so waste your time waddling around in your own head. It will make you think, sure, but what are you thinking about? Everything and nothing. Your mind is watching a tennis match without score and the whole exercise, mental masturbation. It feels good but shrouds the truth of the matter because it looked so much more damn puzzling than anything you'd ever seen before, sending you off to eternity. We humans love puzzles but remember, we turn rage frightful when led down a road without solution. Stare at a white wall, summon up everything in existence that has to do with wall or white or sight. You can start with the first letter 'W' and count off every word beginning with that. This is contradiction. If there is absolutely no definite, singular imperative to any one string of words then this is instigation to dream, and arrive at your own conclusions. Arrive ye shall and attribute thine newly found wisdom to that one contradiction as if it were genius when it was nothing more than another man dreaming. Not as easy as it seems Take a long, hard, look at the title of this post and decide for yourself if it is a statement, sarcastic, ironic, wit or contradiction. I have not given a full example of literal contradiction thus far. Only now shall I grant a handful. My only suggestion is that you count the ways they can be interpreted. These are but the simplest examples I could find and still, I leave you to decide for yourself. That is all. 'One has to be cruel to be kind' 'People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid' 'Facts are the enemy of truth' 'Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance' 'When you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you' 'Wit is educated insolence' 'It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid' 'Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same' 'Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you' 'The spiritual man makes judgements about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgement'

contradiction literature definition