Instead of spending this weekend totally blasted in a mildly creative but mostly revealing Halloween costume, I went to the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington, D.C. hosted by comedy pundits Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
As much as I regret missing out on another super classy weekend in Geneseo, this rally was nothing short of spectacular and totally worth the trip.
Stewart and Colbert created the rally as an apolitical way to reassure Americans that not all of us are crazy. Instead of appealing to Glenn Becks, Quran burners, outraged pro-this-ers and angry anti-whatevers, this event catered to people that don’t usually go to rallies because they’re relatively moderate, mild-mannered members of society who have other things to do.
Some people tried to put a spin on the whole thing to make it some sort of liberal love-fest, but that almost humorously reinforced the whole point – not everything has to be political and polarized. Anyone who claims that the event had any significant bias other than “calm down and make it work” clearly was not there; if they were, they weren’t paying attention.
One of the most obvious signs of this rally’s success was the sheer number of people that showed up. Have you ever stood in a crowd of 250,000 people? It’s crazy – try it at least once. Adding to the people who actually made the trip, everyone from my grandmother to the guy that rear-ended me on the drive home caught some of it on TV. Even Stewart called the turnout “unexpected” during the rally, but there’s no doubt that it was a pleasant surprise.
The fact that 250,000 people were in the same place and nothing bad or malicious or violent happened completely reinforces the rally’s message: Extremism is no fun. It only gets things done by inciting fear, or at the least annoyance, and so we should try listening to the 80 percent of people that aren’t nut jobs. This rally proved not only that we care about the slop show that is our country at the moment, but that we’re a pretty fun bunch as well.
From the time I got on the train to go to the National Mall until I drove away at night, I saw not a single person taking himself too seriously. Not only were these rally goers not extremists, they were nice, good-natured people. And thank goodness, because in a crowd of that magnitude, everyone is intimate with everyone, and no one likes being entwined with some outraged protester for 11 stops on the subway.
Sure, the trains were crowded, attendees descended like locusts upon the city and ate all of the food within miles of the event, and there were so many of us that everyone’s cell phone freaked out for four hours, but that’s life. If you weren’t able to go, please check out the highlights online while you’re nursing your Hallo-hangover. Unless you hate happiness, productivity and Jon Stewart’s singing voice, it will be worth it.