Stewart fights for sanity; Colbert keeps fear alive
By James Hill III
Earlier this year, when Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert announced their semi-competing rallies to be held on Oct. 30 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., no one knew what to expect.
Stewart, claiming his rally as one to "restore sanity," spoke of it as a response to Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally, held in the same place on the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.
Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity" and Colbert's tongue-in-cheek "March to Keep Fear Alive," quickly became flag bearers for a different kind of activism: non-political politics.
Stewart and Colbert report the news to a growing demographic (many of them college-age students) that consider them a more legitimate source for news than many newspapers and networks.
The pop vocal group 4TROOPS began the event with "The Star-Spangled Banner." The crowd respectfully honored the song; many in the audience sported American flags (one of which had a peace sign substituted for the stars). However, save Stewart's final speech, this serious tone did not continue for too long.
Stewart opened with a plea to leave the National Mall "cleaner than we found it" before asking for landscapers in the crowd to help out; this funny yet measured tone marked most of the rally.
Stewart mocked the stereotypes of rallies with "too many white people" as racist and those with too many minorities as "asking for something," before Colbert entered in a capsule from below the stage, mimicking the rescue of the Chilean miners from a week ago.
The music was one of the highlights, with Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) invited on stage to sing "Peace Train" before Colbert interjected with Ozzy Osbourne and the single "Crazy Train." Eventually, both ceded for the O'Jays' "Love Train."
Stewart and Colbert also sang a number about who was the "most American," eventually reaching agreement that, no matter our differences, whether "gay men who like football or straight men who like Glee," there's no one more American than "we."
The rally's tone bounced between Stewart's moderate character and Colbert's often-hilarious fear mongering. This dynamic was perfectly demonstrated in a skit where Colbert proclaimed that killer bees were invading the National Mall. Stewart explained that the bees were actually a fabricated fear that didn't really exist.
If Stewart and Colbert specifically targeted any one thing at the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear," it was the media.
The rally ridiculed the media as too partisan, too loud, and too unrepresentative of Americans as a whole. Stewart's "moment for sincerity" at the end of the rally pointed out that "if we amplify everything, we hear nothing."
One Santa Clara student laughed when asked about the rally and said that she thought it was very funny it had become necessary to hold a rally to "restore sanity," which implies we have come to the point where our sanity as a country requires restoration.
Despite the nature of those implications, Stewart exclaimed during his closing speech that "we live now in hard times, not end times."
Stewart ended the rally by encouraging cooperation and recognition of the mass diversity that makes America what it is today.
Contact James at jhill@scu.edu or at (408) 551-1918.