Rally to Restore Sanity!

By Kristen Paquet, Account Executive, Leonard & Finco Public Relations, Inc.

Whether you are a fan of Jon Stewart and the Daily Show or not, you have to admit, he did make a great point about media on a recent appearance on Oprah. Aside from making me laugh, Stewart spoke about how the 24/7 news cycle, although a powerful tool, can also create a cycle of overreaction and unnecessary fear.

His point: that the vast majority of people that live in this country are really very smart, sensible, reasonable and altogether “normal” folks that live up to their everyday responsibilities. It’s just the crazy few with not-so-well-thought-out ideas that make it on TV. As he quoted during his Oprah interview (and which has now become my favorite quote ever) “Crazy gets you on TV, normal makes dinner.” I love this quote because it is so true. Because we live in a 24/7 news cycle, it’s easy at times to get the impression that our country might be losing site of it’s purpose because, as an earlier L&F blog post mentioned, a pastor that says he plans on burning the Quran gets picked up by every major news station. I believe what Stewart is trying to say is that although this one individual does not represent the majority, sometimes that point is hard to remember due to the national and global attention it receives.

So Stewart’s reaction to all of this insanity is to hold a “Rally to Restore Sanity” in Washington DC at the end of October. In Stewart’s words, the rally is “…a rally for the people who've been too busy to go to rallies, who actually have lives and families and jobs (or are looking for jobs) -- not so much the Silent Majority as the Busy Majority.”

I can’t go to DC – too busy with work and the kids and about a million other things we are all busy with. But, if you have some moments of free time, here is a link to learn more: http://www.rallytorestoresanity.com/.

So do you think we need to restore sanity in America? Are we giving too much credit to those who are way over the top and make in on major news networks? What should our news be focusing on?