On Snark

The definition of “snark” from Urban Dictionary is as follows:

noun Combination of "snide" and "remark". Sarcastic comment(s). Also snarky (adj.) and snarkily (adv.)

 The definition doesn’t make it a verb, but I will for the purpose of this blog. Snarking is now our National pastime. I believe snark has surpassed all major events to become what we, as Americans love to do; to watch; to listen to and to participate in. It is almost expected, that we, as Americans, must make fun, in the snidest way possible, of whatever is around us, no matter what it is. The Olympics? Snark about them! Our political system? Well, there are whole shows dedicated to snarking about the upcoming election and those involved.  Someone’s outfit? Yup, snark away. Oh, wait, I guess there is a whole show dedicated to snarking about people’s outfits, too.

How did something grade school kids do get to be en vogue? How did something grade school kids do get to be expected adult behavior? How did something grade school kids do become a form of entertainment? How did this get to be what we, as a Nation, think is funny?

I, for one, have had enough.

 The tipping point for me was the Olympics. Now, I LOVE the Olympics. I love everything about them. The history, the pageantry, the ceremony. The sports! And let me say right here, that I believe NBC has killed everything good about them, and not just this year, but as soon as ABC no longer had the rights to televise them and NBC got hold of them, well, it was all downhill from there. And, I’ll add, that I don’t think a network should be able to negotiate the rights to multiple Olympics. Since all Nations of the world are coming together in peace and harmony, why can’t the networks do the same and do a joint broadcast? And Bob Costas, et all, needs to watch everything Jim McKay ever did.  But, I digress.

 So, yes, NBC did a horrible job of broadcasting the Olympics, complete w/ the snarky look Bob Costas had on his face for the duration, but it was also every other media outlet as well. Yahoo was the worst offender, daily posting snark about slip ups, athletes, venues, and anything else it saw fit to throw snark at. Their final write up was a snark filled rant about the closing ceremony where there was no journalistic point expect to snark. About. Everything. They missed all the nuances, which, I guess was their point. They were not interested in anything but writing a snark filled commentary. But is it their fault, or are they feeding us what we want?

 FB and Twitter were also laced w/ snarky comments about everything from Gabby Douglas’ hair (really?), to saying how stupid the doves riding bikes in the Opening Ceremony was. Now, we were in NYC during the Opening Ceremony, but I had DVR’d it. Michael and Chelsea were reading posts and tweets real time, and the doves riding bikes and how stupid it was, kept coming up. So, when I actually watched the recording, I was dumbfounded. The doves on bikes were a beautiful representation of Britain’s history of cycling and the peace that the Olympics represent.  And, they weren't actually doves as I was expecting; they were people in gorgeous lit gossamer wings. We seemed to be so programmed to snark that we can’t even enjoy things anymore.

So, how did we get here? Is it a lack of tolerance? Is it our politically correct world run amok? Because it is also en vogue to be easily offended. Everyone can and should be offended by anything and everything. And since we don’t know how to let things go, if we are offended, we then must offer a snarky comment about the offense.  I am a Christian and that offends people. I don’t even have to do anything, or say anything, yet they are offended. They will ask me my views on same sex marriage, knowing my answer ahead of time, and then accuse me of being hateful or prejudice in the snarkiest way possible. Um, no, folks. If you’re only response to my views is to call me names and vilify me, isn’t that hatred?

 Hatred: n.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatred

Hatred (or hate) is a deep and emotional extreme dislike, directed against a perceived evil.

And for the record, I believe in the Bible and it says marriage is to be between a man and a woman. My belief in that does not mean I hate homosexuals. I don’t like or dislike people based on their sexual preference; I like or dislike people based on their character. Period. There are some gay people I love dearly and some I don’t like so much, but, I’m sure you can say the same thing, right? It doesn't have anything to do with anything but their character, just like it is for you.

But, we have been taught that if someone disagrees with us, it is okay to hate them, to say snarky comments to or about them, and to get others to join in the snark along with us. They are the enemy. And even as Christians, we fall into it, right? I don’t think Jesus is a Republican and the snark some of my fellow Christians have toward Democrats and the snarky comments that are said are horrible. Jesus followed the political system of His day, the Romans, and told His disciples to do the same. We are blessed with the right to vote, and should, but I don’t think that He would want us to be lambasting those we disagree with politically (or on any other subject). I don’t think Jesus is going to buy the defense, “I was mean to them in Your name, Lord!” That’s not what He teaches and as we go into this political season, we would be better off remembering that.

Not that we can’t disagree with people. That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is that snark and the hatred that seems to go with it are tearing us apart. Our nation seems to be “us” and “them”. We are placed in categories and judged accordingly. If you believe this, then you are that, and it is a sweeping judgment with no regards to the individual. If all we do is resort to snark when someone disagrees with us, how are we ever going to get along? The point of the Olympics is finding common ground between nations in sports, right? But if all we are doing is snarking and judging each other, we will never find common ground between us and our culture will suffer for it.

So, how can we stop the snark and the hate that tends to follow? Maybe turning off the TV shows that do nothing but that. No one is really buying the shows that pit two people from polar opposite views spitting venom at each other as actual commentary are they?  It's entertainment and a poor excuse for that, I say.  Maybe not judging someone according to what the media says, but by finding out why they believe what they believe. People will ask me my views on same sex marriage, but no one ever asks why or how I became a Christian.

I think my friend Daphne Duke has a great idea. Today, she posted on her FB page that we should only post nice comments about people and she started it out by saying some nice things about some of her friends. How cool is that? The change begins with us. My friend Bizzy Orr said that she went to a conference and the speaker said that if you imagine standing at the edge of a canyon and yell out something, it will bounce back to you. So, in theory, if we yell out snark, snark will come back to us. Is that what we want? What if we take Daphne’s idea and keep it going? Not just today, but every day. Our words can build up or tear down...and I wonder how our nation would change if we replaced the snark with words of kindness, encouragement, and thoughtfulness? 

Let's find out.