The Story

Sanity Makes a Brief Appearance

Nov. 4, 2010 | By By Ross Kingston, DSJ Staff Columnist

Last Thursday night’s (11/28) Daily Show was the last episode prior to our favorite alumnus’ much anticipated Rally to Restore Sanity/ and or Fear. I watched it closely, looking for insights into what awaited me two days from then. For those of you who were unable (or didn’t care to) attend, I’ll say this—if you want to understand what the rally was really like, watch Sam Bee’s piece in the penultimate segment of that night’s episode.

Sam prefaced her segment by saying that as the Daily Show had never before hosted a rally, they were struggling to come up with a coherent message and organize the rally in a logical and structured manner. Several minutes later, after an interview with some rather colorful characters, she ended the piece by saying, and I quote, �"Don’t be a douche.” The camera then went back to Jon who answered with, �"Words to live by.” At the time, I simply thought the preface was them being modest, and the end jokingly over-simplifying things. In retrospect, though, this really characterized the event exactly.

When my friends and I first arrived at the rally, what stood out to us most were the signs. Of course, the crowd being essentially a cross-section of the Daily Show’s audience was inclined to show a huge liberal bias. The left end of the political spectrum being so diverse translated, on this occasion, into confusion and disorganization amongst the sign-wielding rally-goers. A very notable contingent of the population seemed to think they were at a gathering aimed at the legalization of marijuana. Another large part was all about trashing Fox News. Then there were just a lot of random, seemingly meaningless signs. (In fact, I spotted at least four Pokémon-related ones; still don’t know what to make of that). There was though, blessedly, a contingent (15% or so) of the signs that demonstrated an actual understanding of the rally’s theme.

In a way, the signs were reflective of the events themselves. Things officially kicked off at noon but it wasn’t until 1 pm or so that Mr. Stewart would appear. The first hour was filled with some adequate music followed by the increasingly irritating antics of the men from Myth Busters. (Doing the wave with 200,000 people is sort of interesting, but trying to make the ground shake with semi-synchronized jumping is ludicrous and having us make juvenile sounds as though we were in pre-school was just plain annoying). By 1:00pm, the crowd around me was clearly somewhat irked. Fortunately, Jon and Stephen’s presence soon mollified us.

Living up to their TV personas, Jon casually walked on stage in normal attire for late October, and Stephen emerged in an American-flag spandex jumpsuit out of a device like that employed to extract the Chilean miners. Things then began in earnest, with Stewart civilly championing reason while Colbert belligerently tried to spread fear. From here on out, things were a bit of a mixed bag.

Now, as there were (reportedly) about 200,000 people in attendance, I cannot speak for everyone there. That said, I think it’s not unreasonable to say that most people were attending for two main reasons: 1. For comedy and 2. Because they truly desire to see civil, rational discourse in this country, rather than bi-partisan bickering and general pettiness. The former was accomplished by all aspects other than the musical performances and Jon’s speech at the end, so in that respect the rally was successful. (P. K. Winsome trying to sell Antz mouse-pads was hysterical). The latter aspect, however, could have been improved on.

There were a few parts of the event that really nailed what I was there to see. Jon awarded several �"Sanity Medals” to people whom he felt have recently illustrated reasonable behavior on a nationally-visible scale. Similarly, he also showed a few clips of otherwise sane people overreacting (like Steven Slater, rebel flight attendant) who then went on to explain their behavior and suggest more rational alternatives. True to form for the Daily Show, the montages of the media spreading fear were amazingly well put-together. And, of course, Jon’s closing speech was incredibly eloquent and sincerely delivered. All of these segments illustrated the model of rationality Jon sees embodied in the American populace, but neglected by the media. Though the rally deserves praise, with it must go criticism.

Towards the end of the rally, Jon delivered an excellent speech about the bipartisanship the media seems hell-bent on convincing us is tearing our nation apart and the extremism we see every day on the news. He tore apart the 24-hour news networks with a passionate defense of the inherent goodness and sanity and cooperation the majority of the populace displays on a daily basis. For me, what came across was essentially this: �"Be a reasonable, cooperative person, and don’t form the perception of your fellow Americans that Fox, MSNBC, CNN, etc. want you to. Don’t be a douche, like all the pundits, and don’t buy into the vision of the world they’re selling you.”

The issue I have with the event is that this message was stifled by the convoluted and seemingly random proceedings of the rally. All of the content of substance in the rally was broken up with useless musical acts, not to mention the shenanigans of the Myth Busters. I still can’t believe Kid Rock was there. But I digress. What I want to say is this: Mr. Stewart, the fun and games are great; they’re your draw. That said, keep them relevant. If people are flocking from across the country to hear you speak, and you have a serious message to impart, stay on topic and make sure people know what the hell is going on.

Ross Kingston is a staff columnist for the DSJ. His views do not necessarily represent those of the entire staff.