Sarcasm and its Effects

The other day in Writing 150H, my class and professor had a little discussion about sarcasm. Our professor stated that sarcasm is much more common to our generation than it ever was to hers, even at BYU. She asked us to pay close attention in the days following at how much we hear and/or use sarcasm and write about it. This was one of the trickiest assignments I've ever had. Although I do not consider myself a very sarcastic person (and am, in fact, known as being very likely to miss someone else's sarcasm), I found that I use it so naturally that it's very easy to miss. I only caught myself in the act once over an entire weekend but can think of many additional times in hindsight.

I learned even more about the effects of sarcasm than I did about how much I use it and hear it in daily life. My roommates and I received a visit from a friend the other day that I've known since middle school. Although I was never particularly close to him, I liked and admired him in the first couple years of our acquaintanceship for his cheerful personality, wit, kindness, and genuineness. When he visited us over the weekend, I realized with a pang of sorrow that he is not the same person I met four years ago. Although his basic personality is the same and I still think he's a great guy, I found a certain luster had left him. When I thought about why this would be, my I decided that every change in him for the worse could be linked to his increased use of sarcasm. More than ever in conversation and sometimes in action, he is cynical, derogatory, pessimistic, and insincere, all by-products of sarcasm. My roommates and I agree that his choices in kids to hang out with in high school are probably what got him hooked on being sarcastic. This helped me realize how dangerous sarcasm really is. It can change how comfortable people are around us, what they think of us, our innate characteristics--and even more frighteningly, it can even change these things in the people around us.