As much as it hurts, the hateful rhetoric planned for this piece is being scrapped. Saturday, thousands, some say billions, of “average” Americans convened on the National Mall to get a dose of what appeared to be healthy fun.
Live music from the likes of Jeff Tweedy, gospel great Mavis Staples, the Roots, John Legend, Ozzy Osborne and Yusuf Islam was heard.
There were also plenty of satirical skits poking fun at the often overdramatic fear mongering machine that is America’s 24-hour news media.
Part of the intrigue, no doubt, were some of the signs people brought from home presenting messages intended to offend no one: “Have You Seen My Keys,” “I’m With Reasonable,” and “More Masturbation, Less Pontification” (okay, so the last one was slightly political, but funny no less.)
For many, this rally was timed perfectly. The mid-term elections this year have run attack ads like America has never seen before.
Americans have become nauseated at the sight of all the political blood being spilled, and a bit of comedic sanity or faux-fear is a good remedy.
Jon Stewart best summarized the overlying message of the rally: “The country’s 24-hour-politico-pundit-perpetual panic-conflictinator did not cause our problems, but its existence makes solving them that much harder,” Stewart said.
Instead, Stewart explains, the media should be highlighting what makes us great.
“We hear every damn day about how fragile our country is and that it’s a shame we can’t work together to get things done. The truth is, we do,” Stewart said.
“We work together to get things done every (expletive) day. The only place we don’t is here (Washington D.C.) or on cable TV. But 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,” Stewart said.
Doesn’t it just feel good to get together once in a while and sing Kum Bah Yah, even if you hate the song? When we get to the point where we don’t agree with someone just because they are a Republican or a Democrat, we are propagating the problem.
As Stewart said, “These are dark times, not end times.” Even if you don’t agree with Jon Stewart’s seemingly left-leaning politics, we can all find value in his message.
After all, how else can we politicize the idea that we work better if we work together?
John Gervais is a psychology senior and may be reached at [email protected].
That's a little misleading. The author quotes, "We work together to get things done every (expletive) day." This might imply that the language used at rally was inappropriate which to some people, might undermine the sincerity of the speech.
In reality, 'damn' is not an unmentionable word and the author himself uses it in the paragraph prior.
Deeplink to the speech as evidence:
It might be awfully pedantic, but I highly value journalistic accuracy. I really believe that it was not at all the author's intent, but it sounds misleading to readers.
It's used verbatim in Jourdan's article here: https://thedailycougar.com/2010/11/01/compromise-t… .