Comedy Central’s Dueling Viral Videos Pits Sanity Against Fear In Lead-up To Elections

Two of Comedy Central’s most hilarious founding fathers, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will face off in competing rallies held on the National Mall, the same day. On October 30, 2010, three days before the mid-term elections, each comedian will vie for votes for opposing causes. Stewart’s "Rally To Restore Sanity" will go toe to toe with Colbert’s "March To Keep Fear Alive."

Stewart’s cautionary advice for America in 2010 is to "stop shouting (and) drawing Hitler mustaches on people other than Hitler." Watch Stewart’s call to action here.

Stewart’s rally, also dubbed the "Million Moderate March" is to motivate Americans to stop, think and "take it down a notch." His targets are obviously the right-leaning pundits, such as Glenn Beck and the recent rash of Tea Party rallies that don’t think they’re being heard unless their yelling into megaphones.

For all those that attend the "Rally To Restore Sanity", the Daily Show’s staff will even supply protesters with signage in case they can’t come up with their own slogans. Here is a great example.

Jon Stewart’s campaign poster

Stephen Colbert on the other hand will compete with what he calls Jon’s ‘Noodle Fest on the Mall," with his own protest march. After all, he says, "’Reason’ is just one letter away from ‘Treason.’" Colbert’s double-edged humor of appearing to support the right, while exposing their extremism is very effective and will be ramped up a notch (pun intended) to compete with his comedic comrade-in-arms.

As Colbert asserts, he can’t allow Stewart to destroy the "Fear Industrial Complex" with Stewart’s "creeping reasonableness." His job is to restore "truthiness" and allow the people of this country the right to "freak out for freedom."

According to Comedy Central, they want viewers to think of these events as "Woodstock, but with the nudity and drugs replaced by respectful disagreement; or, the Million Man March… (but) a bit less sausage fest." The network promises that the face-off between Stewart and Colbert will be "bigger than Nixon/Kennedy, Ali/Foreman, Aniston/Jolie, Joe/the Volcano, and Alien/Predator combined."

These Emmy-winning funnymen are on to something. In a time when the rhetoric in this country is reaching ear-piercing decibel levels, they’re reminding us that we’re not going to understand what’s being said if our only goal is to raise the volume.

So who are you voting for in this year’s elections, readers – Sanity or Fear?