Two Roads Diverged, and Jon Stewart Took the One in the Middle

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Author: Ian Mariani

“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” is the sentiment screamed from both sides of the pundit desk these days. The likes of Olbermann or O’Reilly claim, oftentimes to a like-minded audience, that their radically directional view (either radically right or left) is correct, and that their opinion is all that matters. They claim that they have the mandate of the people, and we have come to believe them.

The single collective voice heard in America is a screaming one, a signal of the polarizing political environment. Hyperpartisanship is often cited as one of the biggest issues facing modern politics, and that analysis does hold some weight. Hyperpartisanship slows Supreme Court confirmations, unemployment benefit bills, and overall clogs basic government functions, bringing our government’s conversations at times to a literal standstill. But is the hyperpartisanship in the government really reflected in our population?

Let’s assume for a second that there was no middle road in America. Examining the spectrum of political action we find only two sides. On the left, the Animal Liberation Front blowing up research facilities and firebombing cars in the name of animal equality. On the right, the Oklahoma City bombings of 1995. Do we really wake up in the morning with the entire country planning to blow something up in the name of their political beliefs? So where is our leader? Where is our role model?

On Sept. 16, Jon Stewart announced his “Rally to Restore Sanity” on The Daily Show. His target audience was the 70-80% of America who don’t have an extreme political view and lack a voice in the media. When I saw this announced, I responded to the questions presented above with a resounding “FOUND HIM!”

When we consider modern politics, “the middle” is hardly a word that is used to describe the majority. Thanks to a number of factors, we now seem unable to acknowledge that which Jon Stewart calls the “busy majority” that is still in charge politically. Stewart’s “Million Moderate March” seeks to change that.

Stewart hopes to maintain the balance of humor and seriousness, which has allowed him to gain his million-plus viewership in the United States, at the rally. He aims to create laughs as well as moments of serious introspection on the part of those involved.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Stewart “promised pre-made signs for attendees to wave around, with slogans ranging from ‘9/11 was an outside job,’ ‘Got Competence?’ and ‘I disagree with you, but I’m pretty sure you’re not Hitler.'” The last of the signs listed is indicative of the mind set that we must try to return to in our political culture. Disagreement must not be tied so easily to hatred and overall antagonism.

It comes down to the fact that the wrong people are leading America. Watch an episode of a political debate show and try to see if there is any identifiable common ground that the two contributors reach by the end of the segment. Chances are you couldn’t fill a post-it with their shared beliefs. Why? Because common groups bore people. The middle road does not raise ratings. Compromises don’t make for enrapturing T.V. When news shows are competing with the newest episodes of CSI and Law & Order, they cannot gain viewers by having “the happy, shiny, why-can’t-we-all-get-along hour.”

But we again have the monumental yet simple task of forsaking the sensationalized political culture in the name of finding the sanity in the middle road. Petura Dvorak, columnist for the Washington Post, pointed out that, contrary to the media’s portrayal of our beliefs, there are still “the rest of us: the ones with an SUV and a hybrid in the garage; a meatless dinner on the table and leather shoes on the feet; loving fiscal responsibility but totally into equal rights. The hipster parents rolling in their Swagger Wagon minivan. Practical and realistic, but chill and not righteous. More middle of the road, more moderate and more mainstream.”

Let’s try to peel the label off our foreheads and join the middle road movement. We may not have a convention yearly, nor a fancy acronym for our organization, but we have at least one thing in common. We all hate those two partners in that business that spend so much time arguing that they never get anything done. We’re fed up. That would be our only party plank, because as Stewart points out, “if we had to sum up the political view of our participants in a single sentence, we couldn’t. That’s sort of the point.”

Ian Mariani is an undeclared first-year. He can be reached at mariani@oxy.edu.

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