Jon Stewart Rallies for Sanity -- and Against Cable News
Comedy Central comedian and television host Jon Stewart laughs while speaking as thousands gather for the "Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear" on the National Mall in Washington, DC, October 30, 2010.
/ SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty ImagesUpdated Oct. 31, 9 a.m. ET
The enemy, Jon Stewart told the masses gathered on the Mall in Washington Saturday for his "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear," is not people of faith, or activists, or those who want to have passionate argument, or those on the right, or those on the left.
The enemy, he argued, is not Americans at all. It is instead the false image of Americans being pushed by the cable news-driven media - what he called "the country's 24-hour politico pundit perpetual panic conflictinator - that he said is broken and making the country's problems worse."If we amplify everything, we hear nothing," Stewart said, accusing media outlets of fearmongering and spotlighting extremists instead of reasonable Americans. He later added that the press is America's immune system - and "if it overreacts to everything, we actually get sicker."
Stewart's comments came toward the end of the three-hour rally that attracted about 215,000 to the Mall according to an estimate commissioned by CBS News, with a message of standing up for reasonable dialogue.
Signs hoisted in the crowd ranged from serious ("I support reasonable conclusions based on supported facts," "Restore Sanity. Fight Fox," "I fought Nazis and they don't look like Obama") to the silly (a picture of the Republican and Democratic mascots and the words "Everyone Poops").PICTURES: See Aerial Views and Signs from the Rally
People gather for the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear on the National Mall on October 30, 2010 in Washington, D.C.
/ Win McNamee/Getty ImagesThat mix was not unlike the rally itself, a sometimes-uneasy mix of comedy and a call to (metaphorical) arms. Stewart handed out "medals of reasonableness" to pitcher Armando Galarraga, who was kind to an umpire who robbed him of a perfect game; professional wrestler Mick Foley for his work outside the ring, including defending a child mocked for being seen as gay; Velma Hart, who offered polite but critical questions to President Obama at a town hall; and Jacob Isom, the "dude you have no Koran" guy who decided to defuse a Koran burning by taking away the Koran.
His co-host Stephen Colbert, who portrays a fearmongering conservative talk show host seemingly modeled on Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, countered with "Medals for Fear," including one for the media outlets who banned their employees from attending the event unless they were covering it. (CBS News was among those criticized for doing so, though the network did not take that step.)
The event also featured mea culpas from two Americans - former JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater and "Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Teresa Giudice - offering apologies for their displays of unreasonableness.
People in the crowd hold up homemade signs at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010.
/ AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin"I could have found a more productive way of expressing my frustrations...next time, I'll try to work things through before losing my cool," said Slater.
John and Rita Maffei, a couple in their 50s who had come to the rally from Fairfield, Connecticut, said they were there simply for the opportunity to laugh at a media and political world that turns them off.
"I'm not a fan of politics," said John Maffei. "I think there's a lot of pettiness out there right now. It's ugly all around. I think it's really good to start laughing again. Stop taking ourselves so seriously."
The Maffeis were part of a small but visible contingent of older Americans who joined younger people like 19-year-old Anthony DiSilva of Syosset, New York at the event.
Comedians Steven Colbert and Jon Stewart perform on the National Mall, October 30, 2010 in Washington, D.C.
/ Win McNamee/Getty ImagesThough the rally was ostensibly non-political, groups like the Democratic National Committee, hoping to capitalize on the gathering ahead of Tuesday's midterm elections, organized events in conjunction with it. Democrats greeted people attending the rally with requests that they get involved with canvassing efforts nationwide.
The event opened with a musical performance by The Roots and John Legend, and musicians performed throughout, among them Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock, Tony Bennett, and Jeff Tweedy. Among the celebrity guests were the hosts of "Mythbusters," actor Sam Waterston - who read a poem ostensibly penned by Colbert about all of the bad things that might happen to you - and basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who came onstage to assure Colbert that not all Muslims are terrorists.
John Legend performs at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.
/ CBSEarly in the rally, Stewart joked that there were ten million people there, adding sarcastically that attendance reflected a "perfect demographic sampling of the American people." (It was, in fact, largely white.) He mocked the media for the way they've covered rallies in the past.
"If you have too many white people at a rally, then your cause is racist," he said. "But if you have too many people of color at a rally, then you just must be asking for something."
People attend the Comedy Central "Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear" on the National Mall on October 30, 2010 in Washington, D.C.
/ Jeff Snyder/PictureGroup via AP ImagesBeck, Keith Olbermann and others appeared in montages offering incendiary rhetoric that Stewart deemed dispiriting. (Olbermann did not take kindly to this: "It wasn't a big shark but Jon Stewart jumped one just now with the 'everybody on [24 hour] cable is the same' naivete," he wrote on Twitter.)
Colbert, who was ostensibly there to rally on behalf of fear, celebrated such rhetoric while Stewart condemned it. At one point Stewart quoted Franklin Delano Roosevelt's comment that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Colbert countered that twelve years later, Roosevelt was dead.
Looking to the future at the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" on the National Mall on October 30, 2010 in Washington, D.C.
/ Scott Gries/PictureGroup via AP ImagesStewart clearly came with a serious message, and toward the end of the rally he nearly dropped his comedic persona altogether. He uttered phrases like "individuals can be scary but you can't generalize about all people," a reference to those who consider all Muslims to be terrorists.
He said it was a mistake to lump in those who aren't bigots -- he mentioned Juan Williams and Rick Sanchez specifically -- with those who are, calling that an insult not only to them "but to racists who have put in the exhausting effort it takes to hate."
Stewart also said most of the scary stories on cable news are overblown and argued that Americans can overcome the ones that aren't.
"The image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false. It is us through a funhouse mirror," he said. He added that it's no surprise that people don't want to reach across the aisle when they are told the other side is made up of Marxists on the left and racists on the right.
"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," he said. "But the truth is we do. We work together to get things done every damn day. The only place we don't is here [in Washington] 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."
Jon Stewart Rally Attracts Estimated 215,000
Stewart said most Americans don't live as liberals or conservatives or Republicans or Democrats but as "people who are just a little bit late for something they have to do." He used the fact that Americans are willing to merge together into a tunnel, one by one, to illustrate the fact that people can and do work together despite their differences.
"You go, then I'll go, you go, then I'll go," he said. "'Oh my God, is that an NRA sticker on your car, is that an Obama sticker on your car? Ah - that's OK. You go, they 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 - and not hired as an analyst," Stewart continued.
Shortly after he turned the stage over to Bennett, who closed the event with a rendition of "America the Beautiful" that prompted a "USA" chant from the crowd.
"Sanity will always be and has always been in the eye of the beholder, and to see you hear to day, and the kind of people that you are, has restored mine," Stewart said.
People attend the Comedy Central "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" on the National Mall on October 30, 2010 in Washington, D.C.
/ Jeff Snyder/PictureGroup via AP ImagesThe rally aired on Comedy Central, where Stewart and Colbert host their late night shows, as well as C-Span. Comedy Central told the New York Times there were four million views of their live rally web stream.
Stewart said after the event that he "stayed up late last night and just wrote until I was done. I wanted to speak a little bit from the heart."
Asked how he expected the event to be covered, Stewart said, "I couldn't care, I just don't care. We're proud of ourselves and proud of the show we did."
"Our currency is not this town's currency," he said. "We're not running for anything. We have TV shows and we just hope people continue to like them."
Added Colbert: "What surprised me most was the joy of seeing the audience out there."
Jon Stewart Rally Attracts Moderates Who Want a to be Heard
Rally for "Sanity and/or Fear"
Popular in Politics
- FBI director acknowledges domestic drone use 153 Comments
- Obama and Berlin: Faded echoes meet new realities 77 Comments
- Next up for Obama: Major effort on climate change
- Immigration reform would cut deficit, analysis shows 82 Comments
- House Republicans pass 20-week limit on abortions 598 Comments
- Michelle Obama and daughters tour Berlin Play Video
- IRS readying to pay $70M in employee bonuses, senator says
- IRS scandal: Is partisanship overshadowing facts?
I have to say I was expecting a bit of the reactions I saw as I read through the comments posted. Most movement conservatives are decrying this as a joke, as unserious, and as a rally to promote leftist ideals. Most of the lefties are trying to latch their own unique causes onto the rally. I'm happy to see a lot of measured responses to both of these angles, though, as well as some good counterpoint debate. But, what was the rally about in my opinion?
Well, that's the thing. I can't tell you all what it was really about, because what it was really about was different for everybody. In a way, Jon's joking comments about the crowds demographic were true, nearly everyone was represented. I chatted with a very pleasant conservative mother and daughter on the metro, I laughed at the goofy antics of college-aged kids in costume with silly signs, I smiled at some of the personal messages that I, myself agreed with...and I went home feeling glad that there was still a large spread of us who still believe in civilized debate and compromise in politics, and are paradoxically uncompromising when it comes to incivility (Heck, the crowd itself was the most pleasant and civil group of people I've ever encountered, even as we were all literally jammed shoulder to shoulder, and had to shove and press to make room for people).
Jon said it himself in his closing words: "Sanity is in the eye of the beholder." Those of you who are simply dismissing it as childish, naive and stupid, well, nothing I will say will change your minds, because you obviously didn't experience the rally in the same way as me. Those of you still searching for a meaning, purpose, or hidden message - whatever that message will be for you - I'm sorry to say that you won't see it. Because, quite simply, you can't see it.
To those of you who think this was all a big joke, that Stewart and Colbert are just clowns with no business doing anything like this, there was a sign for you all: "The Jesters speak truth to power."
To those who thought there was a hidden leftist message in everything, here's one for you: "I like bacon too!"
What I got out of this event was a fun time with a WHOLE LOT of diverse, silly people, a free concert, a chance to make a seismometer peak, being part of a nearly-minute-long Mexican wave, and adding my small mass to a multitude that stretched nearly the entire length of the Mall.
What was the message I heard? More than just toning it down a notch, I thought that the overall message was not against passion or partisanship, but against hubris; blind pride; the thought that is in the heads of so many politicians, pundits, and party members on both sides, left and right, that says "I'm right, you're wrong, and you must be destroyed!"
Oh well. Happy voting tomorrow =) Thanks for letting me post.
Now that we can use DNA to follow threads of ancestors sources. Let us examine Beck, Hannity, Rush, Rove, Murdock, Boehner and so on and see if they are descendants of Joseph Goebbels !
DNA has found that Hitler was but three generations from a Jewish ancestry of African descent. More surprises on the way, as mythologies and politics steps aside and lets the truth of knowledge to advance, in spite of their ignorance, to continue to hold the herd herded.
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8601-503544_162-20021284-2.html?assetTypeId=41&blogId=503544&tag=contentBody;commentWrapper#ixzz1447vVRm9
I'd like to commend Mr. Montopoli for his reasonably accurate REPORTING on what actually transpired at the event, not simply collating hackneyed partisan talking points, and irrelevancies about whose crowd was bigger.
On the latter, I live in Chicago, in the loop, where events of 100,000+ generally pass with scant notice. This was an enormous gathering. Even several blocks from the stage, and at the periphery, it was impossible to scratch your nose without bumping into one or two others standing adjacent (sitting being out of the question).
The more remarkable thing to me was not the number of people, but the tenor of equanimity. Perhaps most attendees were of a progressive bent (by no means a homogeneous group itself), but neither the program nor the collective crowd sentiment focused on achieving specific political aims. My impression was that many if not most people were there to express, by their presence, a profound dissatisfaction with the drivel that passes for contemporary political discourse - they were also there to have some fun. With the density of bodies in small space, the level of civility was pleasantly surprising; the official pre-rally admonition, "don't be a ******", was largely heeded. People were good-natured, even polite.
This rally did not solve any knotty political or social disputes, nor did it aspire to do so. But it did show a glimmer of public appetite and capacity for airing partisan disagreements with a presumption of good faith and an attitude of good humor, rather than instant polarization and personal rancor. Not true for all attendees, of course, but that was my perception of the prevailing sentiment.