Make no mistake: irony tyrannizes us.

Wallace is warning that irony—especially as a default cultural posture—can become coercive rather than liberating. What begins as a tool for critique (exposing hypocrisy, puncturing pretension) can harden into a social mandate: to be earnest is to be naïve, and to care openly is to invite ridicule. In that climate, irony “tyrannizes” by policing emotion and commitment, making it difficult to advocate, believe, or love without protective quotation marks. The line fits Wallace’s broader concern that late-20th-century media-savvy irony can paralyze action and sincerity, leaving people adept at mockery but starved for meaning and genuine connection.