The "It is What It Is" Generation
There is no single idiom in modern usage that so appositely expresses the comatose logic of our generation than, “It is what it is”.
The phrase betrays a logical fallacy of such magnitude that it effectively enacts the central flaw of circular reasoning.
If it really is what it is, then surely the question is what is “it?”
But alas. Despite the phrase purportedly defining what “it” is, it only does so by defining “it” as “what it is”.
The author of the article “The Hidden Meaning of “It Is What It Is””, Liane Gabora, in the pop psychology website, Pyschology Today (which is always good reading for a laugh), makes an intellectually feeble attempt to state the case for the phrase, by linking it to people’s new state of comfort with “states of potentiality”.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mindbloggling/201405/the-hidden-meaning-it-is-what-it-is
It therefore apparently serves as some sort of function of moral and cultural relativism (although in order to evidence how much more articulate (and possibly intelligent) I am than Liane Gabora Ph.D. it is very important to note that these are my words as opposed to hers).
Oh yes. Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the smartest of them all??
I could probably school Liane Gabora Ph.D on her own subject. And if she did not like or agree with my lessons, I could simply remind her that “It is what it is.”.....And then refer to them as alternative states of potentiality.
In all seriousness, I must say that I do find her “hidden meaning” theory to be complete garbage.
The fundamental flaw in her analysis is a human one (and therefore by definition one which I am unlikely to be prone to). She is giving us all too much credit.
The use of the phrase “It is what it is” does indeed signify that people are increasingly reluctant to put things into categories, as Gabora suggests. This is a somewhat obvious point. The phrase is a circular navigation around any impetus to define its subject.
However, where Gabora’s theory starts, namely that this reluctance follows a “more nuanced” understanding of the world, is somewhat off the mark.
“Darling, darling. I heard that because of global warming the polar ice caps are melting, there are going to be more natural disasters, there will be more droughts, more spread of disease and humanity is doomed!!”
“4 real??? Oh babe. Listen it iz wot it iz. Ya na mean???”
“I’m leaving you. The sex was good but I’ve realised that a man without a brain is not what I want.”
“Woteva. It iz wot it iz baby.”
“And I’m also pregnant....With your father’s baby.”
“Lolz. Well. No point worryin now babygurl. It iz wot it iz.”
“Your father’s dead. So you will need to support me financially.”
“Bitch, fuck you!”
Increasing comfort with differing “states of potentiality”....
My point here is that usage of this phrase does not indicate that the speaker has thought extensively about the various and conflicting interpretations of an object or an event. It represents quite the opposite, namely a complete short-circuit of and brake on the critical thinking process.
Is there a more damning advertisement for a generation which has somehow lost the ability or will to think because they have been conned into the attitude that they do not have time to?
Well there is actually.
What is it I hear you ask?
Meh. It is what it is.
