Max Castle

Anyone know of any good takes (perhaps philosophical) on the rise of irony and ironic detachment in the 21st century? (just have a half-formed thought in my head and want to read more)

Zizek has a bit on irony as a model to avoid responsibility, and thereby create an 'ideological distance' which nonetheless allows for ideology to function better. Ironic detachment encourages the feeling of escaping from ideology while more thoroughly installing its features.

Hmm. My (half-baked) thought is based on something I (half-)remember from a Lou Keep essay ("Everything is Going According to Plan") on nihilism and modern society. His reading of Nietzsche is something like that the unmooring of value structures after the death of God means...

... that "we" as a society have to find a way to effectively tell lies to ourselves about the beliefs we operate on (otherwise Reason devours the logical foundations of such beliefs). (Keep has some very interesting examples to elaborate his point in his Uruk essay series.)...

So basically I'm wondering whether the rise of irony in discourse (if there is such a thing) is an emergent attempt at such a masking scheme. Really need to go back to that Keep essay and understand what he's saying better.