"Give Us This Day Our Daily Show"

Mr. Fish:

Political comedy, without practical application within a political strategy, will merely satiate our hunger for real change with a punch line and rob us of our sensitivity to any number of social and political injustices. Remember that levity provides a biochemical relief to our physiologies. It tells our insides that all is well and that there is happiness in our lives and that being buoyed by this temporary joy is justified by its own ends. Only when a wound is allowed to remain open and some measure of discomfort is permitted to pester our morality will we act to seek a solution to eliminating our pain and the pain that we empathetically feel in others.

“I’m sure a lot of you were just here to have a nice time, and I hope you did,” intoned Stewart from the stage at the end of his rally, groping comedically for a reason why the event was organized and also why the overwhelming majority of his audience showed up to watch it. Such a banal and grandmotherly adieu left me to wonder if Americans shouldn’t be looking for a more profound reason to stand shoulder to shoulder in a crowd of 250,000, in their nation’s capital, carrying signs and wearing T-shirts demanding peace, love and understanding in every way possible, than just to have a nice time.

Contrary to the mood of those surrounding me, those who were continuously waving at themselves on the immense monitors set up all over the Mall, I refused to fool myself into thinking, even for a historical moment, that we were just too big to fail. MORE...

Howie P.S.: The author, Mr. Fish, is a cartoonist. I think the "Rally" was helpful. However it will fail, by itself, to achieve its stated goal.

What Digby said...about the Rally for Sanity

Digby:

They did an unfortunately clumsy bit at the end which indicated both sides were equally bad and Jon gave a very uninspiring speech about how both sides need to calm down. (Of course the only ones who will hear it are liberals, but whatever ...) MORE...

H/t to Bob Sesca.

"Arianna Discusses The Media And Jon Stewart's Rally To Restore Sanity On CNN's 'Reliable Source (with video)

HuffPo, with video (06:47) from CNN:

Arianna appeared on CNN's "Reliable Sources" on Sunday to talk about Jon Stewart's Rally To Restore Sanity, and his critique of the cable news media. "The rally was a high-wire act," Arianna told host Howard Kurtz. "But I think he really pulled it off magnificently."

"The message at the end is incredibly important -- what we in the media tend to cover, whether it's Balloon Boy, or Reverend Jones burning the Quran -- at the expense of other things that are happening around the country, where we put our magnifying glass, as he put it, is incredible important."

Ten-thousand people traveled to the rally from New York on 200 buses organized by HuffPost. "It was just amazing," Arianna said. "The fact that they were there, even though they had flown from other parts of the country. One of them had flown from Washington to get on a bus in NY to get to the rally. Because they wanted to have that sense of community and connection. And that is what you observed if you walked around the rally. It wasn't just what was happening on stage, it was what was happening among people there."

Arianna also disagreed with Kurtz's characterization of Stewart as a liberal commentator. "What makes him and Colbert special is the fact that they use satire to speak truth to power, whether that power is liberal, conservative, in the media, in politics. That's where their power comes from. And people who continue to see it as a sort of left-leaning show are completely missing its appeal." MORE...

Howie P.S.: Here's the complete transcript.

Robert Reich on the Sanity Rally

Robert Reich:

And the vitriol emanating at all hours from rage radio, yell television, and Fox News – against immigrants, intellectuals, “coastal elites,” gays, and the President.

We’re better than this.

This is not respectful disagreement. It’s thuggery. It has no legitimate role in a democracy. And most Americans are fed up with it.

Sadly, we needed two comedians to remind us. MORE...

TPM: Xlnt "Reader Photos (60) From The Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear "

TPM, photo gallery:

Our estimable readers sent us in their pictures from Comedy Central's Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear on Oct. 30, 2010. Here are some of the best.

Arianna and Jon Report from The Rally for Sanity (video)

Huffington Post-Arianna Huffington, video (02:07).


NECN/Comedy Central, with video (12:05):

"The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart took a break from the comedy routines at his "Rally to Restore Sanity" in Washington, D.C. to make a sincere plea to his audience.

He thanked everyone for coming, and cautioned that the event wasn't a counter-protest toward people of faith, people of activism, or people who live in America's "heartland." He blamed the media for creating a certain mania within the American public.

"If we amplify everything, we hear nothing," he told a crowd of cheers, and later said that the back-and-forth name-calling he continually sees on TV needs to stop, saying, "the press is our immune system, if it over-reacts to everything we actually get sicker."

Stewart said, "The country's 24-hour political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator did not cause our problems. But its existence makes solving them that much harder."

Howie P.S.: Can't find any video of Colbert. I guess Fear stayed home. C-SPAN has posted video (03:06:04) of the whole damn thing. H/t to Peter Ray.

"The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear Is Tomorrow! Watch it Live On-Air/Online Starting at 9am Pacific"

THE OFFICIAL "RALLY TO RESTORE SANITY" WEBSITE IS HERE!!!
· Get the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear App from iTunes.
· Check in with The Daily Show and Colbert Report on Foursquare.
· Follow along on Twitter @rally4sanity and @stephenathome.
· Donate to the Trust for the National Mall and DonorsChoose.org.
· Order official Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear gear.