Jesus fought against an entrenched power structure and often did so with cutting satire. When someone tells me that irreverence, satire and sarcasm strikes a tone that isn’t Christ-like, I wonder what Bible they’re reading. It’s amazing how many people think that sarcasm is off-limits for Christians. Sometimes pretext and hypocrisy needs to be surgically removed before genuine dialogue can happen. The root word is sarx which means “flesh.” Taken more literally, sarcasm means “to strip off the flesh.” That seems to be a pretty damning definition, but it’s not. The word “sarcasm” comes from the Greek word sarkasmos (a sneer, jest, taunt, mockery). It’s a response that I’m not always proud of. I don’t really care about the argument (which will inevitably go on forever) I just want to cut away the pretense and ugliness, exposing the argument for what it is. At that point, I feel my generational conditioning kick in and the scalpel comes out. I generally try to be as accommodating and kind as possible-until I catch a whiff of condescension or rudeness. I get a lot of angry people who want to debate and argue with me. His criticism was brief, “So that’s how much His life for yours, means to you?” It was well-received until some guy felt the need to drop into the comments to correct my irreverence. The other day I posted a photo on Facebook of the Easter Bunny rolling away the stone in front of Jesus’ tomb. I still think that satire and sardonic critique are the best ways to unmask the powers that be, but people seem really uncomfortable when they see these tools used in conjunction with Christian spirituality. I now have a public platform that’s equal parts candor and irony, and I’m often getting comments from people who just don’t get it. I had a co-worker who constantly (but politely) reminded me, “Sarcasm creates a far chasm.” Apparently, he felt I was too sarcastic (as if that’s a thing) and wanted to remind me that sarcasm negatively impacted relationships. I work in sarcasm like Zoltan Szabo worked in watercolors. Actually, that last sentence doesn’t seem strong enough. And I’m thankful that we stripped away a lot of the pretense that would have prevented them from engaging so effectively. I’m incredibly proud of the generation that followed us. We felt powerless and the only weapon we had was to see the world as a huge joke that didn’t deserve to be engaged or taken literally. We couldn’t quickly organize marches or easily raise awareness. We didn’t have the tools that are available to millennials to make our voice heard. I honestly think that one of the biggest problems Gen X has with millennials is that we don’t know what to do with forthright, heartfelt passion. Over time, the irony that set my generation free became its own prison. We exposed the ’80s’ illusions with a sense of detached irony, and came to hold sentimentality and earnestness with skepticism. We fought our generational battles by openly mocking the idols of authority. Grunge was my generation’s response to our culture’s emotionless, inorganic plasticity. We just viewed the world around us with wry contempt. As my generation came of age, we didn’t really rebel.
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