Today, Comedy Central's Jon Stewart and Stephan Colbert hosted a rally in Washington D.C. Originally two separate rallies (Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity, and faux ultra-right conservative Stephen Colbert's March To Keep Fear Alive), the two combined their rallies after a permit problem (Colbert says he didn't know he was supposed to have a permit).
The rally included musical guests from Tony Bennett singing America the Beautiful, to Ozzy Osbourne, among numerous others. In my personal opinion, the musical entertainment left something to be desired. The Mythbusters, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, conducted experiments with the audience doing the wave, jumping all at once and recording it using a seismograph, and having the audience respond at once to sounds shown as words on the jumbotrons (i.e. laugh, silent, laugh like a mad scientist, laugh politely, cheek pop, and cheer).
Tens of thousands turned out for the event:
Skits were performed by Stewart and Colbert, including a "debate" on what to fear (see videos after this post).
Fears included:
Poison in our water,
Muslims (with Kareem Abdul-Jabar, basketball legend and Muslim making a cameo),
and robots (with Star Wars' R2-D2 making another cameo).
At the end of the rally, Stewart made this speech:
| Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear | ||||
| Jon Stewart - Moment of Sincerity | ||||
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While I never watched The Daily Show or The Colbert Report before, I wanted to attend this rally. The reason for the rally, a call to tone down the noisy rhetoric and hate spewed by both sides of the mainstream media and other news outlets from MSNBC to CNN to Fox News, is one that I agree with 100%. It doesn't do anybody any good.
Unfortunately, I waited too long to start seriously planning the trip. A month ago, hotel rooms within my price range were all booked up. So, I was planning on driving down to D.C. early in the morning, then going home that same day. It would have taken me 6 hours at the most one way, so the idea was a little crazy (ironic considering the reason for the rally). It wasn't until last week I found out there were rally buses leaving from major cities, including Pittsburgh. However, the Pittsburgh buses were already filled. I begged Dad to let me go, but he wouldn't let me. I watched it on C-SPAN instead.
I thought it was a great rally and I hope it sends a message.
Now, for those who don't know, Stephen Colbert pretends to be a right-wing cable TV blowhard. His show, The Colbert Report, is used to show how utterly ridiculous some of the things you hear from news organizations actually are. Here now is a segment titled "Stephen Colbert's Fear For All" which highlights the "5 main fear groups." One of the 5 is homosexuality, which is why I'm posting this here.
Watch:
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Fear for All Pt. 1 | ||||
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| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Fear for All Pt. 2 | ||||
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5 comments:
It's good to know that there is still resistance towards ultraconservatism in the US. But then again, seeing that at the same time there is an anti-gay rally from the Republican Gouverneur candidate in New York, my happiness about the resistance towards ultraconservatism vanishes.
You are a complete idiot. Stop posting about things you don't know. I'm gay, but if you don't watch Daily Show, or Colbert, don't pretend to "know" why they combined the rally.
Uh all I did was say Colbert didn't have a permit, which is exactly what he said on his show...
I'm pretty sure they planned on having a joint rally anyway.
Chill out dude
I remember a few decades ago that the news was very boring, cos all they did was report the news. It was some milktoast guy going blah, blah, and then commercial. Then about twenty years ago the news started to become about entertainment and ratings complete with 24hrs a day coverage. Now they have splintered off into left and right political propaganda; so much for objectivity in reporting the news. Now we have the far right who hate homosexuals and think that the poor deserve their fate, and the far left who think being fiscally responsible is nazism. Personally, I am fiscally conservative (cos governments who are not managing finances with prudence will suffer in the long run like the USA is now) but socially liberal, and I think that is called being in the middle somewhere. The USA desperately needs a VAT (value-added tax on sales) to reduce deficits, reduce consumerism, and finance R&D for the furure. A VAT is a tax that the rich cannot escape; they will pay their fair share the same as the rest of us. Ultimately the fundamentals of economics will rule; just take a look at Greece. I don't care what a person's ethnicity or religion is; work and pay your taxes, hold politicians to account, and live and let live, then we will all be better off. bfn - Wayne :)
wow he got really upset because you said they combined the rallys due to permit stuff.... >_> strange
good post-- i love stewarts speech at the end. really profound. I dont see how anyone can disagree with this. I dont think theres a philosophically defensible argument against compromise and working together.
Steve
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