I’ve noticed more and more people online making a point of describing themselves as sarcastic.
While I know that sarcasm can be used positively (in political comedy etc.), in our day-to-day lives sarcasm for the most part relies on putting someone else down, resulting in them feeling small and humiliated, even if it is amusing to others in the room.
I will never understand why anyone would list this as a positive character trait. You’re saying that you’re mean, like that’s a desirable thing? We’re all sarcastic on occasion, but why on earth would you choose to make this a defining feature of your personality?
I'll be honest, I think the kind of people who are very keen to shout about their sarcasm (possibly because they’re confusing it with wit) are very seldom actually amusing company. Truly funny people make people around them feel good, they don’t make them complicit in the humiliation of someone else, or feel that they’re constantly walking on eggshells in case a barbed comment is coming their way. Don’t you realise this when you’re interacting with others, or are you only focused on getting the laughs at all costs?
In most cases I also find that when people proudly declare that they’re sarcastic, the word is actually just a synonym for being a really bloody negative, miserable moaner. The kind of colleague who thinks that every tiny directive from a line-manager is pointless bullshit, who thinks that every little bit of an acquaintance’s good news is lame or smug, who roll their eyes at small gestures others make towards kindness or niceness, who thinks that Mother’s Day and Christmas are commercial shite. Isn’t this joyless for you? Being unimpressed and snippy about everything as a point of principle can’t be great for your own mental wellbeing, surely?
(Posting this in the full knowledge that there will be replies that are pointedly sarcastic. Just going to let those ones twist in the wind, tbh.)