PATRICK WOOD
Opinions Writer

Two weeks ago, I travelled to Washington, D.C., to attend the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, put on by comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. It was almost entirely a lighthearted affair, with an estimated 215,000 Americans showing up to stage a faux-protest.

But I was left wondering — beyond the various comedic acts and musical performances held during the event — did the rally actually serve any serious purpose?

On the surface, it didn’t seem the rally should have been taken too seriously. The event was composed primarily of musical acts such as The Roots, John Legend, Kid Rock, Ozzy Osbourne, Yusuf (formerly known as Cat Stevens) and others. Stewart and Colbert bumbled along through simple comedy routines calling for acceptance of all members of society and cooperation in politics. The crowd was in good spirits, if somewhat tentative and subdued.

But more than anything, the crowd — myself included — were waiting for Jon Stewart to get to the point. We knew that beyond the satire and funny placards, there was a deeper reason for the gathering.

At last, in the waning minutes of the rally, Stewart took a moment to get serious. His main critiques and quips were aimed at the American mainstream media, who he feels spends most of its time antagonizing and has lost sight of its intended purpose of creating a check on power and facilitating public dialogue.

In a moment of utmost clarity he argued that, “The press can hold its magnifying glass up to our problems bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire and then perhaps host a week of shows on the sudden, unexpected, dangerous-flaming ant epidemic.”

In many ways he is right. Objective reporting in American media is very hard to find these days. Major media outlets such as Fox News and MSNBC (and to a lesser extent CNN), have clear narratives and ulterior motives that influence their telling of news events. A 24-hour news cycle, intense competition for ratings, an unrivalled hyping of elections and the need for polarity and conflict have left any semblance of truth bogged down in a sea of irrelevant, polarizing chatter.

What this has left is an American populace who are more in tune with celebrity gossip and sports scores than they are with international political or humanitarian affairs, a populace afraid to let their children leave the house for fear that one of the 1.5 billion Muslims in the world will nab them and turn them into fundamentalist suicide bombers.

But perhaps what is most interesting — and disturbing — is the fact that cynicism and satire are the only ways in which Stewart is able to cut through the mainstream American media — the entity towards which his criticism is aimed. That such important and pertinent criticisms are only being communicated by fringe comedic elements is indicative of the true problem in modern American society. The American media is incapable of providing a true check on power — a check on itself.

Take it from someone who was there, not from the media which it attacked: we must demand more objectivity and less narrative from the media. We must oppose the skewing of news reporting due to corporate and political interests and sponsorship, and from interfering in the process of disclosure and consent in society.

Rather, the media should facilitate and promote discourse — as do events such as Stewart and Colbert’s rally. No matter how articulate the pair were, when 215,000 people are forced to look toward two comedians to articulate their cause, something is seriously wrong with the state of the mainstream media.

The rally can only be considered a success if we begin to talk about who decides what is important to talk about.

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image: CKoontz/Flickr