Was Stewart's/Colbert's rally racist because there were no nonwhites?

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

Did you mean to post that in this thread? It has nothing to do with anything.

[John_Mace]

I think the racism charge against the TPers is overblown, although there is a definite strain that does run thru it, as evidenced by some of its members actions.

However, the fact that it is largely a white movement is not part of that evidence. Neither is it so for the Stewart/Colbert rally.

[Snowboarder_Bo]

@Arcite

Take a look at this photo of Jon Stewart’s and Stephen Colbert’s rally in Washington this past weekend:

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/10/30/rally_sanity_slide_show/slideshow.html?slide=8

A scant 2 or 3 black faces visible in a sea of hundreds.

During all the Tea Party gatherings and Glenn Beck’s rally, the media presented us with various photographs showing how overwhelmingly white the crowds were, and we heard a lot from the left about how this was obvious evidence of these groups’ vile racism.

Was the “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” racist because it was almost entirely white?

It wasn’t almost entirely white. Lots of Arabs, Asians, Hispanics, Filipinos, and yes, black folks. Or by “white” do you mean “not black”?

[gonzomax]

@Shodan

The Democrats look to be a couple of days away from some fairly significant defeats. They need an excuse to rally the True Believers around, and “look at how much we have accomplished for the country” is not going to cut it.

Even the dimwits in their party who are too dumb to cut with scissors aren’t going to buy the “election fraud” twaddle this time, so what do they have to fall back on but cries of racism? It’s better than nothing.

Regards,
Shodan

Stat on TV poll last night. They asked those who were voting Repub, if they thought things would get better if the Repubs won. Less than 33 percent thought it would. The people are casting about for help. They have a sense of doom and are desperate. Over 2/3rd of the Repub voters don’t believe they have any answers either. People are rightfully scared.

[The_Flying_Dutchman]

The real reason why blacks didn’t show up has nothing to do with the character of the organizers, but rather the character of the nation.

There is a reason why blacks are way under represented at these rallies. Just why did blacks not feel as much desire to attend as whites ?

[sandra_nz]

My home is lived in by white people only. That doesn’t make us racist.

[Sampiro]

I thought it was interesting that when Fr. Guido Sarducci was doing the religions roll call (about 2:00) there were hardly any Protestants. (Poor Guido kinda flopped- I think there were many there who didn’t have a clue who he was.)

[Mr.Moto]

@gonzomax

Stat on TV poll last night. They asked those who were voting Repub, if they thought things would get better if the Repubs won. Less than 33 percent thought it would. The people are casting about for help. They have a sense of doom and are desperate. Over 2/3rd of the Repub voters don’t believe they have any answers either. People are rightfully scared.

Which poll? Which network? Do you have a link?

[Rune]

@Damuri_Ajashi

Just because he had two black muslims on stage (Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Yusuf Islam) doesn’t mean he doesn’t secretly hate them (and is using code words to appeal to the racists out there).

Is this the same Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) that called for the murder of Salman Rushdie and had fond hopes that he would be burned instead of an effigy? If so, has he strongly repudiated his former views or is this an entirely weird form of sanity they are seeking.

[brickbacon]

@yojimbo

I think Jon said it best at the rally

@Jon Stewert

There are terrorists and racists and Stalinists and theocrats, but those are titles that must be earned. You must have the résumé. Not being able to distinguish between real racists and Tea Partiers and real bigots and Juan Williams or Rick Sanchez is an insult, not only to those people but to the racists themselves who put in the exhausting effort it takes to hate, just as the inability to distinguish terrorists from Muslim makes us less safe, not more.

As much as I disagree with the OP, and the erroneous premise that the rally lacked diversity, I had some problems with what Jon was saying. The false equivalence was a little annoying. Glen Beck saying Obama hates white people, and Ed Schultz saying the birthers are wrong, is not the same thing. To take an equal stand against both without recognizing the differences seems wrong to me.

I also disliked how he makes it seems as if the terms bigot and racist can only apply to the worst among us. It’s not binary, it a sliding scale. Worse, he fell in the trap of attacking the strawman that Williams and Sanchez were called racists by large groups of people, or that their comments were the only reason they were fired.

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

Once again, Yusuf Islam did not call for the muder of Salman Rushdie. That was misreported.

[sqweels]

@Shodan

Even the dimwits in their party who are too dumb to cut with scissors aren’t going to buy the “election fraud” twaddle this time, so what do they have to fall back on but cries of racism?

Huh? Republicans are the ones who have a reputation for being stupid and for obsessively twaddling about non-existent voter fraud.

It’s voter suppression that Republicans have been excelling at in stealing elections:
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_republican_war_on_voting

[Mehitabel]

I was there too and it was relatively whit-ish, but I did see plenty of other types, especially Indian and Asian kids. I saw more young women in hijab than I’ve seen outside of Brooklyn, too.

[Rune]

@Diogenes_the_Cynic

Once again, Yusuf Islam did not call for the muder of Salman Rushdie. That was misreported.

Do you have some information not reported on the Wiki article, which at best have this lame excuse:

He states that any such punishment should only be via the “…due process of law, in a place or land where such law is accepted and applied by the society as a whole.” Stevens states that his actual stance was to write to Rushdie’s publishers in an attempt to have his book suppressed. [57] Despite the evidence to the contrary, He has never expressed regret for his comments and has repeatedly denied ever calling for the death of Rushdie or supporting the fatwa

If not it appears that he is either a joke for thinking Rushdie should be killed, or else he is a joke for wanting the book suppressed and for believing in a religion that if implemented would have Rushdie killed. Sanity indeed. Steward and his whole “rally” has just become one big joke.

[Bosstone]

@Rune

Steward and his whole “rally” has just become one big joke.

Only if you’re desperate to hang your hat on 5 minutes of a performer who was brought on primarily because he has a song named Peace Train so that Stewart and Colbert could build a funny skit around various Train songs.

[Bosstone]

Dang, got back to this thread just as the edit window timed out.

Should we also condemn and discredit Stewart for condoning biting the heads off live chickens because Ozzy was on stage too?

[Lakai]

@brickbacon

As much as I disagree with the OP, and the erroneous premise that the rally lacked diversity, I had some problems with what Jon was saying. The false equivalence was a little annoying. Glen Beck saying Obama hates white people, and Ed Schultz saying the birthers are wrong, is not the same thing. To take an equal stand against both without recognizing the differences seems wrong to me.

You’re right, but that comparison was never made by anyone.

[Lightnin]

@Shodan

The Democrats look to be a couple of days away from some fairly significant defeats. They need an excuse to rally the True Believers around, and “look at how much we have accomplished for the country” is not going to cut it.

Even the dimwits in their party who are too dumb to cut with scissors aren’t going to buy the “election fraud” twaddle this time, so what do they have to fall back on but cries of racism? It’s better than nothing.

It’s posts like this that make me reconsider the notion that **Shodan **is a bot. I gotta figure he didn’t read the thread at all.

[Shodan]

I read all the way to the third post. “Racist” is codespeak for “person who is winning an argument with a liberal”. Or, in this case, codespeak for “people who are about to win an election against liberals”.

Regards,
Shodan

[Bosstone]

@brickbacon

As much as I disagree with the OP, and the erroneous premise that the rally lacked diversity, I had some problems with what Jon was saying. The false equivalence was a little annoying. Glen Beck saying Obama hates white people, and Ed Schultz saying the birthers are wrong, is not the same thing. To take an equal stand against both without recognizing the differences seems wrong to me.

But that wasn’t what he was arguing. He’s made fun of the birthers and death panelists before. He HAD a death panelist on his show and utterly demolished her.

What he was arguing against is the hyped-up hyperpartisan sensationalism. “OBAMA IS A NAZI SOCIALIST MUSLIM” “TEA PARTIERS ARE GOING TO COMMIT ARMED INSURRECTION” “GAYS WANT TO DESTROY FAMILIES” “REPUBLICANS WANT YOU TO DIE IF YOU GET SICK”

That kind of thing. There may be kernels of truth in the stories, but the constant crazed screaming about everything polarizes audiences and makes it unable to get any real news and information across.