ftitti,er INisceo[any Since 1884
Wilmington
nity Newspaper
=I u r`,.'.,I
-
•'-,.`..,
-
u
.I I- LI
in
I
The multi-talented ALrmi,e Sheslow playing Big Jule in Gnys andDof]s. See her column on page 8 .
Sick of politics? Regain your sanity Annie MCDonough '13
News Writer In mid-September, Jon Stewart announced that he would be hosting the first ever "Rally to Restore Sanity" on Saturday, October 30th on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The mock-political rally had over 210,000 supporters who , under Stewart's direction, were sensible and rational citizens, sick of people instilling fear. When Stewart announced the rally for the sane on Zlfec Dcz!./y Sfeow, fellow comedian and Comedy Central talk-show host, Stephen Colbert declared his own plans to hold a competing rally on the sane day on the National Mall. The "March to Keep Fear Alive" takes advantageofthepanicandfearthatmany Americansfeelbecauseoftheamplificationofnationalissues.Whenannouncing the rally, Stewart urged Americans to ``take it down a notch for America," and
pereeived it as an imitation of Fox News correspondent GlennBeck's"RallytoRestoreHonor"earlierthisyear.Tea Party members and strong followers of Fox News mostly attendedthe"RallytoRestoreHonor,"thoughitwaslabeled as non-political. Although the Rally for Sanity may have started out as a parody of Beck's rally, as news about it got around and Stewart's message was spread, the sanity rallybecamemorepoliticalthanstewartanticipated.Some
Jon Stewart gathered a large group of supporters and fans through the rally, many of whom not only find his
people came to get their message out, while others clearly sought a comedy show, but all purposes aside, 210,000 jokes funny, but also believe in the message they thought people came in support of the Rally to Restore Sanity he was trying to convey. Said one rally go-er, "We just feel And/Or Fear. "My dad got us tickets because he though it as though the media has been driven by both extremes, would be funny. We're big fans of Stephen Colbert," said whetheritbetheleft-wingscreamingovertheright,orthe right-wing screaming over the left. The people that are in Maggie Snyder ' 13. The rally kicked off the middle are left out of the conversation because they with performances by don'twanttoscreamoveranybody,theyjustwanttosolve The Roots, followed by the problems." Much of the audience seemed to feel this a performance by John same way, holding up posters that not only protested the Legend. When Jon Stew- extreme lies the media tells us, but also the toxic environNIT PDLITI€AI VIEWS Colbert replied by asking Americans to art took the stage around ment of politics. "People do not feel represented by the "notch it up a scotch." Both comedians 1 P.M., he welcomed the extremitiestheysayonplacelikeFoxNewsandothershows continuedtofulfilltheirjobgoalsthrough crowd by joking about like that. They say that the real voices of people have been the rallies, but all joking aside, 210,000 IhNNtiT nE §uillMhnlz[n itsdiversity.Stewartthen muted, and the loudest voices are the ones that seem to took some time to preach carry the day. So these people want to feel a catharsis that people wondered how the fear vs . sanity rallywouldaffectthemid-termelections. sanitytotheevidentlydi- they're not alone, and that they are being represented not Whether or not the rally affected verseaudience,butsoon, by an extreme left or an extreme right, but by a sensible, IRI A PITHY SIGH the way people voted, the response to Colbert took the stage problem-solving middle ground," said Stewart. therallyshowcasedthesoft-spoken,unThere has been a great deal of speculation as to and things took a turn for Stewart's and Colbert's actual purpose in the rally. Was it the extreme. Colbert enpublicized,"in-between"partyaspeople who believe that the only way to solve tered dressed in an `Evil to mock Glenn Beck and the Fox News empire? Or was A sign from the Rally to Restore Sanity our issues is to stop naming names and Knieval-esque' costume , the purpose to provide a little bit of comic relief to the start coming up with solutions. When it and he ran around the working middle class? Or perhaps the rally 's purpose was became clear to most of the supporters that the ``Rally to stagejokingthat"massiveswamsofbeeswerecomingfor tri-fold. It's possible that Stewart and Colbert just wanted RestoresanityAnd/OrFear"(asitisnowofficiallyknown) youandyourchildren,"whileStewartattemptedtodiffuse to show America the absurdity of the modem-age media, was mostly a way to show America how ridiculous our thefabricatedterror."1wasforfear,mainlybecause1knew withalittlebitofcomedyservedthroughheavyreferences media can be, people took the position of the sane and that it was a joke, and because I favor Colbert over Jon to Fox News. Whatever the purpose, Jon Stewart and decided that they should not have to live in eternal fear Stewart," says Snyder. The remainder of the rally featured Stephen Colbert would see that theirjobs were done if all of possible dangers. variousperfomances,thecontinualbickeringoffcke-rivals Americans questioned the sanity of their local candidates When the rally was first announced, most people Stewart and Colber[, and the matter of sanity versus fear. when they voted on November 2nd.
***+*****
*********