In case you were wondering...Yes, satire and sarcasm does go over the head of conservatives

[rpannier]

The Irony of Satire

This study investigated biased message processing of political satire in The Colbert Report and the influence of political ideology on perceptions of Stephen Colbert. Results indicate that political ideology influences biased processing of ambiguous political messages and source in late-night comedy. Using data from an experiment (N = 332), we found that individual-level political ideology significantly predicted perceptions of Colbert's political ideology. Additionally, there was no significant difference between the groups in thinking Colbert was funny, but conservatives were more likely to report that Colbert only pretends to be joking and genuinely meant what he said while liberals were more likely to report that Colbert used satire and was not serious when offering political statements. Conservatism also significantly predicted perceptions that Colbert disliked liberalism. Finally, a post hoc analysis revealed that perceptions of Colbert's political opinions fully mediated the relationship between political ideology and individual-level opinion.

link:
http://hij.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/14/2/212

basically...Conservatives think Colbert is a conservative

[Wetzelbill]

1. yup

[scarletwoman]

2. It's because they are literalists, like small children.

Small children do not "get" satire or irony, either, because they take everything literally. Perceiving irony, satire, and metaphor are all functions of a developed higher cortex.

Conservatives are centered in their reptilian brains, their higher brain functions are extremely underdeveloped.

sw

[glitch]

4. Sad but true.

There doesn't seem to be a cure for it either, they just learn to hide it better when the political climate is less favorable to their mindset. Like sociopaths, they burrow in and wait for the next opportunity to "express" themselves.

[zeemike]

6. And that explains the hair.

I have always notice that Conservatives maintain the same hair style that they had in Hi School.
I always assumed that it was because they took literally the saying that "these are the best years of your life"
And so they stooped growing right there.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

3. Colbert can retire now ..............

although I hope he doesn't, because he has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.

People think he's real.

That puts Colbert right up there with the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, the tooth fairy.

It's sort of like he's some kind of god.............................

[Mike 03]

5. Wow, do I ever wish you were correct. But I've noticed that lately satire, irony and sarcasm go

over the heads of many people who claim to be democrats.

Oh, and I'm positive that there are some sincere Democrats here who, bless their hearts, will accuse those Dems who apprehend sarcasm, satire and irony for what they are to be traitors, because they simply do not perceive either of the three.

Since you brought this topic up, I have a couple of great books to recommend by my favorite professor at U.S.C. that draw this distinction.

"The Critical Mythology of Irony" by Joseph Dane
"Parody: Critical Concepts Versus Literary Practices, Aristophanes to Sterne" by Joseph Dane

But there are tons of great explorations of these three different approaches to reality.

Read Chaucer, f'r chrissakes.

[glitch]

8. Lots of conservative dems, especially now.

But you're correct, the binary mindset can flip from "conservative" to "liberal" as long as either is in a fundamentally authoritarian form.

[Turbineguy]

7. Maybe but one of my wingnut friends

thinks liberals have no sense of humor because they don't think Anne Coulter is funny. She's right. I was dumbfounded at that remark.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

9. KO is just about to cover this! I wonder if he'll mention Colbert's idea about a fire trench with

fire proof gators between the U.S. and Mexico..

[Speck Tater]

10. They really do have trouble staying in touch with reality, don't they?

They always seem to see the world the way they imagine it to be instead of the way it really is.

[Democracyinkind]

11. Wow. So Poe's Law is valid for Conservatives too? Cool. I'm going to have fun in freeperville.