Think You are Great in Sarcasm? Think Again

Stinging remarks tinged with humour as of poison, are flung, not always thoughtlessly, on a poor being,  whose discomposure produces  a hearty laugh. The people around normally laugh, not as much to insult, as to be with company, to enjoy a good joke.

There are two types of people whom sarcasm pleases.

Type one:  Insecure people who possess a low self-esteem, but do not realise it. These people might have been targets of hurt in their childhood or any part of their lives. They experience a kind of jealousy towards  people. A milder form of letting out jealousy is sarcasm. These people, to forget their own hurt, and trying to get even with the people who had insulted them, throw insults at others. It then becomes a habit and they start enjoying it.

Type two:  These are the kind of people who are kept on par with pschopathic killers,  by behavioural psychologists. Thes people take pleasure in inflicting moral wounds and kill a character.  They send barbed verbal arrows, dipped in butter, experiencing a vicarious pleasure. Experiencing pleasure in other’s pain is definitely a killer instinct. One can even watch the self satisfaction on their face, after their remarks had made the impact they expected. These serial killers can be kept at bay by acting dumb, deflecting or by counter attacks. But unless the victim is sure of a last laugh, counter attack proves dangerous, creating a permenant damage on his image and self-esteem.

But sarcastic humour has emerged as an art, in the media, now. Not only that, it  has attained an elite status, thanks to the TV and the Movies. Comments on physical characteristics or nativity of a person, his place of education have become common grounds for seemingly witty observations. Sarcastic people themselves are considered smart, witty and cool.

Cutting remarks hidden in humour have a telling effect in the personality of handicapped people, obese people and children. Handicapped and obese children suffer the most by too many sarcastic remarks. These children grow with low self-esteem and sometimes turn violent when they grow up, seething to take revenge on the society. A teacher should be careful in using words with the students so as to avoid even unintentional sarcasm.

Dr.(Ms). Tooper, an educationist, has conducted workshops meetings and conventions for Sarcastics Anonymous, which is for those who realise their excessive sarcasm, (a killer of human relationships), and want to improve.

How do you tackle people who take sarcasm to the level of verbal abuse?

Practise silence till they feel they have satisfactorily insulted. If there is any fault in you, accept it by saying that you can improve and your fault need not be pointed out in an insulting way, in front of others.

If you have not committed any mistakes and still been made an object of ridicule, with self-assurance, point out that any thing said to insult you was not true.

Never get angry and lose your posture. By getting angry, you will lose your ability understand the situation, to think and talk clearly.

You know you do not deserve abuse. Make it clear by saying that you do not like to be insulted even in an indirect way.

Finally ask the person who tries to put you down, why he is doing it and what benefit he is trying to achieve.

Think over whether you havce inadvertently harmed anyone by your words. It is difficult not to, but after all man did not get civilized in a day.