I went to the "Rally to Restore Sanity and the March to Keep Fear Alive" event on the mall today.
Lots and lots of people (the official estimates are between 200,000 and 250,000), many great signs, some fun costumes (it being Halloween and all), and pretty horrible acoustics. Honestly, I could not hear a thing.
Lots and lots of people (the official estimates are between 200,000 and 250,000), many great signs, some fun costumes (it being Halloween and all), and pretty horrible acoustics. Honestly, I could not hear a thing.
Best sign of the day.
Oh well. It was great fun, and the weather was perfect. After biking down to the Mall (a late start!) the wife and I biked back to Arlington, and then went to a movie, and had meatloaf for dinner. A peaceful day.
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I lol'd at the second photo. It WAS perfect weather and my BIL sent me a photo from his phone while there. I was teaching, so no go. :( I read a lot of people were leaving because they couldn't hear. I'm wondering what the unofficial count will be since the Park Service doesn't keep official counts anymore.
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I felt so bad for all the folks in the back shouting "Louder Louder!"... like a wave, the shouts swelled and travelled forward through the giant crowd to about where I was standing (in the second section from the stage, between sets of speakers and screens, thankfully!).... and then petered out. It did not seem like they really got that half the crowd could not hear. I am glad that we got there early enough--on a bus full of fun folks from Raleigh NC--to hear it all and watch on screen. Great day, GREAT signs! A good example of civility en masse.
ReplyDeleteI thought the sound system was a negative, but in a completely different way.
ReplyDeleteI watched the live feed on the comedy network from home (I had tickets to Cesar Millan's Live show that night - which by the way was a total blast) and I found that the sound system focused far too much on the stage and didn't properly pick up the crowd.
It seemed that the crowd was almost silent. Like watching one of his shows without an audience. It left everything a bit flat - and I think that it's likely some people will spin this the way they spun Colbert's speech a few years ago in front of President Bush. Just because people weren't laughing, they said he bombed - the reality is that it's uncomfortable for a member of the press to laugh at a Republican joke with president Bush sitting a few feet away.
Anyone who enjoys his humour thought he knocked it out of the park.
I'm very sorry to hear that the sound was so poor, although I doubt they expected so many people to show up. They estimated 150,000, but knowing what other events have totaled there and looking at the crowd, I agree with Patrick - I think it was 200,000+.
As a Canadian I can tell you that seeing more people turn out for a sanity rally than a nutjob rally goes against everything your media tells me to believe! ;O) Was very happy to see sanity take a stand, and can't wait to see the pundit review on Monday.
Seeing we didn't make it to the JRTCA National because our truck ended up in the shop getting a new engine, I consoled myself by watching the live-stream on the internet. I was surprised at the size of the crowd, and encouraged by it. Seems there are lots of people tired of the B.S. fed to us 24/7 on cable.
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