Conservatives Don't Know Stephen Colbert is Satire

Image from DaveAndTomas.net

Satire, like sarcasm, isn't always obvious to some people. If you have a good sense of humor, understand irony, and have a decent BS detector, you're probably a fan of satire. In my experience, many conservatives suffer from a weak sense of humor, absolutely no understanding of irony, and a BS detector that only goes off if they hear something that isn't already in their world view.

It's too much of a generalization to apply that across the board, of course. But look at examples of "conservative humor." Glenn Beck. Rush Limbaugh. Dennis Miller. An American Carol. The 1/2-Hour News Hour. Conservative humor seems to try twice as hard for half the laugh. There is often a mean-spirited undercurrent to it, not to mention an almost complete lack of subtlety. Remember those Truly Tasteless Joke Books? That would be about the level of advanced conservative humor.

Here's a litmus test for you. Ask your conservative friend/family member what they think of the movies Airplane! or The Naked Gun or Hot Shots!* If they pronounce them "stupid," instead of "hilarious," you've got yourself an irony/humor/satire-resistant conservative. Those same types of people apparently think that Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's Colbert Report is one of them! Colbert's whole shtick is to lampoon right-wing bloviators like Bill O'Reilly. But you have to be able to see that, I guess.

*The ultimate irony is that one of the men instrumental in making those movies is David Zucker, who is also behind An American Carol. Like Dennis Miller, it seems when he became an "out" conservative, his humor evaporated. Weird, right?