Is this Sarcasm, or the lamest form of "it"?

• Sarcasm Today

Sarcasm is so prevalent these days; you can hardly find a conversation or literary work that goes without it, and many people find it "cool" and "witty" to be sarcastic, by jeering at everything going on, or being said, just for ostentation, or to look funny. That exact form of sarcasm is what I´m going to address, because of course, sarcasm isn´t in general an abhorrent act, but –like everything- when misused, it turns into a terribly distasteful trend.

Nowadays, what might spur someone into being sarcastic, regardless of his momentary state of mind, is usually something different from his point of view a.k.a "stupid", something he finds peculiar, unacceptable from his part, and beyond his grasp, or better yet, something he just "feels like" scorning. For instance, every great idea or thought we embrace and exalt today was once stabbed by all kinds of ridicule, minorities with deficiencies or uncommon attributes/interests such as midgets, homosexuals, geeks, fatties, emo´s, hopheads, etc. make good material for put-down industry, furthermore celebrities, politicians and all public figures are always subject to mockery with or without a point. Also, issues of ethnic, color, nationality, and religion come up, when the need arises.

Accordingly, today´s sarcasm is rather defined as inability to comprehend or cope with a fairly wide range of the phenomena existing in the contemporary world, so we choose to pick holes in them, due to our sense of capability of neither following nor rubbing them out.

• Which came first, Irony or Sarcasm?

The two terms often get mixed up; some think they´re synonymous with each other, others assume irony incorporates sarcasm among other aspects of verbal irony or vice versa, but none of that is true. The thing which makes it sound so complex is the fact that sarcasm and verbal irony share a plenty of elements, let alone have very few subtle distinctions, besides the term sarcasm is more widely used than its technical definition suggests it to be, thereupon broadening to include tropes that actually don´t fall under it. So what?

According to Gibbs, R. W., jocularity, hyperbole, understatement, rhetorical question, double entendre, along with sarcasm are all forms of verbal irony. Well, it´s true that most instances of verbal irony depend on the incongruity between the message, the speaker is attempting to communicate, and the ostensible meaning of his speech, but when a certain statement is referred to as "sarcasm", solely because it signifies the contrary of what it literally means, it´d rather be called sarcastic irony, because in this case, sarcasm just employs irony in order to mock and express contempt, not the other way round. In The differential role of ridicule in sarcasm and irony, Lee and Katz explain "Ridicule is an important aspect of sarcasm, but not verbal irony in general. By this account, sarcasm is a particular kind of personal criticism leveled against a person or group of persons that incorporates (applies) verbal irony". Consequently, we can say that sarcasm is a developed form of verbal irony which embodies more aspects, and can be used in many more fashions.

• I mock, therefore I am smart

The most common misconception; sarcasm is deemed a token of quick-wit, that many people brag about being sarcastic, even if they are not, they still try to put it on.

First of all, we´re all sarcastic, but with various ratios, and those ratios have nothing to do with one´s intelligence at all. Maybe not all of us are good wisecrackers, but still sarcasm is more about detecting the irony in the others´ speech, or the flaws in the target of your ridicule, than coming up with the appropriate bon mot, which in fact, requires rhetorical skillfulness, good command of language, and a knack of imagination, and that too is not necessarily linked to intelligence.

The researches of the neurologists at the University of Haifa in Israel (e.g. Dr. Simone Shamay-Tsoory) manifested that understanding sarcasm has a neuroanatomical basis, by testing the ability of understanding sarcastic utterances in healthy people and others with lesions in different regions of the brain. Only the volunteers with impaired prefrontal lobes couldn´t correctly interpret the sarcastic story, while all of the other participants could. The study had shown that the left hand side of the brain is responsible for interpreting the literal meaning of the words, and the prefrontal lobes together with the right hand side of the brain infer the context or the situation, then the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex integrates the literal meaning with the social/emotional context which reveals any sarcasm. In concordance, brain scan studies showed that autistic children, who also may have problems understanding sarcasm, have different activity in the frontal lobe from other children.

Dr. Shamay also referred in her research to Sperber and Wilson´s Relevance theory, which "advocates that the interpretation of ironic utterances may require recognition of the speaker´s attitude and thus requires shared knowledge between the speaker and the listener" reported Dr. Shamay "A key aspect of social cognition is the ability to infer other people´s mental state, thoughts, and feelings, commonly referred to as the theory of mind (ToM)".

To make a long story short, Dr. Shamany´s assertion was –as previously mentioned- that the sense of sarcasm isn´t associated with one´s innate intelligence, seeing that highly intelligent autistic children or prefrontal lobe-damaged patients fail to understand sarcasm, but then she also pointed out that communicative people, who are good at identifying emotional facial/acoustic expressions, are better at distinguishing sarcasm from normal speech, which is called "social intelligence". Second, there should be shared knowledge between the speaker and the listener, and intentionality about the speaker´s beliefs in order for sarcasm to pass through, otherwise sarcasm would either be taken seriously or interpreted as a lie. Like me saying "My dad is really generous, he gave me 5 EGP. Great, it´s time to buy a new car". Unless you were aware that the value of a 5 EGP is too little to buy a car (shared knowledge), you´d think I was really going to buy a car for 5 EGP. Correspondingly, unless you learned that I was only ridiculing my father´s stinginess (intentionality of the speaker´s attitude), you´d assume I´m lying about buying a new car!

• Sarcasm vs. "Smartassery"

Disparagement is the best outlet to a multitude of sarcastic people with superiority complexes, which could be emotionally detrimental to the person being slurred, especially while in large crowds, because he would inevitably feel abashed. If you asked someone why he does that, he would instantly answer "Because I hate stupid (occasionally dumb or retarded) people"! Fine, speaking of stupidity, can anyone please draw me a line, where people beyond should be labeled "stupid"?! Of course, there is not one, the fact that you´re not on the same wavelength with somebody, doesn´t necessarily mean he´s stupid; we´re all different people with different interests, even if he IS stupid, that doesn´t give you the right to use your sarcastic humor to belittle him.

On the other hand, many use sarcasm to indulge an inferiority complex, and compensate for shortcomings; how many people jibed at your clothes or hair-cut lately? They only try to cover up their insecurities by excoriating you, and telling you what they unconsciously want to tell themselves. They also might drag you into a verbal fight; it helps a lot fulfill their hostility toward others, caused by feelings of inadequacy and insecurity, because they consider their repartees a piece of an art, being the most significant work they can accomplish.

Either way, such sarcastic abuse can ruin a relationship, career, and so on, and drive friends away from you, yet still doesn´t serve your purpose or give you any superiority.

Additionally, there´s the sarcasm "for the hell of it" type, which is quite ubiquitous, it´s the theme of almost all talk shows, stand-up comedians, and innumerable satiric publications. We all love and have good chuckles from that stuff, and it´s never a bad thing to voice a disapproval in a sarcastic manner to whatever we want to reform in the society, but when it comes to serious affairs which should not be taken lightly such as politics or something we need people to THINK POSITIVELY of, in order to take a stance next, I don´t think pointless sarcasm is the right way, on the contrary, that kind of sarcasm (cynicism) numbs people´s minds just like marijuana does, kill their will-power, and have them (at best) poke fun at anything they assume out of hands.

Finally, sarcasm for criticism is, in my opinion, so cheesy and absurd, as it should be taken into consideration that if you seek my feedback on something you´re uncertain about, the last thing you will need is my derision.

• Righteous Sarcasm

Sarcasm is a keen double-edged tool that can be used for good or bad purposes; a sarcastic statement doesn´t always have to be at the expense of the others. It exquisitely helps dynamize speeches and jazz up written works to make them feel overwhelmingly more compulsive, here´s a few instances, in which sarcasm is highly advantageous and constructive.

Sarcasm for good humor

Sarcasm is the main foundation of every funny joke that gives us a good laugh, and teasing friends is, in itself, a beautiful thing, serving break the ice and strengthen friendship bounds as long as it doesn´t cross the line, or hit a nerve (i.e. don´t make remarks on issues, the listener is touchy or insecure about, such as disabilities or defects). But be careful not to let your hilariousness into every conversation you come across, or else you´ll look like a clown, plus less people will feel comfortable around you, if you trivialize every thing they say. And my advice to you is to be tactful and respectful especially toward older people and those who can physically beat you up! Remember to use body language to clear up your pure intent, and that you´re "just kidding".

Sarcasm for compliment

Who said sarcasm is meant to be a knife of criticism and disrespect? It can be equally useful for complimenting as effectively as it is for fault-finding, and even more productive, showing off your jocularity skills, decorating your image with a bit of friendliness, and bringing you a sense of superiority. See? Kills three birds with one stone!

Sarcasm as a tool of self-defense

Sarcasm is also a very functional well-honed weapon used against those who enjoy bringing others down for show. Most people will advise you to walk away in such situations, but I implore you not to, especially if the harasser(s) is someone, you assemble with on a regular basis, because if you don´t give him a taste of his own medicine, you might become the butt of each and every joke he cracks later on, which will probably encourage others to pick on you too.

I would like to give you a couple of guidelines and caveats, to keep you on the right track:

1) Before you strike back, you should make sure there´s a malicious intention involved in the person´s remark.

2) You should have a sense of humor; if the joke is meant for good, then there´s no need for any immediate counter-attack, just laugh in a friendly tone.

3) If your opponent touched a soft spot, don´t get agitated, or you would choke.

4) Make it quick; uttering long-winded retorts denotes clumsiness and ineptitude.

5) Race, color, religion, gender, and the like-related snubs are not justified under any circumstances.

Sarcasm to convey a message

Some topics don´t feel comfortable to be open about, or to converse in a straightforward way, however a handily diplomatic observation or a substantial piece of satire turns the trick!

Sarcastic Quotes on Sarcasm

Sarcasm, by all accounts, is an amazing rhetorical art that serves many conversational purposes, and plays a major role in literature, where we always greatly praise our cherished writers and dramatists, who left us with awe-inspiring treasures of sarcastic quotes that would long be remembered, for their ironic humor, so I picked a number of quotes on sarcasm, by some of the most reputable sarcastic authors and satirists of all time to back up my points.

"This music won't do. There's not enough sarcasm in it." - Samuel Goldwyn

"Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it." - Jonathan Swift

"By rights, satire is a lonely and introspective occupation, for nobody can describe a fool to the life without much patient self-inspection." - Frank Moore Colby

"The satirist is prevented by repulsion from gaining a better knowledge of the world he is attracted to, yet he is forced by attraction to concern himself with the world that repels him." - Italo Calvino

"Laughing at someone else is an excellent way of learning how to laugh at oneself; and questioning what seem to be the absurd beliefs of another group is a good way of recognizing the potential absurdity of many of one's own cherished beliefs." - Gore Vidal

"The satirist who writes nothing but satire should write but little -- or it will seem that his satire springs rather from his own caustic nature than from the sins of the world in which he lives." - Anthony Trollope

"Humor brings insight and tolerance. Irony brings a deeper and less friendly understanding." - Agnes Repplier

"Nothing is more discouraging than unappreciated sarcasm." - Unknown