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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
 Posted - 10/30/2010 : 09:55:15
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Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear: We watch so you don't have to
Live video stream of the rally begins at 12 p.m
Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear
The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear is a demonstration planned for October 30, 2010, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to be led by Jon Stewart and an in-character Stephen Colbert. It is a merging of two previously, separately scheduled events: Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity and Colbert's own satirical counterpart, the March to Keep Fear Alive.
Billed as "a rally for the people who've been too busy to go to rallies", its stated purpose is to provide a venue for attendees to be heard above what Stewart describes as the more vocal and extreme 15–20 percent of Americans who "control the conversation" of United States politics,[1] such as the Tea Party movement and the 9/11 Truth movement.[2] News reports have cast the rally as a satirical response to Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally and the "Reclaim the Dream" counter-rally.... |
This is on right now. Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman from Mythbusters are on now. This event is being streamed on several sites, plus it's live right now on comedy central.
I would have put this in the humor folder, but I think at its heart, this is a political event.
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
 Posted - 10/30/2010 : 13:13:06 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dave W.
So how was it? I had Halloween-related stuff to do with my boy, and only caught the Kareem Abdul-Jabaar bit.
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It was good. Lots of fun. And Stewarts closing speech was great. His target was mostly the media. I'm looking for a copy of it now.
The national mall was filled. The estimates are in the 100,000 plus range. Almost certainly more people than showed up to Beck's tea party rally.
The sad thing is it isn't likely to change anything.
I have MSNBC on and they are waiting for Stewart and Colbert to arrive for a news conference, soon. |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2010 : 14:30:53 [Permalink]
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I've missed the whole thing. But from what I've read, the crowd ranged from 60,000 (Drudge linking to Yahoo) to 500,000 (AmericaBlog). Doubtless, both estimates are off, but Becks pathetic, little group spew suffers badly in the comparison nevertheless. And it seemed to be a much happier crowd -- Glenn doesn't inspire "happy," hate's more his bag.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2010 : 14:51:28 [Permalink]
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PZ is a little disappointed.
had the Stewart/Colbert rally on in the background most of today. There were funny bits, there were entertaining bits, I'm sure everyone there had a good time. It was a pleasant afternoon of entertainment on the mall.
But in the end, I was disappointed. It was also an afternoon of false equivalence, of civility fetishism, of nothing but a cry about the national tone, of a plea for moderation. And you can guess what I think of moderation.
A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.
Tom Paine
I don't want moderation, especially when the only people who will listen to Stewart and Colbert are the people on our shared side of the political aisle. I can understand where they're coming from; people like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin and Andrew Breitbart are poison, Fox News is a propaganda organ without bounds working for the far right-wing, we've got evangelical Christians demanding the installation of a theocracy, and on and on and on. But who, exactly, do Stewart and Colbert regard as the equivalent of Beck and Limbaugh on the left? Is it Rachel Maddow? Amy Goodman? Keith Olbermann?
Once again, we have someone bravely standing up and telling the people on their own side to stop being dicks, while being vague on the names and specifics.
So I'm at a loss about what we're supposed to do in the world according to Jon Stewart. Hey, all you people working for gay and lesbian equality, all you women asking for equal pay, all you workers trying to unionize, all you peaceniks trying to end the war in Afghanistan, all you nurses and doctors and clinic workers trying to maintain reproductive freedom and keep women alive, all you teachers trying to teach science and history without censorship, all you citizens trying to build a rational health care policy, all you scientists and doctors who want our country to progress in medical research, all you damned secularists who want to keep religion out of our schools and government, hey, hey, HEY, you! Tone it down. Quit making such a fuss. You're too loud. Shush. You're as crazy as the teabaggers if you think your principles are worth fighting for.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2010 : 15:20:27 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Kil
The sad thing is it isn't likely to change anything. |
Probably not. PZ Myers summed it up like this:The point was to tell all sides to tone it down. But only my side, the Stewart side, is listening! But a lot of his commenters think he missed the real point, that the rally wasn't directed at the people, but at the mainstream media.
I'm sure Comedy Central will have the whole thing available for viewing sometime soon. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2010 : 15:41:12 [Permalink]
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Way to miss the point PZ Myers. What Stewart and Colbert were mainly satirizing and criticizing was Fox. Hell. The name of the rally was lifted from Glen Beck's name for his rally. It was an answer to Beck and Fox. And did he miss the part where Father Guido Sarducci couldn't get God to favor any particular faith, or non-faith for that matter? Who does Myers think that was aimed at? But then, maybe PZ Myers should have no problem with Fox News. They certainly aren't moderate and they are often dicks. Myers should actually appreciate their approach.
And then there is this. Stewart and Colbert go after Fox almost every night. Sheesh!!! But they also go after what they see wrong on other stations and also politicians of every stripe if they warrant it. They do political satire and comedy after all.
As for moderation in tone, what Stewart was talking about is that the media (Fox) should stop focusing on bullshit and making up news to further an agenda, and just report the fucking news. I guess Myers wanted them to actually yell out "Fox News!!!" Maybe Myers problem is he doesn't get subtlety in humor. Pity...
Really. Way to miss the point, Myers.
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2010 : 15:45:33 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dave W.
Originally posted by Kil
The sad thing is it isn't likely to change anything. |
Probably not. PZ Myers summed it up like this:The point was to tell all sides to tone it down. But only my side, the Stewart side, is listening! But a lot of his commenters think he missed the real point, that the rally wasn't directed at the people, but at the mainstream media.
I'm sure Comedy Central will have the whole thing available for viewing sometime soon.
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I was writing my post when you posted, Dave. Yes. Myers missed the point. I agree with "a lot of his commenters." Obviously. |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2010 : 16:12:05 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dave W.
At least all the signs I saw which weren't in text-message shorthand were spelled correctly.
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Good thing I wasn't there. My spell checker has lead me down some very wrong paths. |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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podcat
Skeptic Friend
435 Posts |
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podcat
Skeptic Friend
435 Posts |
Posted - 10/31/2010 : 11:14:04 [Permalink]
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Keith Olbermann tweeted this about the Rally:
| It wasn't a big shark but Jon Stewart jumped one just now with the "everybody on Thr [sic?] cable is the same" naiveté |
I think that all the cable shows fall into the trap of hyperbole, the difference is in degree and intent. Fox News obviously intentionally uses provocative language as much as possible. Thoughts? |
“In a modern...society, everybody has the absolute right to believe whatever they damn well please, but they don't have the same right to be taken seriously”.
-Barry Williams, co-founder, Australian Skeptics |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 10/31/2010 : 21:41:43 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by podcat
Keith Olbermann tweeted this about the Rally:
| It wasn't a big shark but Jon Stewart jumped one just now with the "everybody on Thr [sic?] cable is the same" naiveté |
I think that all the cable shows fall into the trap of hyperbole, the difference is in degree and intent. Fox News obviously intentionally uses provocative language as much as possible. Thoughts?
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Stewart is right, but there is the matter of degree. All of them use hyperbole, but FAUX is the one that ignores facts and makes shit up. Olberman can go off the deep end sometimes, but he doesn't go as far as Becktard and others on FAUX, and he doesn't openly refute established facts. He still goes off the deep end though, even if his rants are fun to watch.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 11/01/2010 : 00:33:59 [Permalink]
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Best signs:
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear
