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by cosgroveb 5362 days ago
Is satire, which often makes very heavy use of sarcasm, to be considered uncivilized?
4 comments

Unless it's exceptionally good then we're better off without it.

The problem with sarcasm is that it insulates you from having to make an argument yourself. All you have to do is mimic your opponent and make them sound ridiculous. It's almost inherently a straw man fallacy unless it is exceptionally careful.

If you can't use sarcasm you're forced to state what you believe in positive terms, which makes for much more fruitful discussion. It's like the "passive voice" of argumentation. There are some cases where you just have to, but your writing gets better if you categorically avoid it.

Hacker News is a bit like KAOS. Unless you're at the North Pole, there is no joking here.
there is no room for satire on HN.
In this case it just wasn't funny.

(Yes, I know, subjective, blah blah blah. I don't care.)