Zack Telander argues that ironic speech acts as a defensive mechanism that prevents individuals from truly engaging with their own beliefs or taking risks.

“It's basically somebody who's never gone out and done anything or, you know, they use irony as the weapon as the song that they sing. you know, the people calling others cringe, they use ironic, they use that as like a it's like a force field as well as a weapon to attack other people,”