Congratulations, if you attended the Comedy Central rally in Washington, D. C.. You may have participated in the largest live advertisement in history. Well, at least you beat out the live advertisement presented by Glenn Beck and Fox News.
The numbers for the big Comedy Central free comedy show are trickling in and it does appear that the rally was attended by many more people than the Glenn Beck/Fox News rally. I am not sure what that proves other than Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert are more popular than Glenn Beck. Or maybe it proves that more people are interested in being entertained by comedy than by faux religious revival. Actually I am not too sure what it proves since neither rally was used as a megaphone for any particular political cause, which the typical rally in Washington, D. C., is organized for.
After the event, the Comedy Central hosts said they are entertainers and the rally was not meant to be political.
Though the rally, taking place just days before the midterm elections, was billed as an opportunity for people to air frustrations with American politics and the media, Stewart had claimed that the event was meant as a satirical comedy event rather than a serious political rally.
http://abcnews.go.com/...
So what appears to be happening in a dumbed down America is that our political rallies are now morphing into media corporate sponsored "events". Even while those holding the rallies attack the "media," they are, in fact, the media. Basically what they are doing is holding live advertisements that people can participate in.
There was no central message at yesterday's Comedy Central rally other than people should not yell at each other. And Glenn Beck's message seemed to be that America should turn back to God. (I am not sure we ever turned away from God, or even if there is a God to turn to/back to.)
I am not sure where or how this will end. Who will ever turn out to a political rally at the beck and call of, say, a lowly minister marching for civil rights, any more? A good example of the coming trend was the One Nation rally which was held in Washington a few weeks after the Fox News rally and a few weeks before the Comedy Central rally. While MSNBC's Ed Schultz did participate since he boasted he could draw more people than Glenn Beck did, the event was put on by organized labor and other activist groups. The result? They are not even being mentioned in the battle of rally attendance figures.
I suppose the next logical question is who will hold the next big rally in D. C.? Could it be Big Bird and the gang from Sesame Street? They could hold a rally calling for all children to learn. Not for more funds for public education, mind you, just that children should learn. Maybe the actors from the soap opera General Hospital can reunite for a call for health care. Not national health care or privatized health care, just health care. Their banner could proclaim: Get A Check Up Now!
In any event, let's all be sure to tune in to Comedy Central Monday night so we can watch that media outlet make fun of how other media outlets covered their event.