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Oxymoronic Titles (Part 2)

The title of the book refers to pleasure-seeking but ultimately self-destructive activities (e.g., shopping sprees, sexual promiscuity, and drug use) that often occur when people are in the "manic" phase of a manic-depressive illness.

In the article, the Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist of the New York Times argued that the Middle East needs moderates who are as committed to moderation as extremists are committed to extremism. The article closes with a great chiastic line:

I loved this line when I first saw it, believing it captured one of the most intriguing pathologies of love. Heimel is a terrific writer who has a penchant for clever titles (two previous books were titled Get Your Tongue Out of My Mouth, I'm Kissing You Goodbye and If You Can't Live Without Me, Why Aren't You Dead Yet?). I discovered in my research, however, that this "leave me" line is not original with Heimel. In the 1991 album Waking Up the Neighbors, rocker Bryan Adams has a song titled, If You Wanna Leave Me (Can I Come Too?). As I got deeper into my research, I further discovered that Adams was not the first author of the line. In their 1981 album Rocks On, the group "Mental as Anything" has a song titled, If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too? The song contains these lyrics:

Rev. Laine is a Unitarian-Universalist minister in Palo Alto, California. Her sermon also contained the popular oxymoron devout atheist, which I recall stand-up comic Paula Poundstone saying in one of her very early routines (probably in the early 1980s). In the following passage from Rev Laine's sermon, she explains what she means by her provocative title:

"A devout atheist would say, take your attention out of the unknown, out of the heavens. Turn it instead with full concentration on your own life, your own experience. The faith of an atheist is the remarkable notion that this is enough. What we see with our eyes, and touch with our skin, and know with our minds, and live with our lives must be enough. This human existence must redeem itself, must bless itself, must create itself. The faith of an atheist is not a faith in god, but in life itself. That is faith."

In her book, psychologist O'Neill writes about people who are struggling with "affluenza", a term she coined to describe obsession with wealth and the dysfunctional relationships that often occur among people with lots of money.

"Good Bad Books" George Orwell, title of chapter in his 1950 book Shooting an Elephant

This famous article by Orwell also contains a well-known oxymoronic quote, in which he expands on the theme:

"The existence of good bad literature—the fact that one can be amused or excited or even moved by a book that one's intellect simply refuses to take seriously—is a reminder that art is not the same thing as celebration."

This is a true "country classic," written and sung by a legendary country & western performer. The song enjoyed renewed popularity in recent years when it showed up on the soundtrack of the 2000 movie, Remember the Titans. The song begins with these lyrics:

A Catholic nun and spiritual advisor at Louisiana State Penitentiary, Prejean's book was the result of her many visits with death-row inmates. Her indictment of capital punishment was made into a powerful 1995 film starring Susan Sarandon as Prejean (for which she won the Oscar for Best Actress) and Sean Penn as inmate Matthew Poncelet (for which he was nominated as Best Actor).

The expression one-man tango shows up in Robert Hendrickson's Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, describing "Someone supremely self-confident, who looks like he could dance the grand tango all alone." One-man tango is the nickname Orson Welles gave to Quinn, and for those of you who remember Quinn in his prime, it does seem to fit. Welles probably invented the expression, but it has not been formally documented.

A professor of psychology at Swarthmore College, Schwartz argues that people have more choices available to them than at any other time in history. Paradoxically, though, this overabundance of choice, has not led to more happiness, but less.

Many people of my generation thrilled to this great Simon and Garfunkel song. Nowadays, it's considered one of the classic songs of the era, written by one of the greatest songwriters in history. Check out these great oxymoronic lyrics:

The notion that there can be a sound of silence is an ancient oxymoronic theme, and one that has been explored by many people over the centuries. For more, see grand oxymoronic themes.

In this primer for Christian couples, the Snyders (who describe themselves as "the world's most opposite couple") take the position that differences between couples are part of God's plan for marriage and should be viewed as assets to be appreciated, not liabilities to be endured. They produced a 2nd edition of the book in 1999, adding the word Still at the beginning of the subtitle.

Borrowing the oxymoron darkness visible from Milton's Paradise Lost, this is the story of Styron's 1985 descent—at age 60—into a debilitating and almost suicidal depression.

This book, subtitled A Comparative Study of Slavery and Psychiatry, draws parallels between historical justifications for slavery and the rationale behind modern-day psychiatric practice. Szasz is one of the most original and radical thinkers in modern psychology, first coming into prominence decades ago with a book titled the Myth of Mental Illness. He continues to warn about the dangers inherent in viewing mental disorders as medical diseases. Doing so, he argues, too easily leads to forced drugging and other forms of psychiatric coercion that are ostensibly "in the best interests of the patient" but are in truth a modern from of tyranny and a powerful threat to personal liberty.

In this book, subtitled Psychiatric Control of Society's Unwanted, Szasz argues that millions of Americans, who are diagnosed as mentally ill, are drugged and confined by doctors for noncriminal conduct. He deplores this loss of liberty, maintaining that our constitutional republic is replacing criminal-punitive sentences with civil-therapeutic "programs," resulting in a coercive "Therapeutic State" that is not constrained by the rule of law.

The Corporate Shaman Richard Whiteley, title of 2002 book

Whiteley, a good friend of mine, is a wonderful corporate speaker and an excellent business writer. In this book, which he calls "a business fable," he shows how ancient shamanic wisdom can be applied to many of today's most pressing business problems.