I recall my feelings when Jon Stewart announced that he would be hosting a Rally to Restore Sanity in Washington DC, “This has got to be a joke – this can’t be for real.” Although at the time I did strongly think that as a country we needed to restore our sanity! Our politics and policies are driven by fear. Many people have seemingly mastered the art of bigotry and “othering,” racism; its not only accepted and justified, but it is also becoming a financially rewarding institution in and of itself. Increasingly frustrated with the lack of fairness and balance in the media, I have found myself resorting to Comedy Central for my daily digest of politics.
On October 30th, I was fortunate enough to have been invited to receive a VIP pass to the rally with Daisy Khan, Executive Director of the ASMA Society. I had a perfect up-front view of the stage with a beautiful backdrop of the Capitol nicely framed between the slogan, “Restore Sanity and/or Fear.” I found myself extremely amused and entertained by the star-studded event that was very skillfully put together.
Backstage after the extremely successful event, I was honored to have had the opportunity to speak with the masterminds behind the rally individually about the impact, importance and relevance of their comedy in humanizing the oversimplified Arab/Muslim narrative. I expressed my sincere appreciation for their work and dedication to helping provide an alternative political analysis and voice counter to mainstream. I was impressed with how attentive, receptive and sincere they were to my comments. After our short chat, Stewart reached out and grabbed my hand and as he looked at me very sincerely said, “Thank you, I really mean it – thank you for your support. I do what I can.”
As a Syrian/Palestinian Muslim American woman, I have found the increasingly popular bigotry and Islamophobia to be not only saddening, but against the very principles of freedom, liberty and justice that my parents, and other immigrants moved to this country for. Stewart and Colbert’s wit and humor has provided an outlet to cope with the dismay and frustration I have towards our polarized, over-simplistic and inaccurate social and political climate and reporting. Stewart provides a platform to not only poke fun at the “madness” but also to challenge it by creating alternative narratives that challenge those of the mainstream news outlets.
Comedy has even seeped into my professional life. As a social entrepreneur focusing on addressing international development, community development and diplomacy, I have resorted to Stewart to provoke my non-Arab and non-Muslim friends to look beyond the headlines and question the accuracy of fear-driven media reporting. The work of Stewart really drives one point home very clearly: It’s all about perspective. You can twist news to fulfill your larger agendas based on how you frame things.
I was increasingly impressed with Jon Stewart’s sincere, well-delivered speech at the end of the rally that resonated very deeply within me (and I’m sure many others in the audience). He managed to very eloquently harness all the craziness, laughter and fun into a serious and deep message encouraging us as a country accept that we need to agree to disagree respectfully.
But beyond mere laughter, I found myself having moment of shear thankfulness and recall thinking to myself as I stared at the Capitol building in the backdrop, “Alhamdullah, our sanity is being restored – this is a step in the right direction.”
Hazami Barmada is a visionary Public and Cultural Diplomacy professional and social entrepreneur. Her work focuses on international development, faith-diplomacy, and intercultural relations. She is the President and CEO of Al-Mubadarah: Arab Empowerment Initiative, Founder and President of the American Muslim Interactive Network and Executive Director of the Iraqi Orphan Initiative. To contact Hazami, please email or follow her blog at www.hazamibarmada.blogspot.com.
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