UPDATED 05/14/2014: Fixed some pronoun and spelling errors (h/t Alice).

I’ve commented before (at least twice) on the disconnect between liberals/progressives and conservatives when it comes to humor. I’m still sorting out the reasons for that, but so far I’m coming to the conclusion that humor itself, by virtue of being based in part on the unexpected, has certain inherently “liberal” qualities* (to use the parlance of our times.)

B. Spencer at Lawyers, Guns & Money (fast becoming the most-cited blog on here, I think) offered some thoughts on caricatures of liberals and conservatives in pop culture that got me thinking:

I wrote a post awhile back about liberals and conservatives and how we look at pop culture differently. I’ve noted before–in passing–that there seem to be more liberal caricatures in media than there are conservative caricatures. Yet most liberals seem much less angsty about enjoying popular culture more broadly, and liberal caricatures specifically. I think that it’s too easy and pat to say that “well, libs are just super-cool about everything.” I don’t think that quite covers it.

She proposes that the reason for this is that “most writers, most purveyors of popular culture are ‘on my side.'” She also specifically references the “dour feminists” on Portlandia and notes that they come across as funny in part because the show’s creators, he suspects, “are actually pretty feminist.”

Atrios builds on this, noting that those characters work in part because the writers are making fun of themselves to a certain extent, whereas conservatives who try to lampoon liberals do not have the same sort of understanding:

I’d actually be quite interested in seeing conservatives writing things which mock conservatives. It’s probably true that we’re generally fine with liberal caricatures written by liberals because they’re written from a place of understanding. Conservative caricatures of liberals fall flat because conservatives really have no clue about liberals, which is why they’re always trying to piss us off with things that don’t actually piss us off.

Watch Fox News for five minutes and, assuming you don’t hit a commercial break, you’re almost guaranteed to see multiple examples of inaccurate representations of liberals—occasionally by people purporting to be liberal themselves.

Humor can be an incredibly effective way to get difficult ideas across. At their best, shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report might even have been called subversive in a different era (when that word still had some practical meaning.) Conservatives just haven’t been able to point to their own excesses and foibles with a humorous eye, but if they even actually want to reach out to liberals, it’s something they should start trying. Atrios notes that “a good conservative caricature written by a conservative would probably teach liberals a few things about how conservatives see themselves.”

The cynical reaction** from the left is amply described by karl knox, a commenter on Atrios’ post, who says:

How conservatives see themselves? That would require self-reflection on their part. Ain’t. Gonna’. Happen.

I’ll remain positive at least for the time being, though, and issue a challenge to America’s conservatives. Can you look inward and laugh? Try it. You might be surprised.

In the meantime, watch some Archie Bunker:

(This is what happens when you leave the caricaturing to the liberals.)

Photo credit: By CBS Television (eBay itemphoto frontphoto back) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

---

* Of course, there are plenty of tropes out there identifying liberals as humorless buzzkills (e.g. feminists telling dudebros they can’t tell sexist jokes). In my humble opinion, though, the jokes that those humorless buzzkills are ruining were never that funny to begin with, since they generally occur at the expense of someone else who isn’t in on the joke (see “political correctness” regarding jokes made at the expense of other gender, racial, religious, or ethnic groups.)

** Here’s an even more cynical reaction from commenter Chichimec:

A caricature would require some form of self criticism and acknowledgement of past excesses or wrong actions. It would require empathy in that you would need to step outside yourself and project how another individual might view you through critical eyes.

Conservatives are extremely fragile emotionally and lack empathy. Hence their frequent angry, defensive hissy fits and cruel, selfish public policies. You are asking a shrimp to whistle. Cannot be done.

I wouldn’t call this characterization a universal truth, but there are large grains of truth to it.