Why must intelligent people be so sarcastic? - Page 2

Wow Decius, this is a very serious subject to you, not something to be taken lightly. I can understand your perspective. My relationship with this particular individual has very deep levels as well as light ones. I have recently moved to a new city so don't see him much anymore... but when I do we usually hit both levels, as we always have.

Yeah thats what i was gettin at
gotta have fun with friends and sarcasticly taken the piss is fun no harm in it ye know.

sarcasm really should only be used around close friends. at work and school i pretty much turn it off. i think to much of it can definately hinder a relationship and prevent it from going anywhere other than a surface level. but once you have known a person and are very comfortable around them its a nice tool when youre both just trying to "shoot the shit" .... i guess im just saying that there is a time and a place for it, just like everything else.

It's because we all have small penises and are insecure about it and need a way to make up for it.

But in truth, intelligient people only act sarcastic either to make a joke, or because they feel the person they are talking to is completely ignorant, and just don't really feel like arguing the point.

I don't feel like arguing that.

*Tear, I'm hurt Leftwood...

Are you done making them feel small?

I also guess that in diff countries, sarcasm can be taken differently.

Maybe diff cultures understand and use it in diff ways..

(yes i am being lazy with my typing )

social class may have an affect as well.

lol secret,
the quote," judge not lest thou be judged" makes some sense here.,

they were judgmental in their instruction causing nothing but judgment in return...

fuck all that

Sarcasm is useful because:
- it gets your point across
- it proves your wit
- it makes the other position look absurd
- its funny

For these reasons sarcasm will remain an integral part of debating, those who don't use it will look dry and humourless. Those who can't answer it sarcasm will look ridiculous and self-contradictory.

my, you just named all the reasons i'm sick of sarcasm. yeah, it is fun at times, and i myself am guilty of it on occasion, but it keeps people from trusting you. if you always answer anything sensitive with a sarcastic answer, people will stop putting anything they care about out there for you to bash. it keeps you from getting into good discussions, not to mention the fact that it makes the other person feel like crap. i suppose if your talking about something entirely unimportant, it doesnt matter, but if it is a subject important to them, lay off.

Well I like to be sarcastic about things unrelated to whoever I'm talking to. That way there's still the wit/fun/point but no one is being humiliated in ppublic.

I agree with Decius that the majority of sarcasm directed at people is childish and often reeks of insecurity. I've known a number of people who at first glance seem to be people I might want to befriend but then as soon as you open up to them or offer anything personal they immediately turn on the sarcasm, for these people it's a self defense mechanism. However there are certainly times when sarcasm can be well used. So long as all parties are in on the joke and the sarcasm is not meant to ridicule any one person or group sarcasm can at times be used to hilarious effect. Take stand up comics, some of my favorite routines feature a lot of sarcasm and irony. This only works of course because the audience is in on the routine.

Domz0r also makes a good point about differences between cultures. Take irony for example. Irony is a staple of North American and some European humour, it's the foundation of Seinfeld, Simpsons, Monty Python, and many of the comedies ranked extremely highly by north American audiences. However in other parts of the world irony just isn't that big a part of humour. In Asia for example some of these shows just wouldn't go over as well, it's not that they wouldn't get the jokes, it's more that they would probably feel "alright I get the point already no need to go overboard". The same goes for humour ported from other part of the world to North America. To those who enjoy Anime you will probably be familiar with the rather quirky sense of humour in a lot of Japanese cartoons. Of course it doesn't seem as quirky in Japan. One thing you will notice with Japanese humour is the focus on public embarrassment and scenes involving embarrassing interactions between people of different social ranking. Of course this is because these are big issues in Japan, here people sometimes see these jokes and feel they are just strange "why so much emphasis". The same has to be taken into account when dealing with sarcasm to some extent.

im with you teen. the reason i started this thread is just that i got fed up with it all the crap i've been taking on other message boards. i suppose all you really have to do is be relativily sensitive, and use everything in moderation.

interesting locut. never quite looked at it that way.