Jon Stewart's “Rally to Restore Sanity” Sweeps the Planet

Sanity's breaking out all over the world.

The "Rally to Restore Sanity" created by "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart has found a foothold internationally, and is sparking similar minded events from Paris to Mt. Everest, reports the Christian Science Monitor.

Stewart's rally, which will be held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., October 30 is an attempt to try to turn the temperature down on America's political rhetoric, which has become dangerously overheated in the eyes of the comedian. The appeal to our better angels has struck a cord with a lot of disaffected citizens who feel like their voices aren't being heard above the din.

"Everyone was getting excited," about the Washington rally, said Kittie Brown, a marketing consultant who lives in Paris. "I thought, 'Gosh, why couldn't we just do something local?"

She organized an event via Facebook to take place in the Champs de Mars park and at least 100 people are expected to attend.

Over 800 events are taking place in 67 countries, which a Harvard professor says is an indicator of just how much people want to see some sort of civility come back into public life.

"It's weird to see people so worked up for the sake of a more rational political process," said Archon Foung of the Kennedy School of Government. He noted that the tea party's less well-known rival - the coffee party - was able to build an impressive movement last spring with its own appeal to reasoned and respectful debate.

Philip Seib, a professor of journalism at USC, also believes that more and more of these events will pop up because of how easily the internet makes organizing.

"It's a relatively easy matter for someone in Tel Aviv to say,' We've all been reading about this on the web. Why don't we do it?'" he said.

There is in fact a rally taking place in Tel Aviv and an op-ed in the Jerusalem Post explains why the organizers are taking part in the global movement.

"Here, too, sometimes it seems like only those shouting loudest are the ones being heard...There's only one problem. How does one restore sanity to a part of the world where it never existed? I therefore propose calling the gathering in Israel the Rally to Introduce Sanity."

Selected Reading: Christian Science Monitor, Newser, Washington Post

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