Political Potential of Sarcasm: Cynicism in Civil Resentment

Abstract

The political rhetoric of the Gezi protesteors in June 2013 was shaped with bitter irony, sarcasm, sharp humour, and cunning mockery. Vvan het Hof argues that humour functions not as an expression of ideological position but as an element toof bringing people together. Humorous and sarcastic rhetoric are an expression of the spread of theing feeling of political impotence on the individual level. Entrapped in political impotence, citizens look for creative, and nonconformist ways out of the situation. © Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited 2015.