People are bad at using sarcasm these days. Reading reddit I've come across multiple posts ending in /s, making it painfully obvious that the post is indeed made to be sarcastic, but its content is crafted so poorly it barely even fills the requirements.
Sarcasm is a powerful tool. It is used by cartoonists to often mock the society and criticize it while also providing entertainment and humor for the intellectual viewer, smart enough to understand the mockery hidden in the panels. This is sarcasm at its finest.
So what am I complaining about? People not being smart enough to make decent sarcastic comments? Pretty much, but it's not only about people not being smart enough to do it, it's more that they don't make the effort.
Sarcasm at its finest level required substantial knowledge on the subject, so that you can accurately construct your criticism focusing on the relevant parts. Also you have to know the people who this subject concerns. Therefore you can tune down the obvious sarcasm and rely on the readers knowledge to help them spot the mockery.
So why are people overusing the sarcasm? It's to protect them. Making harsh claims on subjects can often make people grab their pitchforks and soon enough fighting on the internet ensues. Therefore making sarcastic comments protect them, as they can claim that "You don't understand sarcasm" or even worse "I was just being sarcastic, it's not even how I really think".
I understand that making people mad often times lead to a frustrating confrontations but please oh please, don't try to avoid conflict with the sarcasm. It devalues the skill which good sarcasm requires, fills the threads with pointless meme-generated imitations of a sarcasm that end with "/s" or it simply enforces other people to start using it.
You can be funny without trying to be sarcastic! Every joke you make is not by default sarcasm! STOP USING IT ALL THE TIME!
That's all.
Kommentit