I’ll also add that American conservatives are becoming more and more fanatical, and fanatics aren’t known for their sense of humor (outside of finding sadism funny). I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a strong cause and effect connection between being humorless and being conservative; whatever mental problem makes someone humorless is I think likely to also make them engage in the kind of poor judgment and lack of compassion that leads to conservatism and other extremist positions. No one knows exactly what humor is for, but a lack of it seems mentally and morally unhealthy.
I will even agree with some of your thoughts here in there are times when humor by Conservatives is somewhat juvenile. But once again, you seem to totally brush over actions by the Left when it comes to poking fun at Conservatives. Would you not agree that many things said about Bush and Palin were also juvenile? That comments directed their way were done in “poor judgement” and “lacked compassion”? Or, is it okay to be hypocritical because it is only Conservatives that are being made fun of? Humor on both sides has become over the top, but to try and point the finger at one group while doing the exact same (not necessarily you, but the Left as a whole) is terribly hypocritical.
I think the main difference is that a lot of “liberal humor” is from entertainers who started out trying to make a humorous product, and that product ended up reflecting their political views, while conservatives end up trying to make something that reflects their political views thats also funny.
So the Daily Show started as a news-show spoof that increasingly reflects Stewart and the rest of the casts political views. Doonesbury was a strip about life at Yale that became political as college life became more political. Fox’s half-hour news hour show, on the other hand, was started as a “conservative Daily Show” and as a result, was more conservative then funny. Ditto Mallard Filmore, which started out trying to be a “Conservative Doonsebury”.
You can see this even on the liberal side, Doonesbury and the Daily Show are least funny when they’re going out of their way to make political points (I stopped reading Doonesbury during the run up to the '04 election, because Trudeau basically turned it into a anti-Bush blog and abandoned jokes altogether). Both are best when they’re trying to be funny first and only make political points when it flows naturally from that.
I think Conservative humor is funny to conservatives, but not to liberals. And vice versa.
If you want to see some good examples of rollicking conservative humor, set your DVR to capture a show called “Red Eye.” It’s on Fox News every night at 3 am Eastern time. The aforementioned Nick DiPaolo is an occasional guest.
I agree with the OP that the phenomenon exists and is not merely “whose ox is being gored.”
I think the Daily Show, for instance, does a better job making fun of left stupidity (when the Daily Show goes after the left, which it admittedly does less often than it goes after the right) than Rush, or Ann Coulter, or Dennis Miller do.
There is something to presenting oneself as a jester and making fun of something, versus being an establishment person (who also wants to be taken seriously) making fun of something.
I think there’s also something to the whole mindset. It’s really weak science right now, but there are psychologists who claim that liberal and conservative minds actually work differently, and that adult political stripe can be predicted in four-year-olds.
Really broad-brushing it, conservatives see that there’s a way things ought to be, and feel tension when things aren’t that way. Liberals are much more comfortable considering if things should be different than they are. That’s also where humor comes from.
It’s not hypocritical, it’s earned. Bush and Palin are genuinely stupid, genuinely evil, and especially in the case of Bush have caused immense harm. They deserve nothing but hatred and contempt, earned by their personalities and actions. That’s not the same as sneering at someone just because they are poor or sick or homosexual or female. The Republicans condemn and mock people for things are are outright lies; we have a recent example of Limbaugh doing just that, mocking a woman who lost an ovary as a “slut”.
I think everyone agrees that mean-spiritedness is not soley confined to Conservatives. However, I will point back to the idea of Conservatives mean-spiritedness coming from a position of power and being aimed at the powerless, whereas Liberal mean-spiritedness is being directed at the powerful (your own examples).
Actually, I’ve had people complement me on my sense of humor here. And at any rate I am not “liberals”, I’m just one guy; the issue is not my personal sense of humor, but the collective respective senses of humor of conservative and liberals.
There is also “non-partisan” humor, which lampoons anyone who says anything stupid – which, of course, is nearly anyone in political life. The Capitol Steps, for instance, don’t lean either way, but happily zing everyone. Mark Russell is another.
The best jokes don’t depend on personalities or ideologies, but simply on what’s funny.
Hmm, I feel stupid admitting this but I never realized P.J. O’rourke was conservative. I’m not really that familiar with him though, other than his satirical essay on how to receive oral sex while drunkenly driving. I assumed there would be some outliers out there.
I hear what you’re saying Kimmy_Gibbler about clapter. I still enjoy The Daily Show but miss the late 90’s/early 00’s when it really was a parody news show without the strong political bent it has now. Craig Kilborn, 5 questions, those were the days…
Nick Di Paolo is a good example of a comedian with a conservative point of view, but I don’t think he’s what I had in mind when I wrote the OP. He’s more of a pure comedian, not what I’d call a “pundit.” Again I’m only casually familiar with his work, but after a quick youtube search I find a few political bits, and lots more of your normal bread-and-butter stand-up bits (cell phones, getting old, air travel, marriage, etc), all of which this liberal finds hilarious. This speaks to my question: there must be plenty of other funny, smart conservatives out there. Why don’t they get their own shows? Why is there no conservative Daily Show? Maybe the Limbaughs and Coulters out there really are playing for laughs, but come on, no one can tell me that Limbaugh is a funny guy. He’s a curmudgeon who tries to tell jokes occasionally. As others have pointed out, The Daily Show occasionally makes fun of liberals, and it’s hilarious. Jon is better at drawing laughs at the expense of liberals than Rush is! It seems to me that conservatives are missing out on the joy that is laughing hysterically at your political rivals. Would conservatives rather seethe with anger than enjoy a good laugh? Is there a market that needs filled here? Could I make millions by affecting a conservative prankster persona for comedic effect?
Because there’s no “must” about it. And because a great deal of conservative “humor” is the sort of thing that only appeals to bigots and morons; it doesn’t travel well outside of the Republican bubble.
Another interesting example is Garry Trudeau in Doonesbury. Yeah, yeah, he’s 95% liberal… But that 5% of the time, when he skewers liberals for doing or saying stupid things… That’s still funny. Even when it’s my ox that’s getting gored…it’s funny!
A large part of it is simply being able to admit when someone, even yourself, goofed up, and being able to laugh at ‘your side’. Someone who can’t laugh at themselves, takes themselves too seriously, just can’t be funny.
The argument can be made that some comedians are a lot more conservative than generally acknowledged. Chris Rock, for instance. His classic “Niggers Versus Black People” piece is from a very conservative, middle-class Black point of view.
I’ll second (or third) P. J. O’Roarke, His books Republican Party Reptile and Holidays In Hell are two of my all-time favorites.
Anyone who thinks mocking liberals isn’t funny clearly has never seen “Portlandia.”
That said, I think most of what is going here is conformation bias. Mocking the other group always seems funnier than the other group mocking your own.
