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Glenn Beck rally attendance: calculating how many really showed up (Remote sensing est.: > 800,000)
Christian Science Monitor ^ | 08/30/2010 | Peter Grier

Posted on 08/30/2010 2:09:21 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

Glenn Beck rally attendance has become hotly contested following Saturday's event in Washington. But from Woodstock to the Million Man March, figuring out the number of people who show up at big events has never been easy.

Can we really get an accurate count of the number of people who attended Saturday's Glenn Beck “Restoring Honor” rally? The answer might be, “No, we can’t.”

Crowd-counting science is far from exact. Much of it is based on examination of overhead photos to calculate crowd density and related statistics. It reminds us of the old intelligence agency practice of “shedology,” in which the Central Intelligence Agency and others estimated Soviet weapons numbers by looking at overhead photos of military sheds and calculating how many tanks they might hold.

Plus, numbers are inevitably colored by an estimator’s interest. Rally organizers usually say crowds were huge, bigger than expected. Critics will say the numbers were less than anticipated. That’s been the case for years.

That’s led to controversy in the past. In October 1995, the National Park Service estimated that about 400,000 people attended the “Million Man March” organized by the Nation of Islam and Louis Farrakhan. Organizers were so angry they sent lawyers to meet with the Park Service.

Shortly thereafter, the Boston University Center for Remote Sensing estimated that the crowd had been 837,000, plus or minus 20 percent. What was the difference? The Park Service counted via pictures taken from videotape. The Center for Remote Sensing used original photo negatives.

Photos of the Beck event clearly show a big crowd. The weather was great – whatever the exact figure, there were a lot of people there.

(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 828; dc; glennbeck; rally; restorehonor; restoringhonor
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To: engrpat
FYI…

Metro ridership spiked on day of Glenn Beck rally (510,000 riders)

41 posted on 08/30/2010 3:01:54 PM PDT by Stand Watch Listen (It's the 'Land of Opportunity'... NOT... the 'Land of Entitlements'!!!)
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To: wac3rd
Sharpton had 2,000, max. Where’s the Media on that?

My same thoughts, isn't the focus on the wrong "gathering" here?

42 posted on 08/30/2010 3:09:12 PM PDT by BerryDingle (I know how to deal with communists, I still wear their scars on my back from Hollywood-Ronald Reagan)
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To: SeekAndFind

But wait, didn’t one of the MSM (code word for propaganda) stations say it was about 87,000? They wouldn’t lie to the American people would they? Or would they? (sarc.)


43 posted on 08/30/2010 3:13:36 PM PDT by MamaDearest
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To: ken in texas

Perhaps you should refer to post #21 above. The problem was with the original title. It implied that the remote sensing technique had estimated Beck’s rally at >800,000. The original poster graciously concurred with my observation.


44 posted on 08/30/2010 3:18:15 PM PDT by the_Watchman
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To: SeekAndFind

Most people are not concerned with the exact numbers, as it is next to impossible to get them right. It is, however, the blatant lies of ‘ten of thousands people’ when it’s clear it was in the ‘hundred of thousands people’-range, that make people angry.


45 posted on 08/30/2010 3:21:22 PM PDT by paudio (The Democrats have been majority in Congress since 2006, not 2008!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Sharpton had 10s of 10s.


46 posted on 08/30/2010 3:26:13 PM PDT by Loyal Buckeye
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To: SeekAndFind
The crowd was so huge that it disrupted Washington's subway system.

I can vouch for that. It was a mess.

47 posted on 08/30/2010 3:27:16 PM PDT by Loyal Buckeye
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
Accompanied by this public service ad to counteract the Restoring Honor attendees:
48 posted on 08/30/2010 3:35:03 PM PDT by CharlesMartelsGhost
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To: SeekAndFind

Nope.


49 posted on 08/30/2010 3:43:01 PM PDT by Catsrus (Have)
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To: SeekAndFind

And they left the place spotless!


50 posted on 08/30/2010 3:53:55 PM PDT by Artcore
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To: defal33
My family and I sat underneath the trees and were shoulder to shoulder with other familys, where there was shade...the crowd was packed THICK under it! Can only see how much from the ground level photos.

Not only under the trees, but people were arriving throughout the event. While walking around the west side of the Lincoln Memorial around just before 1100 there was a steady stream crossing the bridge from Arlington Cemetery. No doubt the same was happening from other directions, due in part to the Metro backups that others have reported. It was a dynamic situation.
51 posted on 08/30/2010 3:56:55 PM PDT by VAarea
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To: SeekAndFind; haywoodwebb
Just for perspective, this was the Promise Keepers "Stand in the Gap" event Oct 4, 1997. I was there . . .

The National Parks service would not admit it was a million men . . . I believe it was about 1.2M

Compare this photo with the ones from last Saturday for perspective . . .


52 posted on 08/30/2010 4:03:57 PM PDT by blues_guitarist (ISLAM=DEATH!! . . . . . . black & humble . . .)
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To: the_Watchman

Mea Culpa, I completely overlooked that part.


53 posted on 08/30/2010 4:20:48 PM PDT by ken in texas (Proudly posting without reading the full title since 1999.)
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To: ken in texas

The article was not well constructed. The paragraph break was probably not in the best place and it would be easy for a quick reader to come to the wrong conclusion.


54 posted on 08/30/2010 4:27:25 PM PDT by the_Watchman
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To: SeekAndFind

Glenn spoke about the bullet proof vest on today’s show


55 posted on 08/30/2010 4:50:25 PM PDT by The Wizard (Madam President is my President now and in the future)
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To: Northern Yankee
Sarah was also wearing a vest...


56 posted on 08/30/2010 4:54:56 PM PDT by luckybogey
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To: SeekAndFind

It was an enormous crowd, and it was pathetic how MSM tried to spin Rev. Al’s.


57 posted on 08/30/2010 5:00:37 PM PDT by Dante3
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To: luckybogey
LB...

How can you tell or how do you know.

I could tell on Glenn, but what do I know about women's clothes and vest-type top she is wearing.

58 posted on 08/30/2010 5:02:50 PM PDT by taildragger ((Palin / Mulally 2012 ))
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To: luckybogey
LB...

How can you tell or how do you know.

I could tell on Glenn, but what do I know about women's clothes and vest-type top she is wearing.

59 posted on 08/30/2010 5:03:07 PM PDT by taildragger ((Palin / Mulally 2012 ))
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To: CharlesMartelsGhost

RE: Accompanied by this public service ad to counteract the Restoring Honor attendees.


Obama did respond when asked whether he watched the rally. He said he didn’t and then gave a standard == “I’m glad that people are exercising their freedom of speech”.

In other words, he’s not interested in what hundreds of thousands (perhaps a million) Americans are concerned with.

But then he has the time to wade in to the matter of the ground zero mosque when a handful for Muslims are agitating for it.

Talk about where his priorities lie...


60 posted on 08/30/2010 5:23:50 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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