Three buses of Binghamton University students joined more than 200,000 people at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Saturday to see Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert in their Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.
Part satirical response to right-wing pundit Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor Rally, part plea for cooperation in politics, the rally was a force for moderation that vilified what its organizers deemed the political extremes of cable news media cycles.
The National Mall was thick with people shouldering to get closer to the stage. Based on aerial photos commissioned by CBS news from www.AirPhotosLive.com, an estimated 215,000 people were in attendance.
Attendees carried humorous protest signs such as, ‘The people behind me can’t see’ and ‘Is this the line for Justin Bieber tickets?’
Everyone appeared to be in a good mood, despite the cramped conditions. The relative calm of the crowd was perhaps a testament to the ‘sanity’ that the rally aimed to restore.
The performance itself, taking place over three hours, began with a greeting by Stewart, followed by Colbert’s rise from his ‘fear bunker’ beneath the stage, after some convincing on Stewart’s part that people had indeed shown up to see their rally.
From there it was a series of humorous exchanges, like Stewart and Colbert’s debate over sanity versus fear, and guest appearances from celebrities such as basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and ‘Law and Order’ actor Sam Waterston.
The rally also featured musical performances from The Roots, Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow and Ozzy Osbourne.
Stewart ended the festivities on a serious note, addressing the crowd with his reasons for holding the rally in what he called a ‘moment of sincerity.’
‘The image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false ‘ We hear every damn day about how fragile our country is, on the brink of catastrophe, torn by polarizing hate, and how it’s a shame that we can’t work together to get things done, but the truth is, we do. We work together to get things done every damn day. The only place we don’t is [in Washington] or on Cable TV,’ he said. ‘Most Americans don’t live their lives solely as Democrats, Republicans, liberals or conservatives ‘ We know, instinctively as a people, that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light, we have to work together.’
The Student Association Programming Board’s Novel Events Committee organized three buses to D.C. from BU, all of which sold out. According to Aaron Cohn, vice president for programming of the SA, the demand for transportation to the rally was overwhelming.
Cohn, who attended the rally himself, had mixed feelings about the experience.
‘The rally itself was very good, but I don’t think it blew anyone away. It got the point across. It was cool to be there with like-minded people advocating for reasonableness,’ Cohn said.
Kelly Lutz, an undeclared freshman, was also in attendance. She traveled to the rally with the belief that it would emphasize moderation and civil discourse between Democrats and Republicans.
‘I think it will show that the silent majority can have just as much of an impact as the political extremes like Glenn Beck,’ Lutz said. ‘We don’t need to have those kinds of people dominate the discussion.’
Ashlee Yilmaz, chair of the SAPB Novel Events Committee responsible for organizing the buses, felt that the trip was a great success.
‘We had a great turnout,’ she said.
Yilmaz also commented on the success of the rally as a whole.
‘It was a political rally of sane people,’ she said. ‘There was no fighting, no accusation ‘ a peaceful exchange of ideas.’