Monday, November 01, 2010

Taking a Stand for Sanity

By Robert Parry
November 1, 2010

Jon Stewart’s “Rally to Restore Sanity” drew one of the largest crowds in the recent history of Washington – packing 11 city blocks of the National Mall and spilling over into side streets that were nearly impassable – yet it was treated by the mainstream U.S. news media as something of an annoying joke.

Read on.
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14 comments:

Kevin Ryan said...

This rally to restore slacktivism and apathy was a sad testament to our times.

From Stewart's producer attacking people who disagree with him, to Stewart's own uncomfortable jokes about 9/11 and our endless wars, these folks have become the flag bearers for a failed nation.

Check out Medea Benjamin's article on the subject.

http://tinyurl.com/25pyqgq

We know that Glenn Beck is an opportunistic fool. We don't need a different flavored opportunistic fool to tell us that.

Mon Nov 01, 12:35:00 PM 2010
profmarcus said...

sitting here in buenos aires, i tuned in to the rally briefly on the c-span internet live stream and experienced an immediate, negative and very visceral reaction... the only way i can describe it is that seeing colbert and stewart on the platform at the national mall was shockingly, jarringly out of context... somehow, they just didn't belong there... it was like they had decided to combine their respective television shows and take them on location, only they weren't doing their shows, they were doing this totally contrived shtick that was neither funny nor engaging... just by watching, i somehow felt manipulated... about three minutes was all i could stand so i finally closed the browser window...

now, to be both honest and fair, i have a tremendous amount of respect for both colbert and stewart... i think they are both very smart cookies with both honor and integrity... but, exhorting me to be "reasonable" and "sane" when i see my constitution eviscerated, the bill of rights treated like toilet paper, trillions of dollars disappearing weekly in endless war, millions unemployed, millions more dispossessed from their homes, obama's cat-food commission calling for the dismantling of the already-ripped and torn security net in its secret deliberations, and the super-rich elites continuing to rape and pillage what's left of the middle class, colbert and stewart are merely positioning themselves as just two more well-paid voices of that sadly impotent fourth estate...

am i happy that they drew substantially more people than glenn beck...? you betcha... more than i can say... but we ought to be hoisting rakes and hoes and marching on goldman sachs, not busing to the national mall to display our funny signs...

http://takeitpersonally.blogspot.com/

Mon Nov 01, 12:46:00 PM 2010
AVANCE said...

The dominant media have always lied or shaded the truth about the popular exuberances that the owners of the country find uncongenial. Example: while standing in October 2002 with an anti-interventionist crowd in Washington that had already exceeded 100-thousand, I learned by phone that a St. Louis radio station was declaring that only 60 people had shown up. A decisive defeat for the treasonous left! The crowd swell to nearly 200-thousand at its peak.

Mon Nov 01, 01:12:00 PM 2010
AVANCE said...

I agree with Kevin Ryan and profmarcus: the Stewart rally unfolded as an endorsement of the doctrine of the Golden Mean. According to this doctrine, a point of view becomes less valid the more it departs from a mythical center. Stewart's linking of Marxists with racists and bigots is an example of the lingo that Golden Meaners deploy. Marxists were in the forefront of struggles to unionize workers and to end segregation, in addition to which some of them apologized for Stalinism. Racists and bigots have nothing positive in the resumes that JS spoke of.

Mon Nov 01, 01:22:00 PM 2010
Anonymous said...

Excellent article (my feelings exactly). I've noticed that true news is often ignored by the MSM. The converse is also truth (as you so actually stated) non-news is morphed into news by the MSM. My solution is to watch very little MSM and turn to the web.

Mon Nov 01, 01:47:00 PM 2010
CharlieL said...

False equivalency -- that's what has killed the media in America; the idea that every story has another side and that it would be "equal" and deserves equal coverage.

Strangely, this false equivalency only applies to right wing "alternatives" to the facts presented by the left. Somehow, progressive alternatives to the POV of the right is just "looney" or "conspiracy theory" or "fringe" and not equivalent.

Stewart and Colbert have a large audience of young people who are not always very deeply (i.e. with any historic perspective) educated about the issues, but at least hear more variation than they get on ABC, CBS, NBC or even MSNBC or CNN. And if (heaven forbid) they are watching the Faux News Propaganda Network, they are getting a FEW facts to balance the idiocy and hate.

Mon Nov 01, 01:48:00 PM 2010
Anonymous said...

In a break from my usual habits, I watched two of the Sunday talk shows yesterday just to find out what they might say about the Jon Stewart event.

One did not mention it at all and the other devoted less than 30 seconds to it, giving about a 5 second shot of the crowd accompanied by the comment that the event attracted 10's of thousands of people.

Mon Nov 01, 03:32:00 PM 2010
BARB said...

HILLBUZZ.ORG WRITER ASKS WHY IS THE LEFT REPEATING CBS LIES?

http://hillbuzz.org/2010/10/31/

AintItCoolNews keeps repeating the lie that only 87,000 attended Glenn Beck’s rally in Washington, DC. I was there, on the ground, for that event and there were easily a million people there. The whole city was full of people attending the rally. There were more people there than in the photos of the “I Have A Dream” rally Dr. King held at the same spot decades before. There were so many people, both sides of the reflecting pool were filled, people covered every spot on the ground under all the trees, and the crowd pushed across the street and onto the hill of the Washington Monument itself. It was the largest assemblage of people I’ve ever been a part of, an experience I will never forget.

CBS started the lie there were only 87,000 people there.

Leftist sites like AintItCoolNews keep spreading it.

The new lie they’re evolving is that Jon Stewart’s rally assembled double the people as Glenn Beck’s. I didn’t go to Washington for this Comedy Central event so I was not on the ground there…but I have not seen any photos of that event showing a crowd as large as, or larger, than Beck’s. Jon Stewart had a good showing of people, it seems — and many of them held vulgar signs, reveled in misogyny, and expressed themselves in the most profane ways imaginable — but it was nowhere near Beck’s.

I’m fascinated by this propaganda.

What does the Left gain by making up these lies?

Mon Nov 01, 03:46:00 PM 2010
Anonymous said...

It's a shame that sanity and reason at national level only belongs in Comedy Central. "Telling an insane person not to do insane things is in itself insane." (ironically, this great quote comes from "House" on FOX). Then, the only sane thing in this insane political atmosphere driven by MSM is to turn the TV off (especially FOXnews) and to gather among sane people for a dialogue. The political construct of Left and Right is broken, and we need to restore sanity by generating a dialogue that is driven by pragmatic problem solving.

Mon Nov 01, 04:04:00 PM 2010
Stephen Johnson said...

This column is dead on right. It needs to be read on passed on by all of the 250,000 plus people who were at the rally. And that needs to happen before the election tomorrow.

-Stephen Johnson

Mon Nov 01, 04:35:00 PM 2010
Ethan Allen said...

First of all, Robert Parry's succinct reporting, as well as that of Michael Winship, is an accurate account of what actually occurred in DC on Saturday evening; both in terms of the success of the event, and their critical observations. Like both of them, I was actually there; and, was also at President Obama's inauguration and Glen Beck's faux "civil rights" charade. No amount of dissembling or fanatical mischaracterization by disgruntled partisans or their corporate media shills can change the evident truths established on this day.
Thirty-one minutes after this article was posted, commenter "Kevin Ryan" opines, "This rally to restore slacktivism and apathy was a sad testament to our times."; eleven minutes later "profmarcus" reports from Buenos Aires that, after watching the C-Span live stream for 3 minutes, his "..both honest and fair.." analysis determined that the rally established that, "..colbert and stewart are merely positioning themselves as just two more well-paid voices of that sadly impotent fourth estate..."; and, lest we not give equal time to "Barb" whose strange and convoluted version of reality-based reasoning concluded saying,
"Jon Stewart had a good showing of people, it seems — and many of them held vulgar signs, reveled in misogyny, and expressed themselves in the most profane ways imaginable — but it was nowhere near Beck’s.

I’m fascinated by this propaganda.

What does the Left gain by making up these lies?"

Indeed, it does appear that some people prefer to lie, even when the truth is easier; some might even say saner.

Thanks yet again Robert, it appears that you have touched a nerve.

Tue Nov 02, 01:17:00 PM 2010
Ethan Allen said...

In the name of "fair and balanced" equal treatment of dissembling and propaganda, let us address the context of the interesting screed by "AVANCE" by consulting what Jon Stewart actually said in his statement at the close of the rally. Please take note of what he actually said, that curiously morfed into what "AVANCE" attributed to him saying,
"Stewart's linking of Marxists with racists and bigots is an example of the lingo that Golden Meaners deploy."

What Stewart actually said was:
"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.

Unfortunately, one of our main tools in delineating the two broke. The country's 24-hour politico pundit panic conflict-onator 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 and illuminate problems heretofore unseen, or it can use its 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 are titles that must be earned. You must have the resume. Not being able to distinguish between real racists and tea partiers, or real bigots and Juan Williams and Rich Sanchez is an insult -- not only to those people, but to the racists themselves, who have put forth the exhausting effort it takes to hate. Just as the inability to distinguish between terrorists and Muslims makes us less safe, not more.

The press is our immune system. If it overreacts to everything we eventually get sicker. 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 funhouse mirror, and not the good kind that makes you slim and taller -- but the kind where you have a giant forehead and an ass like a pumpkin and 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, our inability 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. 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 or Republicans or conservatives or liberals. Most Americans live their lives that our just a little bit late for something they have to do. Often it’s something they do not want to do, but they do it. Impossible things get done every day that are only made possible by the little, reasonable compromises.

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. To see you here today and the kind of people that you are has restored mine. Thank you."

Tue Nov 02, 03:22:00 PM 2010
Ethan Allen said...

In the name of "fair and balanced" equal treatment of dissembling and propaganda, let us address the context of the interesting screed by "AVANCE" by consulting what Jon Stewart actually said in his statement at the close of the rally. Please take note of what he actually said, that curiously morfed into what "AVANCE" attributed to him saying,
"Stewart's linking of Marxists with racists and bigots is an example of the lingo that Golden Meaners deploy."

What Stewart actually said was:
"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.

Unfortunately, one of our main tools in delineating the two broke. The country's 24-hour politico pundit panic conflict-onator 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 and illuminate problems heretofore unseen, or it can use its 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 are titles that must be earned. You must have the resume. Not being able to distinguish between real racists and tea partiers, or real bigots and Juan Williams and Rich Sanchez is an insult -- not only to those people, but to the racists themselves, who have put forth the exhausting effort it takes to hate. Just as the inability to distinguish between terrorists and Muslims makes us less safe, not more.

The press is our immune system. If it overreacts to everything we eventually get sicker. 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 funhouse mirror, and not the good kind that makes you slim and taller -- but the kind where you have a giant forehead and an ass like a pumpkin and 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, our inability 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. 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 or Republicans or conservatives or liberals. Most Americans live their lives that our just a little bit late for something they have to do. Often it’s something they do not want to do, but they do it. Impossible things get done every day that are only made possible by the little, reasonable compromises.

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. To see you here today and the kind of people that you are has restored mine. Thank you."

Tue Nov 02, 03:22:00 PM 2010
Ethan Allen said...

In the name of "fair and balanced" equal treatment of dissembling and propaganda, let us address the context of the interesting screed by "AVANCE" by consulting what Jon Stewart actually said in his statement at the close of the rally. Please take note of what he actually said, that curiously morfed into what "AVANCE" attributed to him saying,
"Stewart's linking of Marxists with racists and bigots is an example of the lingo that Golden Meaners deploy."

What Stewart actually said was:
"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.

Unfortunately, one of our main tools in delineating the two broke. The country's 24-hour politico pundit panic conflict-onator 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 and illuminate problems heretofore unseen, or it can use its 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 are titles that must be earned. You must have the resume. Not being able to distinguish between real racists and tea partiers, or real bigots and Juan Williams and Rich Sanchez is an insult -- not only to those people, but to the racists themselves, who have put forth the exhausting effort it takes to hate. Just as the inability to distinguish between terrorists and Muslims makes us less safe, not more.

The press is our immune system. If it overreacts to everything we eventually get sicker. 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 funhouse mirror, and not the good kind that makes you slim and taller -- but the kind where you have a giant forehead and an ass like a pumpkin and 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, our inability 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. 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 or Republicans or conservatives or liberals. Most Americans live their lives that our just a little bit late for something they have to do. Often it’s something they do not want to do, but they do it. Impossible things get done every day that are only made possible by the little, reasonable compromises.

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. To see you here today and the kind of people that you are has restored mine. Thank you."

Tue Nov 02, 03:22:00 PM 2010

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