Nobody Likes Sarcastic People. Oh Wait, Everyone Does.

Could this man be the new voice of American culture?

    (Note: this post comes to you from a Starbucks in North Hollywood, or, since every cool new neighborhood needs to have an abbreviated nickname, NoHo. Not to be confused with NoHoHoHo, the neighborhood where Santa goes to die ::rimshot:: Why am I here? Just checking it out…but it‘s a lot cooler to think people will see me typing away and assume I am a Hollywood screenwriter knocking out my next blockbuster).
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    The US dollar? On a steady downward trajectory for years. The Euro? Might not even exist before long. Gold? Unless you believe Glenn Beck (Ha! Remember him? He’s practically irrelevant now!), that won’t get you too far, either.
    Sarcasm gets you pretty far nowadays. It might be the only valued currency we have left.
    Detached cynicism may or may not make you a bad person. It certainly doesn’t make you a good one, because after all, who wants to be entirely cynical? However, it sure seems to be infiltrating society more and more. How else to explain the fact that Whitney has been picked up for a full season? I mean, other than the fact that NBC has just stopped trying. Especially in the circles I run in, which aren’t many but still, it seems that a sense of sarcasm might be the only thing everyone has in common. To many people, humor = sarcasm.
    We’ve come a long way in ten years. Ten years ago, Creed was arguably the most popular band in America. Their earnest, over-the-top seriousness was fodder for many, but it’s also how they became a multi-platinum band with sold-out arenas every night. Regular Joes LOVED Creed. It wasn’t because they were a “heavy” band (Pantera could mop the floor with them), it wasn’t because they symbolized the archetypical badass rock band (if anything, they just symbolized the archetypical frat boys who thought of themselves as “deep“). It was entirely because they seemed to be taking this shit so seriously. Pearl Jam did the same thing, basically, but they purposely made their music less-and-less radio-friendly as they went along. Creed songs were almost constructed in a lab for radio, and people (my 14-year old self included) bought it up.
    The events of September 11th also made every culture prognosticator predict an end to the Age of Irony, as Chuck Klosterman put it. Did this mean Creed was the band for a new un-ironic generation? Well, ten years later, those people who were listening to Creed are now watching Tosh.0, The Daily Show, and viral Rebecca Black videos, laughing their asses off the whole time. Thanks to consistently being “betrayed” by government, big business, sports figures, and yes, even celebrities (Kim Kardashian, just HOW COULD YOU stage a marriage for TV?), people decided it’s much better to not have emotional attachments to anything other than family, friends, and iPads. Entertainment is almost entirely based on the currency of sarcasm.
    Sarcasm comes naturally to me, for good or bad. Sometimes its more intentional than others. For example, since I am a middle class white male, I often complain about nonsensical, trivial everyday things. I mean, I can really go off the rails. There’s a reason why I listened to musically best described as “emo” in high school, though I am proud to have never owned a Dashboard Confessional CD.
    But when you feel the need to bitch about something, where do you go? Do you go to the same friends over and over, as you gain a reputation for being a whiner? Do you go to your parents, who will hear you rail on about stuff and then wonder where they went wrong in raising you? Do you go to your significant other, virtually insuring that he/she won’t be your significant other for much longer?
    The answer for me is all of the above. But that’s because I have made it a point to turn any complaint I have into a long, elaborate, outrageous, and humorous anecdote. If I’m going to bitch and moan, I might as well make it entertaining for whomever is unlucky enough to be hearing it. It’s win-win: I get stuff off my chest, and they get a laugh. If I just straight up complained and whined all the time, I would be insufferable…in other words, I’d be a woman. AM I RIGHT, FELLAS!?!?
    (If you take that last comment seriously, you obviously aren’t seeing the point of this story).
    To be honest, I think sarcasm is a big reason why we’re seeing media and fans basically urinate themselves over Tim Tebow. In a world of people…especially famous ones…being detached, disaffected, and just plain abrasive, Tebow oozes earnestness. He is the Creed of NFL quarterbacks. I have my thoughts on Tebow (a post is forthcoming regarding them), but I know a ton of people who are head over heels for him. Most surprisingly, these people are 1) not Denver Bronco fans and 2) not particularly Christian. I understand it to an extent. I certainly get annoyed by the wall-to-wall SportsCenter coverage, most notably the paeans dedicated to him in inspirational video montage form (and narrated by the lead singer of The Fray, America’s blandest rock band six years running!). I find them to be incredibly overwrought…wait, that’s an understatement. In fact, the understatement is an understatement. Have you SEEN this thing!?!?
    But again, I get it. I also get the backlash that’s starting. Daniel Tosh has promoted the “Tebowing” act on his TV show, which kind of makes a mockery of Tebow’s earnestness and faith Drew Magary of the fantastic website Deadspin has even said why people need to root AGAINST Tebow.
    That’s the price you pay when living in this day and age. People always say that “cash is king.” In American culture, these days, it seems like sarcasm is cash. And yes, it’s most certainly king.