EXPRESSION: It is what it is.
MEANING: A situation that is difficult yet must be accepted as is, for it is unchangeable.
EXAMPLE: MARGOT: Hi Becky. Just wanted to say I am sorry to hear that your lousy husband stole all your money, ran off with your sister to Paraguay, and started a folk music jazz fusion band together. Moreover, I was chagrined to hear that their new hit single, “Becky Sucks in Every Conceivable Way,” which is basically just a list of all of your faults set to a melody, has not only gone triple platinum but has had a Sirius XM channel devoted to playing it on a continuous loop 24/7.
BECKY: It is what it is.
COMMENTARY: I really despise this one. These days, I mostly see it posted all over facebook, social media, etc. People trying to be cool about a situation by saying the obvious – “It is what it is.” Of course it is! What else could it be? Unfortunately, we live in a society where everyone is so sensitive about every little thing that if you complain about something negative in your life people start to become amateur psychologists and try to diagnose you with depression. No one can just take two seconds to complain about a crappy situation without everyone getting all flustered. “Oww! I hate that I stubbed my toe! That really bugs me!” “Really? Sounds like you are well into the advanced stages of the early onset of clinical depression! Get ‘ye to an insane asylum posthaste!”
So to avoid people making a big deal about something, people just say “It is what it is.” It sounds negative without being negative. It lets someone complain without complaining.
ORIGINS: “It is what it is.” Surely, that has to be a grandiose philosophical statement of epic proportions. I can see Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato all sitting around in their togas, pondering the mysteries of this phrase.”
PLATO: What is it?
ARISTOTLE: It is something, surely. Something it must be.
SOCRATES: It is what it is.
ARISTOTLE AND PLATO: Whoa!
Over time, various philosophers and political movements got their grubby mitts on this expression and twisted it to suit their own ends:
COMMUNISM: If it’s yours, it should be ours!
FACISM: If it’s theirs, it should be ours!
CAPITALISM: Screw you! It’s mine!
EXISTENTIALISM: It is to the extent you believe it is.
NIETZCHEISM: There it is…enjoy it while it lasts.
MACHIAVELLIANISM: Make it yours before the other guy makes it his.
1960’s HIPPY-ISM: It is like whatever, man.
DARWINISM: If it is the best, it lasts longer than the rest.
PREPARE TO HAVE YOUR MIND BLOWN: That’s right. You heard me. I’m about to tilt the world’s philosophical axis, right here on a dorky book blog website. Check out my own flawless philosophy:
It is what it is.
If it is what it is, then —> Is it not what it is not?
BUT —> If it IS NOT what it IS NOT…
THEN—> IT MUST BE WHAT IT IS NOT!
AND THEREFORE:
The transitive property teaches us that IT is both what IT IS *AND* what it IS NOT!
I know! I should have told you to sit down for that one, right! Are your heads ok? Did they blow up? Did I just lose half my readership? Am I down to only six readers now? I’ll have to make it six more to make it an even dozen.
You may scoff, but if you think about it – is a person not defined by a) what he is and at the same time b) what he is not? Is a person who is a) a good person also b) not a bad person? Is a person who is a) a dentist also b) not a race car driver?
Put that in your pipe and smoke it. Go tell it on the mountain! It’s the Expression Challenge now till Labor Day on bookshelfbattle.com where once in awhile, the proprietor actually does review a book!
Bookshelf Battle 