And make no mistake: irony tyrannizes us. The reason why our pervasive cultural irony is at once so powerful and so unsatisfying is that an ironist is impossible to pin down. All U.S. irony is based on an implicit "I donât really mean what Iâm saying." So what does irony as a cultural norm mean to say? That itâs impossible to mean what you say? That maybe itâs too bad itâs impossible, but wake up and smell the coffee already? Most likely, I think, todayâs irony ends up saying: "How totally banal of you to ask what I really mean. -
David Foster Wallace