Great minds think alike and act alike. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, from Comedy Central, are teaming up to bring important governmental issues to a satirical note.
On Saturday, Oct. 30 from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. ET, Americans from the 50 states will be able to observe Stewart and Colbert go head to head on the hot issues. “Rally to Restore Sanity” is a response to Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor Rally.” Colbert’s satirical march is to Keep Fear Alive (KFA), or as Colbert says, “KFA in the USA” is a counter rally to Stewart’s rally.
The rally and march will be taking place simultaneously in the National Mall in Washington DC. Utahns’ will have the opportunity to watch live at the southwest side of the City Library in downtown Salt Lake, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. MT.
Everything started with a Facebook page, by Skyler Brinley, a page powerful enough to get attention of over a thousand people. As people talked over Facebook, things began to become more and more serious to the fans and soon decided to meet. As of one week prior to the event, on Facebook, 890 people confirmed to make an appearance at the library on Saturday, and 798 people might be attending.
“There’s no one person in charge [of the library event,” Mallory Qualls, one of the leading members of the library event organizing group said.
Everyone takes the tasks as they come; people are really good at being proactive. People from different backgrounds; business owners, parents, students, and others are all coming together for a common interest. Everyone brings their background in order to help in the rally; some have public relation skills, some are administrative, and some are the organizers.
Qualls continued to say, “I think that’s actually the really cool thing about this; there are people from all areas; I work for a fitness company.”
The group in charge of the Rally to Restore Sanity, SLC, is asking for donations; $10 for stickers and $20 for t-shirts. There will also be a “respectful” sign contest; the best 12 signs will be printed professionally by Andre Van Diggelen through Metro Display.
“We encourage people to bring rally appropriate signs…brings things like: I disagree with you but don’t think you are Adolf Hitler,” Qualls said.
Kim Higginson, another library event organizer believes that this rally “is to show that most Americans are not extreme right or extreme left, and we may not agree to the perfect solution but we can agree to a workable solution.”