Restore Sanity
“If your beliefs fit on a sign, think harder”
“Starve the Daily Show of material”
“I respectfully disagree with your opinions but I still value you as a person”
“Hide ur kidz, hide ur wivez, hide ur huzban caus they keepin fear alive in here”
“I fought the Nazis and they don’t look like Obama”
“Pasta fearing Americans”
“Frustrated Arizonans Reject Tea”
“Spelling C(o)unts. Get a brain morans”
“Cheney still sucks right?”
“I have a PHD in horribleness”
Just a selection of some of the signs seen at the Restore Sanity And/Or Fear Rally that was held in the USA yesterday.
Dependent upon who you believe, there were a quarter of a million Americans gathered together in the State capitol for the rally. This thankfully dwarfed the people who attended Glenn Beck’s rally in August.
Jon Stewart decided to rally for sanity because he wanted to demonstrate that there was sanity in the USA. He felt that the voice of reason was not getting the sort of coverage it deserved whilst other people in the country, including the scary Tea Party brigade, were getting mass coverage with their gobby, fearful form of politics effusing from their mouths.
Eclectic in the extreme, people massed together from all corners and regions of the State. They brought with them a party atmosphere and declared support for all manner of silly causes and all manner of absolute reason.
Stewart implied that there was no political purpose to this rally, that it was bipartisan and not trying to support any particular stance. All he and other organisers wished for was that a voice of reason was portrayed and that the media would have to cover this to prove that the USA was not full of redneck racists who are out for themselves and nobody else.
Sadly, just as in this country and I daresay countries throughout the world, there are far too many people who are out for themselves and nobody else. There are millions of people who do not give a toss about the world, about people, about education, about sense and reason, about the destructive way we are spreading insanity across nation after nation.
“If your beliefs fit on a sign, think harder” was one sign on the rally.
I rather like that because I couldn’t possibly fit my beliefs onto one sign or even into one manifesto. I like to think that “respect” is at the heart of my beliefs; value in others as well as an appreciation of myself but sometimes things get in the way and crazy fucked up thoughts and triggers intervene. However, it can be that simple; respect, valuing oneself, giving and receiving.
What many people have not appreciated and cannot accept is that giving is at the heart of relationships, is at the core of life, be it a relationship between two lovers or a relationship between the state and the individual within. Selflessness is important but not at the expense of the individual.
Selfishness has no place in society when it is to the detriment of others, and usually the majority.
Is this the sort of reason that Stewart was trying to show? That restoration of sanity means looking closely at the way we all interact with one another and how we give value to the thoughts and concerns of others as our greatest need?
That is certainly something that was lost in the Thatcher and Reagan years, and was continued with the subsequent leaders of our “great” nations.
“Can one govern the nation with all the right actions and really love the people?
Can one always make a decision with the right mind?”
I certainly don’t think Blair and Bush could.
Of course, this is all somewhat heavier and philosophical than the pantomime style rally of yesterday. But let us not forget that Jon Stewart is an intelligent, thoughtful man who does not write his scripts in isolation of all rational thought. He knows damn fine that he has a following that can create action, as has been proved by this rally. He genuinely does want a restoration of reason, however it is clowned up, and with that reason there has to be a genuine concern for others and a prevalence of lovingkindness that is at the core of democratic governance.
But then I was always a dreamer.
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So what sign would I have made for the rally if I had been fortunate enough to attend?
Would I have gone for a witty one that is probably beyond my capability? Or would I have banged the drum for the sort of education that I feel is necessary in this world? Would I have opted for a deeply philosophical one quoting people that are far more intelligent and grounded than I? Would I have made a stance against the horrors of global indifference?
Returning to the quoted placard, there are so many causes that I believe in, it would be hard to choose. Just looking at the headlines and stories covered in the Andrew Marr show today makes me want to get the paint out. Thank goodness for passion!
Perhaps that is it! Perhaps there should be a rally notice that has something to do with passion because as well as valuing, giving and respect, that is a pretty essential part of life.
Or maybe, I should just take a stance from Harriet Harman’s book of political correctness and have a banner saying “Danny Alexander is a Scot, and I respect him for that”.
But passion is important and it is the driver for something like the “Restore Sanity” rally. Stewart is clearly a passionate man. His political stance is steeped in passion as is his desire to educate the nation with his humorous take on the world.
So to conclude this short piece of writing perhaps yesterday my banner would have been something simple and vastly complicated, urging the world to consider because I’m just not witty enough to have a clever pun in mind.
“I want Passion” and let the people decide what that actually means.
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