The Rally to Restore Sanity and Noopolitik

The Rally to Restore Sanity, hosted by John Stewart and Steven Colbert, is Saturday, October 30th, two days from the writing of this entry. One of the major tag-lines for the event is that its "The Rally for People who are too busy to go to Rallies." It's intended to be a fun, communal experience that will bring together citizens who are too busy or too apathetic to go to large political rallies. In these divisive political times, it's something that should be getting far more press than it has (and it's been getting a decent amount of press to begin with).

If Noopolitik is the study of network nodes, shared interests, soft power, and the collective mind, then this rally is an embodiment of that, despite its status as a "for entertainment" event first. The rally was, of course, originally advertised on the Daily Show and Colbert Report, but it spread immediately and exponentially through Facebook, Twitter, email, web ads, a variety of television ads, and word of mouth. People who have never met before are coordinating carpools and meet-ups, all out of a feeling of shared interest. While the rally is likely to be overwhelmingly attended by American Citizens (and it is framed for Americans with Voting Fatigue), there are certainly no admission fees or attendance restrictions that would prevent foreigners from attending if they too were swept up in the spirit.

There is no traditional nationalist impulse behind the rally's popularity. Instead, it's a general response to the traditional political system, which is viewed with skepticism and apathy. The Rally to Restore Sanity is a nationally recognized unifying event that will bolster a certain view of what "Patriotism" and "America" really are, and it will do this without Political motivations, government involvement or organization, or divisive politics. Stewart and Colbert have managed to capture the hearts and minds of the nation by allowing the message to spread organically, rather than targeted marketing or viral ads. US policy makers could learn a lot from this rally's model for spreading its message; understanding the mind and methods of your audience works far better than overt declarations and diplomacy.