The purpose of the rally was to provide a venue for attendees to be heard above what Stewart describes as the more vocal and extreme 15-20% of Americans who "control the conversation of the United States. The point is that Americans become crazed when discussing politics, and demonize each other, which is counterproductive. A return to to sanity would promote reasoned discussion. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Rally to Restore Sanity was a satirical response to Glenn Becks's Restoring Honor Rally.
Because it was aired on Comedy Central commercial free, it was pretty easy to get drawn in pretty quickly. Did Anyone tune in ? If so, what did you think?
4 comments:
I was able to catch bits and pieces of the event and it seemed like the rally satisfied its intended purpose, satirizing something serious. I especially liked Stewart's speech, though the audience seemed a little too slow to pick up on the various jokes he was making. I think its necessary for the American public to produce and participate in events like these, in order to skim off the constant serious tone that is usually associated with poilitics. Stewart and Colbert usually hit the Fox News correspondents pretty hard at times, but if that 215,000 number is correct then there is a very large percentage of people that agree with the comedians. Overall i thought this was a great way to poke fun at something, as it is a new idea that strays from the norm.
Well, like Bryce, I have only been able to catch part of the Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear thus far, but I have been thoroughly impressed with what I have managed to see. Surely, the clever and relatively acerbic remarks made throughout the event deviated far from normal political discourse and many may discount the beliefs of these late-night "comedians" as the mindless rhetoric of showbusiness. However, as one who has actively followed both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report since the beginning of time (otherwise known as middle school), I would like to throw my (all but inconsequential) support to the credibility of these political genii. Colbert and Stewart don't stop at "status quo media," but strive to dig deeper, using there jocular rants and seemingly mindless analysis to go places where no one else would dare go. Brutal honesty is often reprimanded in our modern society, but not much can be done about humorously-spun, brutal honesty. As such, the likes of Colbert and Stewart are doing a great service to our nation, brilliantly educating us, making us skeptical, and satiating our hunger for entertainment simultaneously. Sure, some of their tirades may be completely outrageous. Sure, Colbert may seem to be too ridiculously "in character" to be contributing anything meaningful to society. Sure, both men may work for Comedy Central. But at the end of the day, they were able to galvanize at least 215,000 Americans to get off of their couches and away from the luxury of their iPads and 3D LCD TVs, and that speaks volumes.
Since I was able to actually go to the rally, I was able to experience the entire rally from a closer angle. First off, the energy was amazing even though it didn't seem like that from home (ESPECIALLY because they had the worst sound and audio system EVER). Everyone was good spirited and looked like they were having a good time. I noticed that even though most of the crowd were democrats, the rally did not seem to blame or discredit the republican party. This I believe was the most important part of the rally's message. The purpose of the rally wasn't to point fingers at any faction or party. The purpose was to show the nation that there are those who do not approve of finger pointing and the fear mongering that is going on in our country today. The Stewart accomplished exactly what he intended to accomplish: to inform Congress, the media, and the American people that we do not approve of the tactics used in today's politics today.
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