November 01 2010
Funniest Signs at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.
Over the weekend, at the big rally on the mall in Washington DC - a Whedon reference! Now if only we could get it on the ballot...
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Lioness | November 01, 07:41 CET
maxsummers | November 01, 07:54 CET
Sunfire | November 01, 07:56 CET
eddy | November 01, 07:59 CET
On the other hand...scroll down a bit and read the comments. Someone said it was a "pleasant, congenital" group. Apparently, these people were born nice.
And...I'm totally out of the loop - what was the point of this rally?
ShadowQuest | November 01, 08:20 CET
Multiple times.
[ edited by barboo on 2010-12-16 18:41 ]
barboo | November 01, 08:27 CET
Pamelajaye | November 01, 08:29 CET
Juan Williams is the NPR reporter who was recently fired after making remarks on Fox news about fearing people in Muslim garb at airports.
[ edited by barboo on 2010-11-01 16:52 ]
barboo | November 01, 08:30 CET
Sunfire | November 01, 08:54 CET
sab39 | November 01, 08:54 CET
Satai (with Punsch) | November 01, 09:02 CET
ellievhall | November 01, 09:10 CET
Peanut Noir | November 01, 09:54 CET
PS: It's well worth watching in full.
[ edited by gossi on 2010-11-01 18:40 ]
gossi | November 01, 10:39 CET
sab39 | November 01, 10:53 CET
As an outsider looking in BTW, I reckon this is maybe the worthiest single cause in America today.
(and Dr H fits both restoring sanity and(/or ;) fear so he really is a great choice)
Saje | November 01, 11:04 CET
It was one of the geekier crowds I've ever seen, judging by the references on people's signs. Turnout was something above 200,000. Public transit was unfortunately overwhelmed.
Sunfire | November 01, 11:10 CET
Ultimately, this was a rally against screaming short insults at each other. We're human beings. We help each other. Get over it and get on with it.
gossi | November 01, 11:14 CET
Here's a transcript (and vid) of Jon Stewart's closing speech.
"The press can hold its magnifying glass up to our problems and illuminate problems heretofore unseen, or it can use its magnifying glass to light ants on fire, and then perhaps host a week of shows on the sudden, unexpected dangerous-flaming-ant epidemic. If we amplify everything, we hear nothing." - Jon Stewart, Rally to Restore Sanity, October 30th 2010
QuoterGal | November 01, 11:38 CET
The crowd was in good spirits, responsible, patient and friendly. The signs were fun, though I did not see any of the Whedonverse ones. We did hear somebody talking about Dr. Horrible on the HuffPost bus line at 5:30 in the morning though, so I figured we were among friends. ;-)
I can't get the link from earlier in the thread, so I'll just say for those others that are not able to see it that the rally was about lessening the amount of fear mongering and vilifying of opponents (my words) on both sides of all the issues. Examples were given from both the right and the left. It was about inclusivity rather than exclusivity. Jon Stewart had used phases like "take it down a notch for America" and "the million moderate march". It was about respecting people with different views and talking about it rather than shouting about it.
My son and I found it very worth our while, even though we missed the Whedon-centric signs, galldarnit. ;-)
newcj | November 01, 12:34 CET
Nicole | November 01, 13:11 CET
Nebula1400 | November 01, 14:59 CET
Excellent. That's pretty healthy for a rally the aim of which was, in a sense, not attracting a lot of the people who usually go to rallies.
"What do we want ?
People to be a bit less strident !
When do we... Sorry, didn't mean to come on so strong"
;-)
(huge fan of Jon Stewart. Sometimes his audience I find slightly annoying - like when Obama was on I kind of wanted them to STFU and let the two of them really get into it - but Stewart himself usually does a bang-up job)
Saje | November 01, 16:20 CET
Los Angeles Times estimated about 215,000 people showed up. But as far as I could tell, no Buffy and no Captain Hammer. Somehow, I can't imagine this being Captain Hammer's sort of crowd.
Famin | November 01, 16:45 CET
treenie | November 01, 16:50 CET
[ edited by E-Rawk on 2010-11-02 05:50 ]
E-Rawk | November 01, 21:48 CET
Simon | November 02, 01:43 CET
That'd be a moderately geeky reference over here, in the US it'd really separate the geek from the chaff (for those that're wondering BTW, linkage).
Saje | November 02, 03:31 CET
I saw the Dr. Horrible sign and was going to post a link to it here, but I lost the link, should have known someone else would pick it up and post it. Glad there were more Whedonverse signs in the mix, as well.
Probably my favorite sign was "I See Smart People". :_)
Now comes the serious part, voting.
Shey | November 02, 06:29 CET
tjbw | November 02, 07:48 CET
Saje | November 02, 08:20 CET
NotaViking | November 02, 09:00 CET
Saje | November 02, 09:44 CET
zeitgeist | November 02, 12:46 CET
Saje | November 02, 16:00 CET
Aw, I miss this place. My computer and I are having a difficult time in our relationship, but I think we've decided not to break up. Only whedonesque can really patch things up between us. And Jon Stewart. And Demon sheep.
catherine | November 02, 20:32 CET
hopitopia | November 03, 02:22 CET
As far as the numbers, there were lots of people leaving as we got there, and I keep hearing that even people not on the Huffpost buses who came from the NYC area did not get there until 1:30 or later because of traffic. I'm thinking that there may have been even more than the estimates over the course of the rally, with people coming and going throughout trying to manage the transportation. I've been in some huge crowds in NYC, and this one was big.
newcj | November 03, 02:36 CET
Not saying it's true in that specific instance BTW (because I believe many of the commentators on Fox News know exactly what they're doing when they "misunderstand" something like that) but at least some of the time when that happens it's a genuinely held belief, it really is just that what you see (nevermind how you see it) is framed by what you expect and want to see.
never thought I'd see a Father Ted reference here!
Not for the first time either hopitopia. Among us lurk some Teddites. What can I say, we contain multitudes ... cos, y'know, there's more than one of us ;).
Saje | November 03, 04:40 CET
Well, I voted. I'm not sure how much sanity I added to to the exercise though. Why, oh why am I doing NaNoWriMo again? *bangs forehead in an attempt to cram in basic fluid dynamics, 19th C speech patterns, and samurai tactics*
But at least the library levy passed. Yea!
ETF: spelling
[ edited by BreathesStory on 2010-11-03 14:06 ]
BreathesStory | November 03, 06:05 CET
... what ?
Saje | November 03, 07:33 CET
Thanks for posting those ads Notaviking. I hadn't seen any (seems like all I do these days is work), and the demon sheep-guy was mind-bogglingly hilarious. I guess it was supposed to be funny, but wow... hard to believe that was a real ad. I also love the Alabama agricultural commissioner ad.
jcs | November 03, 10:14 CET
Arianna wouldn't send me a bus, so I enjoyed the rally via the interwebs.
Aside from Jon Stewart, my favorite segment was Mythbusters' large-sample experimentation with The Wave and Local Earthquake.
One of my favorite crowd vignettes was a group of self-identified Muslims twirling a jump-rope: "Have Fun With Muslims."
A high-angle camera view showed a vast crowd.
FloralBonnet | November 04, 19:26 CET
Saje | November 05, 00:46 CET
newcj | November 07, 08:49 CET