Research: Conservatives believe Colbert isn't joking

They say that many people now get much of their news from satire. Which might make you wonder where they get their satire from.

However, researchers at the Ohio State University wanted to get into the bowels of the political satire phenomenon and were perhaps a little surprised at how it is all being digested.

They subjected 332 people of varying political bents to a three-minute clip of "The Colbert Report." They then produced their own report, fetchingly entitled "Political Ideology and The Motivation to See What You Want to See in the Colbert Report."

The guinea pigs were flawless and flu-less in their concentration. They seemed to have all laughed. Yes, Stephen Colbert is funny, they all seemed to agree. Except for the fact that many conservatives appear to think that he is only pretending to be funny.

You see, he's clenching his right fist. Clearly a right-wing gesture.

(Credit: CC BrokenTrinkets/Flickr)

Which cries out for the question: "So is that still funny?" Shortly followed by the question: "You think he's just Bill O'Reilly, but thinner?"

A "yes" to both questions appears to offer a fair and balanced view of the situation.

Lead researcher Heather LaMarre was quoted by Miller-McCune.com as saying: "Liberals will see him as an over-the-top satire of a Bill O'Reilly-type pundit and think that he is making fun of a conservative pundit."

She continued: "But conservatives will say, yes, he is an over-the-top satire of Bill O'Reilly, but by being funny he gets to make really good points and make fun of liberals. So they think the joke is on liberals."

I know many large heads will say we are all so timber-skulled that we choose to see what we want to see in any living--or even dead--thing. You know, Ronald Reagan, Che Guevara, Chia Pets, John Denver, Lady Ga-Ga, PCs, hairy backs.

We choose to believe someone loves us when, to others, it is clear they haven't even noticed us. We choose to believe we are cool, clever, tall, short, fat--hey, even funny--regardless of any objective facts that stare us in the face and shout: "Oy! Fact here!".

LaMarre and her fellow examiners are positing that rather than stopping people on their subjective road more traveled and making them reassess their mental direction, Colbert may actually be reinforcing their prejudices.

Which, some might think, isn't very funny at all.

[Jack K1]

Of course he's making fun of conservatives.

It isn't possible to make jokes about liberals or the liberal agenda without sounding mean. Seriously, there's nothing funny about what liberals are trying to do.

[caroline.mccarthy]

Isn't this how Colbert wound up giving that speech at the White House Press Correspondents' Dinner three years ago, where he basically roasted the pants off the entire administration and then ate them for breakfast with a side of hash browns?

I heard that he was booked by somebody who mistakenly thought he was an actual "conservative comedian," and I would speculate that said event planner was swiftly fired.

[andy1282]

In college, we read a study concerning viewers opinions of the characters from "all in the family". Not too surprisingly, liberals all had a good laugh at archie the ignorant bigot, and beleived the "meathead" (the son-in-law), to have "won" the arguments on the show. Accordingly, conservatives around the country agreed with archie's views and believed him to have "won" the arguments on the show. The point is that people see what they want to see. It's interesting to note that Carrol Oconnor, the actor who played archie was a liberal himself and was disgusted at the popularity and positive opinons of the character around the country.

[ElDictator]

you have to understand these are the same people who, despite all scientific evidence believe the earth was created in 6 days. theyve deluded themselves into believeing W. was a saint and that obama is responsible for the iraq war the deficit and the economic collapse!

[dave181]

Hmm... I always figured he was making fun of everyone. I guess that's why I'm registered as an independent...

[stobobros]

I always vote gop because I don't like the dems sissy bleeding heart crybaby attitude. I hate God so I don't care about the whole religion thing. Wars and terrorists make good daytime tv so I was all for 911 and the ensuing wars. Wouldn't touch another human being much less have sex so I don't care about abortion. Hate doctors so I don't care about healthcare. If the dems wanted to legalize all the drugs I would switch, but they are just as bad as the gop in this regard (worse, the cons just want to throw you in jail, the libs want to heal you, gag me with a spoon) so I vote gop. I know what colbert is doing and its still funny and he is still right when he jokes on the libs. Anyone who thinks colbert is not a lib is dumb, but most people are dumb. Look it all the environmentalists, they are too dumb to know that the environmentalist movement is using the exact same strategy the nazis used to convince people that jews living among them was a serious problem. In a few years we will all be debating "The final solution to the Global Warming Question" and who has to die. It's obvious that life on Earth wants the planet to be hotter. Biology has been heating the planet forever. That is why life made people who want to live everywhere, but cant survive or even eat food without making heat. It's so obvious. If we don't heat the earth nature will get rid of us and find some organism that can. What are you people, a bunch of morons? none of this is a joke

[gsekse]

Oh look, a TROLL! Isn't it cute?

[massfat]

Oh look, it's a mirror and a troll pointing at it with its mouth open!

[mchally]

Why does everything have to be about Conservative and Liberal, Democrat and Republican. Why can't he be making fun of all you nitwits who align yourself conveniently with those stupid stereotypes? I, for one, chosoe to be ME, not a clone of some other sheep.

[alegr]

Chris,

it's Poe's Law in action. Nothing new.
http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/Poe's_Law

[chris72sax]

This is what statists do. They make everything into a big joke and they use clips so a bunch of short attention spanned dopes will think they are running rings around everyone. In reality, they are afraid of real debate of the issues. They want you to think that if you want to end illegal immigration and curb legal immigration, you are a racist redneck who only wants a country of people who look like themselves. They totally ignore the fact that we are losing millions of jobs a month while leaving our back door open for 20 mill poor, uneducated, baby-making drains on society (future democrats). We should also forget that even though we average $10,000/student, our government run schools are only outperforming Greece, Portugal, Mexico, and Guatemala in the 30 richest countries of the world. Let's also pretend that giving trillions to big business and bankrupting our already broke nation will somehow fix our problems. Social Security, medicare, medicaid, and soon universal healthcare. How many times can Washington politicians ignore the Constitution, waste our money, and fail miserably before we say "no more". Crap, I'd be making jokes too if I had to give cover to big-government socialists who have "0.0" successes to hang their hats on. I would like to say that we could come together and fix everything but we are way past that. Like minded people should move to the same state and do what our founders did, "Declare Independece".

[man_in_la2000]

Boy! are conservative stupid. Time is over for this breed. no place for old conservatives in future

[stobobros]

What is a troll? People who use internet jargon suck. I thought using new and made up words was cool when I was in jr. high. Then I realized it makes you look like a thirteen year old as only adolescents think it totalally radiical dude, gag me with a spoon daddy-0