sarcasm: a manipulator's tool?

 today's lunchtime conversation consisted of debates about sarcasm's effectiveness in manipulation (￣^￣）

as i stuffed warm noodles into my mouth, my mom made a sarcastic remark. the words slid smoothly off her tongue, and that surprised me as she usually didn't get sarcasm, irony or any of the "higher order" language features of english. this was because whenever my brother and i made sarcastic jokes, or when i watched an american comedy show, she just wouldn't get it. sometimes, she even misses the jokes in house M.D. 

that's why i gulped my noodles down and said:

wow, you've learnt how to use sarcasm!

"i bet it was from watching so much house M.D.," i continued, turning back to my bowl of fishball noodles. 

my brother and mother continued the conversation as i focused intently on my food. in between bites, i picked up snippets of their chitchat, like "sarcasm is used to manipulate people".

upon hearing that, my jaw went slack and my noodles nearly fell out! whaaaaat? how could my brother say that? sarcasm was rarely use to manipulate people! and that's exactly what i told him.

his response was as follows:

house always manipulates people by using sarcasm.

what? no he did not. in the latest episode we watched, he manipulated a CEO (his patient) by threatening to send him to a mental facility. that is not sarcasm in the slightest.

my brother argued that he usually used sarcasm to get people to leave him alone. i retorted by saying that he was using sarcasm to insult them, not manipulate them.

"plus", i continued, "most people didn't want to be near him anyway."

my mom pipped up, saying that he had used sarcasm to manipulate Dr. Park. 

"seriously?" i replied. "sarcasm is not a long method. it happens very quickly. house manipulated park for the entire episode!"

now that i'm back at home, i took the chance to do some research into sarcasm. and by research, i meant asking perplexity ai.

this is what it said:

People may use sarcasm intentionally to influence others by planting doubt, guilt, or embarrassment, which can shift the recipient’s feelings or opinions without direct confrontation. For example, sarcastic remarks disguised as jokes can subtly undermine someone's self-esteem or create emotional distance, thereby manipulating how that person feels or thinks about themselves or a situation. This indirectness also enables the sarcastic speaker to avoid accountability, as they can claim they were "just kidding" if challenged.

so i guess that means i lost the argument. but solely relying on sarcasm is not enough! one would need house's levels of attentiveness, general knowledge and deductive skills to actually manipulate anyone effectively. 

that's to say, sarcasm is the gun, but you still need a bullet  ♪(´▽｀)