On snark, sarcasm, and lowbrow criticism

[zetroc]

This article isn't new, but it resonates strongly with me and I think it applies far more broadly than to only book reviews.

Is snark ruining criticism in general? Are we becoming so selfish and basically mean that we can no longer give constructive criticism, that our only means of self-expression is sarcasm?


The Believer - Rejoice! Believe! Be Strong and Read Hard!

snark, I suspect, is a scornful, knowing tone frequently employed to mask an actual lack of information about books.

The upshot, however, is this: snark is a reflexive disorder, whether those who employ it realize it or not; the pointlessness of fiction only comes back to suggest the pointlessness of its commentator. The real question then becomes: If you don’t believe in this, what do you believe in? What do you care about? What is the purpose of this destructive clear-cutting, if you don’t have anything to suggest in its place, save your own career advancement? Reading many reviews these days (ones that aren’t regurgitated press copy, ones that are purportedly “critical”), I have the feeling of dust settling on a razed landscape, in which nothing is growing, in which nothing can grow.

[jitahs]

Well yeah.
Also, sarcasm is the lowest form of humor.

Pick up an old Vanity Fair; calling Donald Trump a "long-fingered vulgarian" got me reading that rag long after its expiration.

[sonny]

thank you for sharing
a crisis of the times for sure

--or maybe it has always been?

[corko]

Well yeah.
Also, sarcasm is the lowest form of humor.

Pick up an old Vanity Fair; calling Donald Trump a "long-fingered vulgarian" got me reading that rag long after its expiration.

But the highest form of intelligence....

[jitahs]

...on the penultimate lap of wit...

[j44ke]

...or all intelligent people have left after stupid people have run off with the curtains and the silver...