Saturday, May 09, 2009

The Truth is Out There. I Mean, Way Out There.

Hedy LamarrOne of the segments on this week's On The Media follows up on story I noted last week: apparently, there is a tendency among conservatives to believe Stephen Colbert is serious. Or, more precisely in some cases, that while he's recognized as kidding around, he is believed to be delivering a hidden, pro-conservative message underneath the jokes.

Here is co-host Bob Garfield's interview with Heather LeMarre, who is one of the authors of the study that's caused such hilarity and who has probably never been called Hedy (thirty seconds of NPR blah blah at the start):

(alt. audio link)

My own take is that LeMarre is being a little disingenuous in this interview, perhaps out of an overdeveloped desire not to belittle conservative cluelessness, perhaps out of an urge not to be seen as doing politically motivated research. But, whatever. Despite her spin on the results, I think the message is clear. (See? I can read hidden text, too.)

The whole hour is quite good, as is almost always the case for OTM. Other segments cover John Kerry's Senate hearing on the newspaper industry, discuss the new larger Kindle that some believe may be a life ring for newspapers and magazines, consider Fair Use in documentary films, look at the 4chan pranksters, report on cell phone tracking, and peek at the PR problems of the wealthy. Visit OTM's site to listen to the stream or download the whole show.

(pic. source)

No comments:

ShareThis