"In contrast, conservative talk radio humor tends to rely less on irony than straightforward indignation and hyperbole. When Rush Limbaugh took down Georgetown student and birth-control activist Sandra Fluke in 2012, he called her a 'slut' in order to drive home his point about state-mandated birth control [coverage]. After the liberal blogosphere erupted with derision, Limbaugh responded with more jokes, asking that Fluke post videos of her sex online so taxpayers could see what they were paying for. (After a few days, he offered a public apology, insisting that he 'did not mean a personal attack' on Fluke.)
"These examples formed the kernel of Young's theory that liberals and conservatives look for and see different kinds of humor. Connover, the producer of The Flipside, has already voiced skepticism about Young's hypothesis. 'That's another way of saying that liberals are smarter,' Connover said. 'And clearly that's not the case. Liberals are some of the dumbest people to walk the earth.' Young insists that hypothesis is not about intelligence; it's about a preferred structure of jokes. She maintains that there's nothing inherently better about liking ironic jokes over exaggerated ones."
Oliver Morrison in The Atlantic asks the question.
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