"Recognize satire's ambiguity limits its persuasive power Communication scholar Heather Lamar studied audience reactions to the Colbert Report and found that conservatives and liberals both loved the show — but for opposite reasons. As Lamar explains, people engaged in "motivated cognition or biased perception": conservatives saw Colbert as a conservative skewering liberals, while liberals saw him skewering conservatives. The practical implication is that when you use irony or satire to change minds, you may be reinforcing each side's existing beliefs rather than challenging anyone. Source: Malcolm Gladwell, Revisionist History, Satire"