Redtree Times

I wasn’t going to write any more about today’s Rally to Restore Sanity being held today on the Mall in Washington, DC.  I’ve written that I hoped it provided a way for many to see that not everyone out there is teetering on the brink of insanity.  But it’s been interesting the past few days, seeing how this event has grown in the media and hearing some of the commentary about and aimed at it.   Many words have been written against and in favor of it, the critics citing it as frivolous and self-important and the supportersseeing it  as an important statement on the current state of our political discourse.  Both are probably correct.  Satire is often frivolous and self-important but also often provides clarity in the form of social commentary.

I don’t know exactly where I sit in this situation but I will be watching today and hoping to get a laugh and hear something that makes me think that we are not, as a whole, crazy and/or stupid.  That last hope, to convince me of our sanity, might be quite a feat considering the political events of the last few weeks. 

Rand Paul supporters throwing a girl who was protesting Paul to the ground then stepping on her shoulder and neck.  Joe Miller’s security detail posing as police and placing a journalist under arrest, placing him in handcuffs until the real police arrived and made them release the man.  Sharon Angle refusing to answer questions of any sort about her positions on pertinent issues, often running away from cameras.  Anything concerning Christine O’Donnell.  Politicians from both parties blatantly lying about their military service, which seems crazy in a time when facts are so easily checked and exposed.

I’ve written before how Jon Stewart, despite his obvious handicap of being a comedian, has replaced serious journalists in being the source for the questioning of those who seek or are in power.  The so-called serious journalists have made it clear that they either don’t have the intelligence or the will to stand up to the gibberish and stonewalling that politicians often offer up.  This was made painfully obvious on yesterday’s morning show on MSNBC that is hosted by Chuck Todd.  In two consecutive segments, he hosted two Republican operatives and in both segments he allowed them to basically spew nothing but talking points without any challenge, any single question, as to the validity of these points or of how they hoped to accomplish some of their stated goals.  He sat there like  a lump and nodded  like a ventriloquist’s dummy.  David Gregory of Meet the Press was moderating a town hall event and was challenged by a member of the audience for this same attitude as Todd’s in his questioning of the guests on MTP.  The man accused him of asking softball questions and allowing his guests to evade answering.  Gregory became angry and claimed he was asking the questions but what could he do if they chose not to answer? 

Any good used-car saleman could answer that question.

Such is the state of our political world and the people of the press upon which we depend to be our watchdogs.

Is it any wonder that Stewart’s show has become must-see watching for millions of Americans?  Sure it’s comedy.  But there is also social commentary there.  Hopefully, today’s event will be humorous and maybe a little more.  We’ll see.

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Some interesting things on the upcoming Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Keep Fear Alive, taking place October 30 on the Mall in Washington, DC have been coming up lately.

Over 200,000 people have signed on as attendees on the Rally’s Facebook page.  The Huffington Post has agreed to provide free transportation to and from the rally from NYC and already has over 10,000 riders signed on.  Many news organizations– NPR, the Washington Post, the NY Times, ABC, CBS and others- have forbade their employees from attending, citing this as a political rally of the Glenn Beck/Tea Party sort. 

I suppose this restriction is customary for political rallies athough I am not sure this qualifies as a completely partisan gathering.  The very idea behind this rally is to put aside partisanship and get the wider population reengaged in the political system so that the more extreme and vocal fringe groups don’t dictate our national conversation. 

 Jason Linkins of the Huffington Post has a good article on these restrictions and how the media will cover the rally.  In it he talks about how the media is almost proud of the way in which they “fetishize the stupidity” of these most extreme groups, giving them coverage without ever questioning their content.  When was the last time you ever heard a news reporter ask a probing question (and is so, get an answer) of one of these candidates who make grand statements about how they would change Washington but only offer vague references as to how they would accomplish it?

That term. fetishize the stupidity, has stuck with me over the last couple of days.  It says so much about how we have come to value the  absurd rather than the sane, about how we are all more attracted to the side show than the mundane.  Unfortunately, solutions are usually of the mundane variety, requiring work and sacrifice and a unity of will.  And until the media realizes that, they will always fetishize the stupid, wallow in ignorance and make arbitrary restrictions on their employees, fearful that they might find some sanity.

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