Question

Clever wordsmiths that we are, we often cloak our actions in words and phrases to hide their impact or to mitigate and alleviate blame. Centuries of divine condemnation have made us very sensitive to the rational or irrational consequences of imagined and real culpability. Blame can put you in jail, take away your rights, deny you an afterlife, or worse-cause you to change your behavior. Which word in the last sentence makes the sentence satirical?

Answer 1

Blame can put you in jail, take away your rights, deny you an afterlife, or worse - cause you to change your behavior.

Step-by-step explanation:

The word satire refers to the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to criticize people or their ideas. For example, politicians have always been easy targets of satire.

In the last sentence, the word worse stands out. The narrator says that it's worse if blame changes your behavior than if it puts you in jail, takes away your rights, or even denies you an afterlife. Objectively the change of behavior is the least severe of the listed consequences, but the narrator for some reason says otherwise.