Sarcasm: the Death of Language

What is sarcasm?  For me, sarcasm is saying what you don't mean, but in such a way as to mock what someone else thinks is true.

That's where we get it wrong.  I'm of the opinion that, when you say something, it should be true, and you should mean it.  Otherwise, it's a lie.  And lies are the death of language.

What's the purpose of language, anyway?  To communicate, right?  Well, if you lie, that means you're communicating that which is false, that which is not representing reality.  If you get a reputation as a liar, then no one can trust what you say to be true.

Lies are so pervasive in the world today that it's hard to tell truth from fiction.  Even the most constant and blatant lies of someone who sits in the Oval Office are destroying our collective ability to communicate with each other!  If you can't tell what's true and what's false, how can you decide what to think about any situation?  Whose word can you take for truth?

That's why so many people nowadays say things like, "Follow the money," or, "Actions speak louder than words."  We've been socialized to be verbal creatures; surely your parents oohed and aahed over your first word.  Once we get into school, the overwhelming majority of our education is verbal.  If you have upright citizens as parents, you got in trouble if you were caught lying.

And that's also a major issue: IF you get caught in a lie.  Used to be you would get in trouble, but nowadays so many people shrug it off, even among their friends, that it's just another piece of information you collate with the rest: Shelly lies about her age, or Debra lies about her boyfriends, or Dave lies his drinking, and so forth.

Nowadays, people lie to get what they want, and they don't think twice about it because what matters is what they can get people to DO.  "Hey, I'm homeless, do you have any change?"  "I was on the interstate when I had a flat on the way to work...."  "My uncle Bob died last night, and I need Friday off for the funeral."  Employers are about the only people who check up on such statements, and if you lie, that's it, you're fired.  Unless you're a state worker; supervisors have to follow progressive disciplinary actions and have levels of suspensions before the employee can be dismissed.

Back to sarcasm, the 'funny' way to lie.  Sarcasm is the height of wit, it seems, and I'm seeing and hearing it more and more.  To me, it's just another way to lie, and it's especially bad when it's the written word instead of the spoken word.  If spoken, you can at least use vocal inflections to indicate that it's supposed to be a sarcastic statement.  But, if it's written, unless you have some type of indication or symbol indicating sarcasm (such as, '$he think$ he'$ hot'), the point is that SOME people will misinterpret the intent of your statement, either out of stupidity or innocence if not willful perversion.

And that means communication is lost.  You have directly subverted another person's attempt to understand reality.  We might as well all be deaf and have no language at all; that way, you're forced to acknowledge someone's actions as 'reality'.

I was on Facebook the other day, and probably half of the posts that weren't videos were laden with sarcasm.  I often point out how un-funny it is, how counterproductive or how ineffectual it is, but no one seems to care.  We live in such a constant sea of misinformation and propaganda and scorn that it's a wonder any of us can get through a day without second-guessing someone's intent or meaning.

Imagine trying to learn another language when all the people are lying to you.  Can you say you've learned that language if you try to order a hamburger and get fried chicken?  What do you do when you realize you can't trust anyone at all to tell you the truth?

Stop the sarcasm, please.  Next time you're tempted to spout something sarcastic, think it over and say what you mean, instead.  I can assure you it'll be more powerful because of its truth.  If we can't get everyone to speak the truth, we might as well give up speech for good.