Sarcasm

Sarcasm:
1: a sharp and often satirical or ironic utterance designed to cut or give pain
2 a: a mode of satirical wit depending for its effect on bitter, caustic, and often ironic language that is usually directed against an individual b: the use or language of sarcasm

Just recently I wrote a comment on a friends’ blog that was laced with sarcasm. I thought it would be obvious to the reader that I was not being literal in my words, but was trying to provoke some thought through the use of sarcasm. I was in a good mood, full of my own mental wit, and responding to someone’s conviction that I had to think through before I could decide whether I disagreed or not. What I wrote was not as much thought provoking as it was hurtful. That wasn’t my intention, but it hurt my friend just the same.

I love my friend and have an enormous amount of respect for him as a person and the way he desires to walk with Jesus in honesty and truth. We haven’t known each other long, and to be very honest, we are really just now beginning to get to know each other on a level higher than good acquaintances. And this may be part of the reason that my words were misunderstood. However, that’s not his fault. When I reread my text, I realized that it would be very easy to construe them as attacking and “designed to cut or give pain”. I wasn’t careful in my words.

There was no mandate to respond to his post. He was just stating a conviction that he felt was pertinent to the context of the times. It was somewhat controversial and maybe a little unorthodox, but by no means subversive or heretical. I’m not yet sure whether I agree with him or not, but that’s not the point. My own arrogance and pride felt compelled to respond. I didn’t necessarily disagree with his conviction, but it provoked some thoughts in me about how hypocritical we can be as Christians at times. We say or confess one thing and often do another. We talk about how we want to live, as if we really do, and then are often confronted with the fact that we are not who we say we are. Our spiritual lives are not as lofty as we would like. So with my wit in hand, small as it is, I tried to convey my thoughts it a way that would make us look at what we do in the context of who we wish we were.

Now I have to look at what I wrote, and the manner in which I did so, in the same context. My motives were not necessarily edifying. I was not considering my audience from a Christ-like perspective. I was being selfish and prideful. I was thinking “I’ll be edgy or sarcastic in an effort to provoke a reaction”. My pride was in complete control. It’s funny how I even mentioned concepts like arrogance and being provocative in my text and didn’t realize I was as full of both as much, or more so, as those I was accusing. My own hypocrisy was in full-tilt.

I think subconsciously I choose to use sarcasm because I was somewhat intimidated by the writing of several other people who commented to the original post. In my mind, it was obvious that they were much more intelligent than myself and considerably better writers. (My insecurity is showing). In some way I was trying to show my worthiness to be part of the conversation. I don’t think I succeeded. Remember the old adage: Better to remain silent and appear foolish than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Yeah, well……

I’ve apologized to my friend and we’re OK. But it was just a path that was not necessary to travel. Seems like we all walk down a lot of those paths. I’ve been down my share and am probably still trekking through some I don’t even realize I’m on yet. I just hope I can recognize it when I get to the end.

Sarcasm by definition is designed to be cutting and hurtful. Often, we use it under the guise of humor and friendly banter. I’m not sure it would be correct to say that it should be abandoned all together, but surely it should be used with the utmost care and consideration.

Boy Scouts are taught that a dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp one. This is because a dull edge requires more force to use and often takes several attempts to complete its task. This may not be a good analogy, but to me sarcasm can be like that dull knife. It requires a certain amount of force and effort that may not be required with rightly worded verse. The additional force needed to make a dull knife work will often make the edge slip and cut something else entirely. Like soft flesh. Same with sarcasm. Maybe it’s better to take the time to sharpen the edge of our words so that the knife of the text does it job cleanly.