My Fellow Sane Americans,
What does it say about us that the most effective counterweight to the Tea Party is not a political party or leader, but a comedian?
Will Jon Stewart's rally on Saturday impact the election on Tuesday? We hope so. Frankly, as professional sane people (cough cough), we have been slow to jump on this opportunity. Nearly one thousand rallies have been organized all over the country three days before the election, and the best part? We didn't even have to organize them! It's freaking amazing. All we have to do is show up and leverage the opportunity. But most of us are too busy doing our regularly scheduled Get Out The Vote activities to see this opportunity for what it is and seize the moment to make our message relevant in popular culture.
In the past few weeks, a bunch of us have pulled together some last minute actions. The goal is to transform Saturday events in people's minds from merely a giant Halloween party and comedy show on the mall into... a giant Halloween party and comedy show on the mall that inspires people to volunteer and vote between now and Tuesday.
We're calling our campaign VOTE SANITY. We have 50,000 large VOTE SANITY stickers and a bunch of signs for people to wear at the rally and then take home. We also have "I Voted Sanity" images for people to use as Facebook profile pictures, some hilarious videos and websites like Welcome to Crazytown, and Young Voters: A Bigger Threat Than Bears, a Crazytown Quiz, and an actual ahem, totally scientific and unbiased vote that will be taking place in the crowd and online where people have the choice to "Vote Sanity" or "Vote Fear." It's all thrown together fast but the idea is still pretty cute. The VoteFear.com website is sponsored by Republicorp. Then right after the rally, on Sunday, it's Halloween and Trick or Vote is ready with a huge nationwide canvass-in-costume.
Don't get us wrong. We have nothing against crazy people or scary monsters. Some of our best friends are crazy scary monsters. We just don't want to wake up on Wednesday morning and find out that they are in charge of our government again.
Vote Sanity is clearly a great message for all of us to be using right now. Not that we need to drop all our other messages. But we do need to become more nimble. I'm actually working 24/7 on another project right now called TheBallot.org which aggregates all the local progressive voter guides in the country --it's a really important project. Every progressive voter in America needs a voter guide. I'm not about to drop this for Vote Sanity. But the beauty of Vote Sanity is that it connects perfectly with any other progressive message. See, here's a Vote Sanity logo with TheBallot.org on the bottom. You can do the same thing.
On behalf of professional leftists everywhere, I apologize for not starting earlier. We could have printed five million stickers and posters, sent some to your town, gotten on TV and made this really big. In the meantime, we encourage you to spread these images online and make your own Vote Sanity stickers, signs, images, videos, designs and tweet them @votesanity.
If you're attending the Sanity rally in DC, we'll be meeting up at 7th Street and Madison Drive NW from 9am - 11am to pass out 50,000 stickers. If you're not coming to DC, please use the VOTE SANITY image as your Facebook profile, make your own posters and get on local TV.
In fact, go crazy with it!
Don't get us wrong. We have nothing against crazy people. Some of our best friends are crazy. We just don't want to wake up on Wednesday morning and find out that they are in charge of our government.
So whatever else you do, please Vote Sanity on Saturday AND on Tuesday.
The sanity of our county depends on it.
Follow Billy Wimsatt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/billywimsatt
Jeremy Bird: Now, Here's How to REALLY Restore Sanity
It says that we are a shallow culture that's getting dumber by the minute and less demanding for anything but instant gratification. And as a result we desire nothing more than to be entertained; not challenged, not educated but sated on the empty airwave inundating all of four senses with senseless claptrap. As long as our needs are being met with food, sex and Dancing With the Stars we aren’t going to bother with the fact that as a people we’re growing apart, and the media culture is becoming more focused on bringing us entertainment that keeps us apart. In many ways this reality keeps us from feeling what true empathy is for one another.
A comedian as our oracle, reality stars as our icons, and a dimwitted half term governor as our potential president. It’s taken us a lot of years but we’re nothing more than bloated brainless consumers addicted to the 0 square acres of our individual lives. And the world we have is the world we project from this stagnant condition.
"What a pity that in life we only get our lessons when they are of no use to us."
~Oscar Wilde~
Forever it has been the jester who destroys ill conceived notions. Jon Stewart does a good job of that. Maybe our politicians should take note. There's plenty of material in Washington DC.
I think we are shallow in many cases, and prone to distraction, and addicted to overstimulation, and not as good as we could be at favoring quality over quantity. And I also agree that the media plays a preponderant role, wether they are the "cause" or they are simply giving us what we want.
However, I have a problem with the central premise of this article, which you cite.
What, frankly, is so odd or implausible or unseemly about a comedian serving as an "effective counterweight" to any political movement?
If the writer is merely trying to point out that our political leaders have failed where a non-politician has succeeded, and therefore we should upbraid our politicians for not doing what is, after all, their job, then fine -- point taken.
But if the writer is trying to suggest that "ordinary citizens" or people from other professions (i.e., non-political ones) cannot also be astute observers and analysts of our political process, then I disagree.
I think that is one of the "media myths" Stewart was trying to explode: this notion that average citizens cannot make informed decisions without the guidance of "political professionals."
Beyond that, Stewart was also pointing out (via the cars in the tunnel analogy) that there are plenty of other sources -- beyond those relied upon by political professionals -- that provide reliable evidence of the actual state of our society.
That television has been very very good for all shades of punditry.
http://www .youtube.c om/watch?v =_sQ7JCgbY c4
"Us" might be the media, Democrats, or all US citizens.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlBOv8m_Xa8&feature=player_embedded
That said, however, it bears remembering that both major parties and much of the political establishment, including the media, were the targets of Stewart's rally (and various montages).
Sure, some parts of this establishment took more hits than others, deservedly so. But I hope that, no matter the outcome of the election, and even if things should go "our" way, we don't forget the overall, essentially non-partisan message of the rally, which is to demand sanity in our politics and call people out when they fail to give it to us, no matter their party affiliation.
http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2010/10/closer-look-at-momcoms-dna-2.html
Uh let me see, liberals are a joke? Their leader is a joker? Their agenda is so funny I started crying? Our guru is a clown?
We gripped, complained, whined if he crossed his 'T' and did not dot his "i". January and February 2009, the economy lost 1.3 mil jobs - blamed on Obama when he had only been in office for 38 days.
Media set up 'report cards' grading him day by day. If Obama blinked, he got an F on the report card. Fox News blasted him 24/7. Each week in 2009 CNN's John King went to each 50 states where he conducted interviews with people in counties who voted for McCain - the reddest county in the states, asking all how's Obama is doing.
Media, along w conservatives built up a narrative critiquing every word, every action the president said or did. Meanwhile, right wing congress people and pundits were saying "you lie', 'Obama's Waterloo', filibustering all legislation, withholding votes on his nominees'.
Yes, we dems let the president down because most of us believed the lies told by the right wing media. Dems in Congress and pundits let him down by failing to articulate a coherent message for the 'change we can believe in'.
No one appreciates the type of man Obama is. We all want a George Bush, John Wayne type. Sad...
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-8/1210139/liveLaughVote3.jpg
VIVAR...REIR....VOTO
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-8/1210139/voto.jpg