I reckon there is less of a culture of irony in the US mainstream.
Stuff like God, Patriotism etc. still matters to some, straight down
the line, honest to goodness seriously, my theory being that if you
are the world's first country, you tend to take yourself pretty
seriously (cf Victorian England)...
But in the margins of US culture and the avant garde, irony has the
strength of paint stripper and could vaporise our knobbly limey knees
in five seconds flat.
How related is irony to cynicism? Momus sees it as an enabler of
freedom. Mork sees it as cynicism incarnate. America is probably more
cynical than Britain. Now that was a staggeringly crude
generalisation. Note my ironic disclaimer.
― "Pete", Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link