The Death of Decency: Response to Ashes by David Sedaris

Although very interesting and engaging the essay Ashes is in many aspects offensive. Nothing is sacred anymore. It seems that anything that confronts us with graver considerations is either ignored, or more often, turned into a joke. This type of reaction stems from everyone’s desire to deny our own vulnerabilities and ultimate mortality. Levity and sarcasm become shields which we can hide behind when dealing with harder issues.
The humor in many sections of this essay cannot be described as offensive and is genuinely funny but somehow that only lends to it’s overall disturbing sense, for example:
One of my sisters would be stooped before the open refrigerator, dressed in a bathing suit, and my father would weigh her with his eyes. “It looks like you’ve gained a few pounds,” he’d say. “Keep that up and you’ll never find a husband.” Find. He said it as though men were exotic mushrooms growing in the forest and it took a keen eye to spot one. (Sedaris 110)
At diffe...