STFD, Jon Stewart
"I was somewhat ambivalent about this rally, because, on the one hand, I think everybody agrees that we need more rationality and substantive examination in our political discourse, and so, to the extent that [Jon Stewart]'s calling for that, that’s a perfectly fine and uncontroversial idea. And, as well, he reaches a demographic group, young people, who tend to be politically disengaged, and he draws them into the political process, which I think is a very commendable thing to do.
"The problem that I had with how it was structured and what it is that he’s saying-and he’s far more than a comedian; I mean, he’s a very influential voice among progressives and in the media narratives-is that, for one thing, I don’t think the problem with our politics is tone. I think the problem is content. There are all kinds of people who advocate extremely heinous ideas, but do so in a very soft-spoken and civil manner. Bill Kristol comes to mind, John Yoo, as well. These are people who can go on and be extremely polite in conversation and have done that on his show. So I think the problem, in terms of extremism, is not about tone, but about content, and to talk about tone, I think, distracts from the issue.
"I also think that we don’t really have a problem with excess activism in the United States, as he seems to suggest-we need to stand up for the virtuous people who don’t go to rallies. I think going to rallies and being politically engaged and even passionate is actually a virtue and something that ought to be encouraged.
"But the real problem I had with it is that, in order to appear as though he was being more evenhanded, he didn’t depict the extremism as being a problem on the right, which is the reality. These extremist ideas are really quite pervasive on the right. And so, what he did was he tried to create an equivalency by saying, well, it’s-the problem is on the left, as well. And he picked out 9/11 Truthers and a CodePink rally and suggested that people who call Bush a war criminal are every bit as inflammatory and extremist and to be condemned as, say, people who say the President was not born in the United States. And that’s an extraordinary false equivalency, because these extremist ideas are pervasive on the right. People who go to CodePink rallies are a tiny minority, for better or for worse, among Democrats. But more so, the fact that Bush is a war criminal happens to be true, and there’s ample evidence for it, including, as I cited, the report by the four-star general, Antonio Taguba, who is in charge of investigating detainee abuse, who concluded that George Bush and top administration officials committed war crimes.
"And so, I think what he was trying to do was to show how fair-minded he was by condemning both the left and the right. This is a common disease in our media, even though left and right are not equal."
- Glenn Greenwald, 21 September 2010
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Seriously though, what a ridiculous excuse of a rally. How does you get over 100,000 people to converge on the nation's capitol and then instead of directing that movement that you've just built in a productive direction you just have some washed up pop stars sing them soothing songs about how we're all just ~one person~ and can't change the world all on our own? You don't even urge them to get out and vote in three days? Instead you get up on stage as a rich white man and tell your captive audience that racism and Marxism are equally bad things and have the nerve to deny the existence of widespread racism in the Tea Party, an allegedly anti-gubmint-spending movement that only sprang up when that spending was being overseen by a black man?
If this is what mainstream liberalism has come to in the US, count me the fuck out.
"The problem that I had with how it was structured and what it is that he’s saying-and he’s far more than a comedian; I mean, he’s a very influential voice among progressives and in the media narratives-is that, for one thing, I don’t think the problem with our politics is tone. I think the problem is content. There are all kinds of people who advocate extremely heinous ideas, but do so in a very soft-spoken and civil manner. Bill Kristol comes to mind, John Yoo, as well. These are people who can go on and be extremely polite in conversation and have done that on his show. So I think the problem, in terms of extremism, is not about tone, but about content, and to talk about tone, I think, distracts from the issue.
"I also think that we don’t really have a problem with excess activism in the United States, as he seems to suggest-we need to stand up for the virtuous people who don’t go to rallies. I think going to rallies and being politically engaged and even passionate is actually a virtue and something that ought to be encouraged.
"But the real problem I had with it is that, in order to appear as though he was being more evenhanded, he didn’t depict the extremism as being a problem on the right, which is the reality. These extremist ideas are really quite pervasive on the right. And so, what he did was he tried to create an equivalency by saying, well, it’s-the problem is on the left, as well. And he picked out 9/11 Truthers and a CodePink rally and suggested that people who call Bush a war criminal are every bit as inflammatory and extremist and to be condemned as, say, people who say the President was not born in the United States. And that’s an extraordinary false equivalency, because these extremist ideas are pervasive on the right. People who go to CodePink rallies are a tiny minority, for better or for worse, among Democrats. But more so, the fact that Bush is a war criminal happens to be true, and there’s ample evidence for it, including, as I cited, the report by the four-star general, Antonio Taguba, who is in charge of investigating detainee abuse, who concluded that George Bush and top administration officials committed war crimes.
"And so, I think what he was trying to do was to show how fair-minded he was by condemning both the left and the right. This is a common disease in our media, even though left and right are not equal."
- Glenn Greenwald, 21 September 2010
- - - - -
Seriously though, what a ridiculous excuse of a rally. How does you get over 100,000 people to converge on the nation's capitol and then instead of directing that movement that you've just built in a productive direction you just have some washed up pop stars sing them soothing songs about how we're all just ~one person~ and can't change the world all on our own? You don't even urge them to get out and vote in three days? Instead you get up on stage as a rich white man and tell your captive audience that racism and Marxism are equally bad things and have the nerve to deny the existence of widespread racism in the Tea Party, an allegedly anti-gubmint-spending movement that only sprang up when that spending was being overseen by a black man?
If this is what mainstream liberalism has come to in the US, count me the fuck out.