Wednesday, November 3

Insane people against insanity!

Time to talk about the news! And I know what you’re thinking. I’m going to write about this. And, OK, the thought crossed my mind because that story is awesome. It has everything! But instead, I’m going to write about the Stewart-Colbert “Rally for Sanity” even though I'm a few days late for breaking reportage. Also it's not like I went or anything. But I have thoughts. So I shall blog them.

First of all I am a big fan of the shows and of the spirit of the whole thing, but a few things bother me about it. Such as (1) I like insanity. I don’t think you should rally against it. (2) More seriously, I think that the Comedy Central shows actually feed the cultural insanity they’re purporting to be against. Because they give lots of screentime to the weirdest politicians and blabber-mouth-iest newspeople. If you really wanted to be against that specific type of insanity, you should just ignore it. A lot of nuttiness would best be treated by just letting it go away, not by publicly mocking it. The mocked doesn’t really get or care that they’re being mocked -- they just like being on TV. The regular media does this too, but so does Comedy Central.

I imagine that that Jon Stewart liked the idea of a “million moderate march” because it would be pretty great to see level-headed people getting together and being like “we’re not extreme in any way!” It’s a fun idea. But the problem is that I don’t think Stewart is a moderate. I think he has a particular very strong point of view, and is in fact a little insane. Which I very much like. So really it wasn’t a “march of moderates united for sanity” it was a wacky collection of slightly wacky people having a good time and making fun of stuff and making each other feel better that they’re not alone in the world. Which is a lovely thing. So that’s my take on it. But really my favorite thing about it is the signs.

So many of them are precisely my own (slightly insane) sense of humor! And some of them even make a good point, such as the one here, which pretty much sums up my ideas on things.


Here’s a good link to lots and lots of signs. I only wish someone had one of these:

3 comments:

Lauren Baratz-Logsted said...

"But I have thoughts. So I shall blog them." - I loved that line.

Anonymous said...

I actually was there, and it was simultaneously sane and insane. And the signs were great.

Melissa Walker said...

Love the signs! Love the rally. So proud of everyone who went. Go, writerjenn!