Political Satire: A Liberal's Game?
So I've been wondering for quite a while why widely-viewed political satire seems to be a primarily left-wing medium. There's John Stewart and Steven Colbert to name the big to, with John Oliver finishing his first year, and Bill Maher being...well...himself (unfortunately). In terms of written satire, you've also got Funny or Die (I know, they don't only do political satire) and the Onion, which both have huge reader bases.
So why do you believe that political satire seems to be predominantly left-wing? Note that I am not saying that comedy itself is left wing, the success of individuals such as the Blue Collar Comedy group shows otherwise. But attempts at creating right-wing political satire have not been nearly as successful, and conservative comedians (as opposed to comedians who happen to be conservative) are few and far between.
What do you think causes this? And please leave out rhetoric, I am genuinely curious and am looking for serious, legitimate answers.
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Much of comedy is the surprise factor. Bringing up an idea that isn't normal which causes the audience to laugh since they were thinking something different. Conservative ideology tries to keep things the same, so they lose out on the surprise factor. Liberals have an easier time with satire because they aren't stuck with doing everything the same. 1
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Political satire is not a Liberal game, but a game of cognitive ability and cognitive ability lays with the intelligent. Liberals are more intelligent. Have you ever listened to a dumb comedian? Comedians are intelligent, so comedians are generally liberal. "individuals with lower cognitive ability to endorse more right wing conservative ideologies because such ideologies offer a psychological sense of stability and order." |