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Do Liberals have a greater sense of humor as opposed to Conservatives?

Do liberals have a greater sense of humor than conservatives?

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Mensch

Mensch

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It would seem that yes, liberals do have a much greater sense of humor and a superior ability to make people laugh.

When Fox News tried to air their ridiculous copy of the Daily Show, it failed miserably. There's plenty of evidence that there are more liberal comedians and funnymen than conservative funnymen (I think they have Dennis Miller and I don't know who else).

The reasons are quite obvious. Liberals are more lax about certain social topics, and especially topics of taboo.

But there's an argument from a conservative pen pal of mine that I wanted to consider. My conservative pen pal argues that all humor derives from making fun (ridiculing) a person(s). I tried to think of humor that did not involve making fun of a person. There's knock-knock jokes and other childish humor that could be considered non-personal. But for the vast majority of adult comedy, it definitely seems to be derived from people making fun of other people (even if it's self-deprecating).

Does that mean that while liberals are more funny than conservatives, they're also more prone to making cheap personal shots and ridiculing people who differ from them?

What are your thoughts?
 
I can think of plenty of types of humor that don't involve depreciation or putting a person down.

Puns
Irony
Dry wit
Slapstick or physical comedy

Probably some more.
 
ElijahGalt said:
It would seem that yes, liberals do have a much greater sense of humor and a superior ability to make people laugh.

When Fox News tried to air their ridiculous copy of the Daily Show, it failed miserably. There's plenty of evidence that there are more liberal comedians and funnymen than conservative funnymen (I think they have Dennis Miller and I don't know who else).

The reasons are quite obvious. Liberals are more lax about certain social topics, and especially topics of taboo.

But there's an argument from a conservative pen pal of mine that I wanted to consider. My conservative pen pal argues that all humor derives from making fun (ridiculing) a person(s). I tried to think of humor that did not involve making fun of a person. There's knock-knock jokes and other childish humor that could be considered non-personal. But for the vast majority of adult comedy, it definitely seems to be derived from people making fun of other people (even if it's self-deprecating).

Does that mean that while liberals are more funny than conservatives, they're also more prone to making cheap personal shots and ridiculing people who differ from them?

What are your thoughts?
Click to expand...

I think honestly, the answer is pretty simple. Generalities will have to be used.

Generally speaking, conservatives or at least self proclaimed conservatives tend to be more serious people, they tend to be alot more ardent about their beliefs then a liberal.

Now, a liberal, not that I believe in the term, but for the purpose of this exercise, Ill just call them people who aren't conservatives, by all odds may tend to be less serious about things, might be more laid back, and so they make jokes about themselves and others, mostly about others... and so you have this cycle.

NOW!

A conservative can also be funny when they're dead wrong, but continue ardently defending things which have been both disproven, and found in contempt of public opinion, the comedy literally comes from their refusal to back down. Which can be pretty true of just about everyone but again, in generalities if you follow the argument, you take things seriously and you don't wanna admit your belief or view is wrong... these exists on both sides.
 
I think its wrong to generalize here, but I have as sense that liberals know the 'science' of comedy much better than conservatives. The Fox show failed because all their 'jokes' were political and if I'm not mistaken against liberals. I've not not watched the comedy video at Newsbusters in quite awhile, but I believe it makes the same mistake.
 
After Rush went on the Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane was on Jay Leno, this is what they observed;

First up, Seth MacFarlane -- who is the creator of Family Guy -- was on The Tonight Show Friday night with Jay Leno. Leno said to him, "Do you find that conservative guys in real life don't take themselves as seriously as you guys on the left? 'Cause I know a lot of times I go to Texas, a bunch of conservative guys, do a bunch of George Bush jokes and they really laugh."

LENO: But you do a liberal thing and you do jokes with Barack, "Ooooh, oooooh."

MACFARLANE: Yeah, yeah. I think there's a lot of truth to that.

LENO: Yeah, they get a little uptight. A little up. tight, yeah. And what is he (Rush) gonna play? What is he...?
Click to expand...

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_100410/content/01125110.guest.html


The truth is Rush is funny as hell, libs just don't get it.
 
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I don't find vulgar comedy funny and it seems many comedians are vulgar (maybe because I'm Conservative??) I think the daily show is funny, But my new favorite is Greg Gutfeld on Red-Eye that's on fox. He's a conservative.
 
megaprogman said:
I can think of plenty of types of humor that don't involve depreciation or putting a person down.

Puns
Irony
Dry wit
Slapstick or physical comedy

Probably some more.
Click to expand...

You must be a liberal.

ON the topic, I don't think humor is really related to political ideology. I know some hilarious conservatives, and some hilarious liberals.
 
Redress said:
You must be a liberal.

ON the topic, I don't think humor is really related to political ideology. I know some hilarious conservatives, and some hilarious liberals.
Click to expand...
The difference is liberals don't mean to be funny, they just are. J/k I actually agree with you.
 
Not that liberals are more intelligent, but they have less fear of change, are more daring, and I think, more relaxed. This leads to a greater sense of humor.
Intelligence is open to a million definitions, but I think that the liberals tend to be more of "deep thinkers".. This may help with the humor bit.
 
I find that the funniest comedians are the ones who aren't tied too closely to any particular political ideology but can see the flaws in both sides and make fun of them. Carlin was a perfect example of this. He skewered everyone and everything.
 
molten_dragon said:
I find that the funniest comedians are the ones who aren't tied too closely to any particular political ideology but can see the flaws in both sides and make fun of them. Carlin was a perfect example of this. He skewered everyone and everything.
Click to expand...

Those people tend to be liberals. Modern liberalism has a proximity to postmodernism, as does comedy, and postmodernism is partially about subverting people's expectations; one of which is the expectation that ideals are to be taken seriously, either as cherished values (in the case of one's own beliefs) or as obstacles to their realization (in the case of rival moral and political philosophies).

Note - the proximity derives from the influence of postmodernism in the Humanities and the reliance liberals have on the Humanities for forming their worldview.
 
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I think its more of an individual thing.Laughing should be an involuntary action.
 
ElijahGalt said:
It would seem that yes, liberals do have a much greater sense of humor and a superior ability to make people laugh.

When Fox News tried to air their ridiculous copy of the Daily Show, it failed miserably. There's plenty of evidence that there are more liberal comedians and funnymen than conservative funnymen (I think they have Dennis Miller and I don't know who else).
Click to expand...

Drew comes to mind.

But there's an argument from a conservative pen pal of mine that I wanted to consider. My conservative pen pal argues that all humor derives from making fun (ridiculing) a person(s). I tried to think of humor that did not involve making fun of a person. There's knock-knock jokes and other childish humor that could be considered non-personal. But for the vast majority of adult comedy, it definitely seems to be derived from people making fun of other people (even if it's self-deprecating).

Does that mean that while liberals are more funny than conservatives, they're also more prone to making cheap personal shots and ridiculing people who differ from them?
Click to expand...

yes, and this is why liberal comedians have an advantage. because conservatives have a better more mature sense of humor, we can laugh at ourselves. so liberal comedians can play to both sides of the aisle, while conservative comedians are constantly being accused of being haters, bigots, etc by those who can't take a joke or tend to suffer from the inability to tell the difference between people who disagree with them and people who are evil.
 
mikhail said:
I think its more of an individual thing.Laughing should be an involuntary action.
Click to expand...

No. We must analyze this to death, and it has to have broad implications about large groups of people.

yes, and this is why liberal comedians have an advantage. because conservatives have a better more mature sense of humor, we can laugh at ourselves. so liberal comedians can play to both sides of the aisle, while conservative comedians are constantly being accused of being haters, bigots, etc by those who can't take a joke or tend to suffer from the inability to tell the difference between people who disagree with them and people who are evil.
Click to expand...

I know of liberal comedians who continually subvert liberalism or its affiliate movements and institutions, but not of conservative comedians who continually subvert conservatism or its affiliate movements and institutions.
 
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earthworm said:
Not that liberals are more intelligent, but they have less fear of change, are more daring, and I think, more relaxed. This leads to a greater sense of humor.
Intelligence is open to a million definitions, but I think that the liberals tend to be more of "deep thinkers".. This may help with the humor bit.
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Not deep thinkers... just more open to new ideas even if they are stupid.
 
Whichever ideology wants to claim me, wins in the "the persons of which ideology has the greatest sense of humor" competition.
 
Bill Hicks is a legend because he loathed everything the conservative America he grew up stood for. Chris Rock is successful because he makes fun of being poor, black etc. Larry the Cable guy is successful because he has managed to make a ****load of rednecks believe he's actually a redneck himself. The point is that a comedian's success is measured upon their ability to relate to the public they are aiming for. If more people were good at making white men between the ages of 18 and 45 laugh, we'd probably have a lot more 'conservative' comedians.
 
Liberal comedy is more of my personal taste so I will obviously vote yes... But I do think there are a few excellent conservative comedians out there who have potential. Red Eye is one of them until Ann Coulter opens her mouth.
 
Yes, I'm the funniest person in the world, and I'm a liberal, I'm modest as well.
 
spud_meister said:
Yes, I'm the funniest person in the world, and I'm a liberal, I'm modest as well.
Click to expand...

spud... I already went this route. Your need to copy me has not gone unnoticed.
 
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