“God hates Figs,” one sign proclaimed, citing an obscure Bible verse apparently being used to damn an entire genus of fruits. “Nazis are Nazis,” another proclaimed, slamming an entire political group as a contemptible, tyrannical, anti-semantic movement.
These signs and countless others were carried through the National Mall and surrounding streets on Oct. 30 in celebration of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. While the exact numbers are sure to be disputed (Stewart claimed “10 million” arrived, Fox News cites “thousands,” and more moderate sources claiming somewhere between 100,000 to 200,000), the sheer energy and the absolute uniqueness of this event are unquestionable.
Enthusiastic only begins to scrape the surface — ralliers of all stripes, interests, ages, persuasions and backgrounds converged, ranging from the seriously annoyed to the outright strange. While strolling through the crowd, it was difficult to pick out a cohesive message. As Stewart commented at the beginning of his speech, “I’m really happy that you all are here — even if none of us are really quite sure why we are here.”
As for Gosar, he braved throngs of out-of-towners on sardine can subways and hoards of protestors on the Mall because he “thought the message they were trying to convey was actually really important.”
That message? That the media should calm down, and that reality is not nearly as partisan as the news would make us believe. While he seemed to leave the Tea Party out of the picture (barring a photo of a tearful Glenn Beck on the giant screens around the stage), the crowd certainly didn’t. When asked whether or not he thinks the rally will be seen as largely liberal, he noted that “some will say it was a political rally for the Democrats, in disguise. Others will say that they truly were just trying to change the way we do politics. I think it was a little bit of both.”
One can certainly see persuasive arguments for either side. Stewart never made a plug for a candidate, and focused more on the manner of the debate rather than the content. However, Moveon.org was there in force, sending branded beach balls bouncing through the crowd, and countless people were there to support the legalization of medicinal marijuana. But for every “O’Donnell makes me want to touch myself” sign, there was a “Sweaters make me warm” or some equal non-sequiter.
There was no screaming at the rally, no violent arguments. Bush was never compared to Hitler, and nobody held “Republicans=Fascist” signs. There was certainly no shouting obscenities or spitting on congresspeople. At the end of the day, the rally may not have restored sanity to our country, nor eliminated fear — but it certainly proved that hundreds of thousands of like-minded individuals can gather with a semblance of civility.
thescene@theeagleonline.com
