Irony is a deliberate strategy intended merely to create distance, to be able to look the other way, to avoid viewing the essence of visual art, literature, theory, or opinion—as creator or spectator—in its direct form.

Irony is a tactic employed by the lazy, cowardly, and idle.  It is an attempt, a wish, to escape judgment on what is said, written, or done: it was after all intended from a distance, with an artificial smile, a grotesque slight curling of the lips which feigns insight, but in actuality expresses nothing more than inability: inability to make a statement and assume full responsibility for doing so.

Irony is an expression of fear and, at the same time, a gratuitous display of ostensible intelligence.  It stands, on the one hand, for the wish to remain a spectator, the suggestion of neutrality, and, on the other hand, for the will to nonetheless be recognised as having an opinion or standpoint.  It is a facade:  the confirmation of not wanting to stand face to face with the complex network that, in a few brave instances, one dares to call reality.

Irony is a diversion that leaves improper room for the observer to distance himself, room that the observer fills with ironic reflection, which overshadows any genuine contemplation.  It is the means used in approaching a matter so as not to be subjected to its full implication: out of fear, laziness, boredom.

Irony is a worthless choice of juxtaposing a message with an opposite image or an opposite statement, with a negative tone or dismissive gesture, which leaves everyone’s stance undisputed, and yet expresses the one has understood it:  how shameless!  Shameless because, in doing so, one gives preference to the indisputability of an idea or status above an actual critical approach of the parameters with which we approach the world.

Irony is a trick.  It insinuates the presence of potential meaning and negates it at the very same time.  It is nothing other than an escape, a fear: a fear, in fact, of standing unconditionally behind a recognition, a declaration, of previously mentioned parameters: a fear of actually committing to this statement or, at least, to the importance of making a statement as an act in itself.

How shameless!