Rally to Restore Sanity/March to Keep Fear Alive, 10/30/10!

[Happy Monkey]

The reason there's nobody on those grassy squares is that it was fenced off.

The reason there are people on those other grassy squares is that some felt it reasonable to open the fence and relieve some congestion.

[xoxoxoBruce]

HM, what you couldn't hear...

"And now I thought we might have a moment, however brief, for some sincerity, if that’s ok; I know there are boundaries for a comedian, pundit, talker guy, and I’m sure I’ll find out tomorrow how I have violated them.

I’m really happy you guys are here, even if none of us are really quite sure why we are here. Some of you may have seen today as a clarion call for action, or some of the hipper, more ironic cats as a clarion call for ‘action.’ Clearly, some of you just wanted to see the Air and Space Museum and got royally screwed. And I’m sure a lot of you are here to have a nice time, and I hope you did. I know that many of you made a great effort to be here today, and I want you to know that everyone involved with this project worked incredibly hard to make sure that we honor the effort that you put in and gave you the best show we could possibly do. We know your time is valuable, and we didn’t want to waste it. And we are all extremely honored to have had a chance to perform for you on this beautiful space, on The Mall in Washington, D.C.

So, uh, what exactly was this? I can’t control what people think this was, I can only tell you my intentions. This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith, or people of activism, or to look down our noses at the heartland, or passionate argument, or to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear. They are and we do. But we live now in hard times, not end times. And we can have animus and not be enemies. But, unfortunately, one of our main tools in delineating the two broke. The country’s 24-hour, politico, pundit, perpetual, panic conflictanator did not cause our problems, but its existence makes solving them that much harder. The press can hold its magnifying glass up to our problems, bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen. Or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire, and then perhaps host a week of shows on the sudden, unexpected, dangerous flaming ant epidemic. If we amplify everything, we hear nothing.

There are terrorists and racists and Stalinists and theocrats, but those titles that must earned; you must have the resume. Not being able to be able to distinguish between real racists and Tea Partiers, or real bigots and Juan Williams or Rick Sanchez is an insult, not only to those people, but to the racists themselves, who have put in the exhausting effort it takes to hate. Just as the inability to distinguish terrorists from Muslims makes us less safe, not more. The press is our immune system. If it overreacts to everything, we actually get sicker, and perhaps eczema. And yet, with that being said, I feel good: strangely, calmly good. Because the image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false. It is us through a fun-house mirror, and not the good kind that makes you look slim in the waist and maybe taller, but the kind where you have a giant forehead and an ass shaped like a month-old pumpkin with one eyeball.

So why would we work together? Why would you reach across the aisle to a pumpkin-assed, forehead, eyeball monster? If the picture of us were true, of course our inabilities to solve problems would actually be quite sane and reasonable. Why would you work with Marxists actively subverting our Constitution, or racists and homophobes who see no one’s humanity but their own? We hear every damn day about how fragile our country is, on the brink of catastrophe torn by polarizing hate. And how it’s a shame that we can’t work together to get things done. But the truth is, we do. We work together to get things done every damn day. The only place we don’t is here or on cable TV. But Americans don’t live here or on cable TV. Where we live, our values and principles form the foundation that sustains us while we get things done, not the barriers that prevent us from getting things done.

Most Americans don’t live their lives solely as Democrats, Republicans, Liberals, or Conservatives. Americans live their lives more as people that are just a little bit late for something they have to do. Often, something they do not want to do, but they do it. Impossible things every day, that are only made possible through the little reasonable compromises we all make.

Look. Look on the screen. This is where we are; this is who we are: these cars. That’s a schoolteacher who probably thinks his taxes are too high. He’s going to work. There’s another car. A woman with two small kids, can’t really think about anything else right now. There’s another car, swaying, I don’t even know if you can see it. The lady’s in the NRA and loves Oprah. There’s another car. An investment banker: gay, also likes Oprah. Another car’s a Latino carpenter. Another car a fundamentalist vacuum salesman. Atheist obstetrician. Mormon Jay-Z fan. But this is us. Every one of the cars you see is filled with individuals of strong beliefs and principles they hold dear. Often, principles and beliefs in direct opposition to their fellow travelers. And yet these millions of cars must somehow find a way to squeeze one by one into a mile-long, thirty-foot wide tunnel carved underneath a mighty river. Carved by people who by the way I’m sure had their differences. And they do it. Concession by concession. You go, then I’ll go. You go, then I’ll go. You go, then I’ll go. Oh my God, is that an NRA sticker on your car? Is that an Obama sticker on your car? Ah, well that’s okay, you go, then I’ll go. And sure, at some point there will be a selfish jerk who zips up the shoulder and cuts in at the last minute. But that individual is rare, and he is scorned not hired as an analyst.

Because we know instinctively as a people that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light, we have to work together. And the truth is, there will always be darkness. And sometimes, the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t the promised land. Sometimes, it’s just New Jersey. But we do it anyway, together. If you want to know why I’m here and what I want from you, I can only assure you this: you have already given it to me. Your presence was what I wanted. Sanity will always be and has always been in the eye of the beholder. And to see you here today and the kind of people that you are has restored mine. Thank you.”

•Jon Stewart at The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, October 30, 2010

[smoothmoniker]

That's good eats.

[Scriveyn]

just in case no one has posted this link before: 100 best signs a the rally


... and my

[classicman]

[Pico and ME]

Heres another bit of sanity...

[xoxoxoBruce]

No no, 6 minutes is way too long to listen to facts, when slogans can be shouted out in seconds.

[Shawnee123]

Originally Posted by Pico and ME

Heres another bit of sanity...

That was really great. Thanks!

[Pico and ME]

True dat...

[smoothmoniker]

So, if I'm understanding all of the post-game wrap up correctly,

sanity ≠ tea party.

Has anyone seen anything from the rally, any sign or slogan, that makes fun of liberal extremism? No?

Cool.

Just checking the plumb-line.

[Pete Zicato]

Originally Posted by smoothmoniker

Has anyone seen anything from the rally, any sign or slogan, that makes fun of liberal extremism? No?

So the liberals are making fun of the conservatives? I don't see that as being a bad thing. I wish the conservatives were making fun of the liberals. It would be much better than the hate and fear mongering they're spreading.

[Pico and ME]

Originally Posted by smoothmoniker

So, if I'm understanding all of the post-game wrap up correctly,

sanity ≠ tea party.

Has anyone seen anything from the rally, any sign or slogan, that makes fun of liberal extremism? No?

Cool.

Just checking the plumb-line.

For one thing, the Tea Party put a big bulls eye on its forehead with the Beck Rally. Did you see their signs? Have you heard their rhetoric?

Stewart also nailed the lefty talking heads like Olbermann and Matthews. But mostly, he was attacking the rhetoric of hate and fear that you see on TV by politicians and talking heads alike.

Secondly, whats really your beef here? That moderate leftys attended a rally? So what?

Who said it wasn't political?

[classicman]

Smooth again with the reality-check....mate!

Oh and it wasn't political - riiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

[smoothmoniker]

Nobody claimed it wasn't political.

Plenty of people claimed it was "centrist" or "moderate". I object to the co-opting of those terms as the exclusive provenance of the left. I object to the implication that the right is the only side that needs to be "moderated".

I object most of all to Stewart presenting himself as the everyman above the fray, speaking out for the voiceless middle, when he is in fact nothing of the kind.

[Pico and ME]

Objection noted.

But the 200,000 that attended and millions more that watched, don't feel that way. In fact a lot of us really appreciated the rally. It was really nice to see a sane counter reaction to the hate and fear directed at liberals.