Is Sarcasm a Sin?
Posted by Danielle Bean in Reviews on Tuesday, October 06, 2009 12:00 PM
I purposely held back from offering any comments when I first posted the new Catholic Vote Action video yesterday.
And that was because I wasn’t sure yet what I thought.
What I was inclined to think was that I would LOVE this video if the group that produced it weren’t called Catholic Vote Action. While my political opinions are definitely in line with the video, I hesitate to call those particular opinions, about the role government should or should not play in our health care system, Catholic opinions. It’s just not as clear cut an issue as life issues are.
If Catholic Vote Action had taken on the fact that government-funded abortion and pressure toward euthanasia are parts of the health care “reform” being put conjured up by many of our legislators, that would have been a “Catholic” argument, in my opinion.
But I’m not sure how they could address that topic and still maintain the young, hip, (hilarious) tone of the ad that make it a very effective way of reaching young people in particular.
Which brings us to the sarcasm. Or is it irony? Or satire?
It’s very funny.
When I first watched the Catholic Vote Action video, I had not seen the MoveOn.org video starring Will Ferrell, and I felt that the tone was a little over the top (again, because of the word “Catholic” in Catholic Vote Action‘s name). But when I saw the tone of the original ad, it made much more sense to me. And I laughed even more.
As a writer who is fond of using an occasional ... ironic voice, I was intrigued to read some people’s thoughts, both in the blog comments here and on my facebook page, that sarcasm is a demeaning, mean-spirited form of ridicule that Catholics should always be “above” using.
I get that I shouldn’t discipline my kids with a “THANK YOU for dumping that cup of juice all over the tiles. I just mopped there and I was HOPING someone would ensure all my work was wasted.”
But this kind of political ad doesn’t victimize an innocent person in an ugly way. It responds to a similarly-toned attack, in a way that points out the ironic truth about many of the claims made in the original ad.
What do you think? Is sarcasm ever an appropriate means of persuasion or communication? Or is it always a demeaning form of mockery that Christians should avoid?
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