OPINION: Your roasts hurt

“Roasting,” in the quasi-playful teasing sense, first became a concept at the Friar’s Club, an exclusive New York club where celebrities and comedians traded barbs with each other. Comedy Central then monetized the idea by having celebrity roasts where the public gets to watch washed-up celebrities laugh at each other. Then a revolution happened and the public latched onto roasts in the form of “roast circles” where friends poke fun at each other.

But now, roasting has transformed into brutal statements poking fun at anything and everything.

While these jests are meant to be in good fun, students are vying to have the title “savage”—and this only comes from being nasty. Savage roasts come from someone who does not care about what they say and are just being mean to be mean. Think of a mix between Blair Waldorf and Gordon Ramsey, multiply it by 10—and you have a savage roast. Examples are things such as “The sound of your voice makes me want to stick a needle through my tear duct.” These statements are meant to hit hard or dig at insecurities.

Being savage fills West Essex with insults at every corner. Students could be doing common things such as wearing jewelry, but in order to be savage, people will mock them for wearing it. If everything one does can be mocked, is a roast even a harsh joke anymore or plain bullying?

Several students who have been roasted, whether it be online or in person, all shared the same sentiment: roasting is bullying. Findings from a 2008 study by Dr. Thomas Ford and Mark Ferguson for Western Michigan University indicated that roasting has negative consequences at the psychological and macrosociological (society on a large scale) level, citing that it enforces negative stereotypes and prejudice.

Ford and Ferguson also said when social cues are present, the mind views jokes in a different light, taking on a fantasy mindset. Often times with roasting (as the majority of roasts are sent online), the social cue of a joke is missing and one views the harsh words without a filter.

This causes the recipient to feel the full force of the joke and leads to a negative impact on them psychologically.

I’m not trying to sound like I can’t take a joke—believe me, I love roasting when it’s in a loving manner. But when people take it to a higher standard and just point at a random thing on a person, calling it a name and saying “roasted,” I cannot stand behind that. It is just not funny.

There is no point in making fun of someone without a cause. If a joke is meant to hurt, not help, one should reevaluate their values. To change roasting from poking fun at someone you love, to poking fun at someone you do not love fundamentally changes the practice from good to evil. And in doing so, people ruin the fun for all.