“ 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.
Notes
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The Irony of Satire: Political Ideology and the Motivation to See What You Want to See in The Colbert Report (via HuffPost)
So this is an actual study performed by researchers at OSU.
And they basically found that conservatives think Stephen Colbert is being serious.
They don’t understand satire.
This made my day.
