Sarcasm and Mockery When Changing Minds

Sarcasm and mockery are the subject of this video for anyone hoping to change a mind in a conversation. The full transcription and questions and answers follow the video.

This video first went up on YouTube on March 31, 2025. The written post was added on October 25, 2026.

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Table of Contents

Why Do Sarcasm and Mockery Get in the Way of Changing Minds?

Sarcasm and mockery can get in the way of changing minds because they may put a person’s walls back up right when that person started listening. When people feel mocked or feel they are being called stupid, they may take it as an attack on them, in Loren Weisman’s view, and the opening can close.

Mocking an idea can feel like calling the person, or the people they looked up to, stupid.
Understanding perception over intention can matter, since sarcasm aimed at a researcher may be felt as an attack on the listener.
Presenting evidence in a stewarding, loving and compassionate way, sharing what you believe, how you came to it and your sources, can open more doors.
Setting sarcasm aside, even if you love it, can help when you are trying to change a mind.
Do you need to be right, or do you need to make it right, can be the question to ask.

Sarcasm and Mockery: The Full Transcription

Making Fun of a Mind You Want to Change

Your attempt of changing someone’s mind on a topic is not moving forward as fast if you’re making fun of that mind and where they’ve had their knowledge or their assumptions to date. My name is Loren Weisman.

I’m a brand, communications and optics strategist. And something I’d like you to take away today or consider taking away is to remove sarcasm and mockery in your defense or in your. Your arguments to change minds.

Seeing the Whole Picture, Including Faith

I’ll give you an example. I’m a man of faith, and I came to faith later and in what I saw inside of communications, how I worked in music and television and business. Oftentimes I would ask, okay, let’s look at the entire picture.

Let’s see the whole thing here. Let’s not assume. Let’s remove our presuppositions, our assumptions, our negative connotations, be able to hear the whole story and see everything so that we can make a decision from there.

Now, early on, I didn’t do that with faith. I had my walls up. I had my assumptions. I saw things the way that I saw it and the way that other people that I knew saw it.

Once I broke those walls down practicing the same way that I take to business and entertainment, to faith. That’s where I found the. Now, at the same time, many of these people that defend the faith or even defend businesses or try to bring something new to light, it’s a beautiful thing.

When the Arrogance and Sarcasm Kick In

The problem with that beauty and what makes it pretty ugly is when the arrogance kicks in, the sarcasm. Can you believe that someone actually thinks this? So now you open up a point of contact, a point of shift, a chance to take down a wall.

Somebody is fighting for an argument. They’ve got this one idea. They’ve stuck to it, They’ve hear it from these three angles. Now you’ve brought in a fourth angle, and momentarily you’ve opened the door or you’ve removed a wall.

But then the reinforcement of mockery, where you’re mocking that, where you’re using sarcasm, where the perception is the person all of a sudden feels like they’re being called stupid or the people that they looked up to were being called stupid, that’s not helping to further your cause.

Doesn’t matter whether it’s stupid in your ability to change a heart, change a mind, allow someone to genuinely see the truth, not stuff that’s being made up. When you choose to go that route of sarcasm and mockery, that little can’t even believe he said that.

How the Wall Goes Back Up

That’s where it was. And now that could be perceived and taken as an attack on that person. So, so in that moment, you had a moment for them. They were hearing, they were listening, they were taking it in, their walls were coming down.

But now the wall has gone back up because of what you chose to do. In arrogance, in belligerence, in sarcasm. Yes, all these people are sarcastic and I love sarcasm. Great.

Presenting It in a Loving Way

Do it your way if you want. However, if you are trying to change someone’s mind, if you are trying to bring something new that they haven’t seen, if you’re bringing unpopular or not as known evidence to the table, present it in a stewarding way, present it in a loving way, present it in a compassionate way.

I know you may have heard this and there are many that have said that. However, this is what I believe and here’s how I’ve come to that belief. This is the information that I have.

This is a source that I or sources I found. And while I understand where they come from, this is why I see it that way. And I hope that you’ll dig in and be able to see that too.

That becomes so much more inviting and opens up so many doors for communication, optics and connection over using. Even if it’s a objectively substantiated truth, how are you opening someone up if they’re feeling mocked, if they’re feeling attacked, or they’re feeling made fun of?

Do You Need to Be Right?

Think of how you approach your communications. Consider, even if it’s right, do you need to be right or do you need to make it right? And when you make it right, it sometimes can be.

It’s not passive, it’s not submissive, but a softer, loving approach with the information that you have to share with someone else to open eyes, to allow them to see a different view and allow it to come together inside of them with walls down, fear gone, and removing doubts of your view as opposed to adding in all that sarcasm, that anger, that attack, that mockery and things that maybe you don’t even intend in that sarcasm because you’re supposedly maybe attacking the researcher or the other person, but maybe they’ll feel that that’s an attack on them.

Take a more loving approach, take a more humble approach. Understand the perception over your intention and consider removing the sarcasm and the mockery when you’re defending your point against someone that’s seen a point the opposite way for a very long time.

Intention and Perception in My Talks

The two sided understanding of your intention and the differing perception that may be an issue.

Questions and Answers

Does sarcasm help when you are trying to change someone’s mind?

Sarcasm may not help, since it can turn a moment when the other person was hearing, listening and lowering their walls into one where the walls go back up. The person may take the sarcasm as an attack on them, even when that is not the intention.

Why does mockery make people defensive?

Mockery can make people feel they are being called stupid, or that the people they looked up to are. Even when the target is a researcher or another person, the listener may take it as an attack on them, and that perception can put the wall back up.

How can you change someone’s mind without mocking them?

Presenting your information in a stewarding, loving and compassionate way can open more doors. One approach can be to say what you believe, how you came to that belief, what sources you found, and that you hope the other person will dig in and see it too.

Is a gentle approach to persuasion a weak approach?

A softer, loving approach may not be passive or submissive. It can open eyes by letting someone take in a different view with their walls down, their fear gone and their doubts removed, instead of adding anger and attack.

Why set aside assumptions before forming a view?

Setting aside presuppositions, assumptions and negative connotations can let you hear the whole story and see everything before you decide. Working that way in music, television and business, and later in faith, can let walls come down, in Loren Weisman’s experience.

Sarcasm and Mockery When You Want to Change Minds