Taking Colbert Too Seriously?

Today, a post was made by Jason Linkins on the Huffington Post blog entitled "Colbert Study: Conservatives Don't Know He's Joking". This post talks about a study conducted by Heather L. LaMarre at Ohio State University that finds "that lots of conservatives seem to not understand the intrinsic, underlying joke of The Colbert Report". The study found that conservatives were more likely to think that Colbert genuinely means what he says, even though he says it in a joking manner. They were also more likely to think that Colbert dislikes liberalism. Since I have not seen much if any of the Colbert Report, I decided to look up a recent video clip to get a better idea about what the study is testing. The following video was posted on the Colbert Report website today:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Days of Swine and Doses
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor First 100 Days

After watching this clip I find it hard to believe that anyone does not realize Mr. Colbert is not being serious. The show is aired on a network called Comedy Central. It is obvious that Stephen Colbert is a comedian and that he does not sincerely believe everything that he is saying. With that being said, I can understand how people taking a survey who only watch the show could think that Stephen Colbert really is a conservative, just joking about his own ideology. However, Jason Linkins makes a great point in bringing up the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, during which Mr. Colbert made jokes criticizing President Bush and the main stream media. Since I really don't know anything about Mr. Colbert, I did a little research of my own and I found this article from the Washington Post which states that: "Colbert, whose office is adorned with a 1972 Richard Nixon campaign poster, admits to being a Democrat. But, he says, 'I'm not someone with a particular political ax to grind. I'm a comedian. I love hypocrisy.'"

It is somewhat frightening to think that anyone would believe that Mr. Colbert means the outlandish and extreme things he says. I do not think that the extreme point of view is ever a good one, and it often leads to people taking equally extreme actions. However, I hope that a Comedy Central does not have the power to greatly influence the beliefs and actions of masses of people. There will always be people who are extremists, whether it be liberal or conservative, and in my opinion they will be that way regardless of what shows they watch on television. Perhaps The Colbert Report should take more initiative to make it clear that Stephen Colbert is simply mocking the extreme point of view, not supporting it. Personally though, I believe that if someone is unsophisticated enough to believe that a show on Comedy Central is serious, they probably will not have any major impact on society.