Sweetleaf wrote:
B19 wrote:
One thing I notice is the tendency of some members to immediately attack people who disagree with them. Most of these take this form: instead of simply saying "I disagree", they go straight to "you are wrong" and in doing that, they are automatically placing themselves above the person they are disagreeing with.
I do understand that some people have a psychological need to do this, that some fall into the trap of putting others down because they need to feel better about themselves, and they don't know how else to do that. Hopefully when they know better they will do better. Though it does blight this place for me. However there are more good things than bad, that's for sure.
Also, can I say to those very few who routinely use sarcasm to put others down:
sarcasm is not a form of humour; it is a form of anger. It is not clever; it is aggression. There are much better ways to own and deal with the your anger, better for you as well as your targets. Sarcasm is a no-winners action.
Sarcasm can certainly be a form of humor, ever hear of satire?
Also could it be sometimes people are confronted with things they find to be wrong? Its not nessisarily putting oneself above someone to say they are wrong. Everyone is wrong sometimes anyways.
In response to your question, (which sounds sarcastic) the answer is yes, I first heard of it about 50 years ago. Martha Anderson in this quote nicely explains the difference between sarcasm and satire:
""Satire humorously and effectively makes a constructive point and shows the absurdity of a point of view, of a lifestyle, of a situation. The intent and end result can be instructive and edifying.
Sarcasm, however, most often is used in one-on-one verbal conversation or in email or text messaging as a conversation starter (and often stopper!), or as what is thought to be a witty comeback or humorous jab. The sarcastic person thinks they are being witty, clever or humorous, or they may simply be a social misfit who doesn't know how to communicate in any other way, but their words can come across to the recipient as hurtful, demeaning, or even downright cruel. Not instructive -- not edifying -- not really accomplishing anything positive for either person."
And figured satire was a type of sarcasm, of course people can be mean with sarcasm but I don't think it is always mean, or meant to be. Sometimes people also take things personally...I know I tend to sometimes and tends to work better if I keep that in mind rather than instantly accusing someone of trying to be mean without assessing a bit more.