cce blog

mobs

It looks like I might participate in a "flash mob" tomorrow in Times Square. It's a cute idea (flashmob.info, mobblog), -- hundreds of anonymous hipsters/geeks converge on one spot, perform an inane task like clapping, making bird noises in central park or visiting a shoestore, and disperse. Okay, so it's a dumb idea.

It's so dumb it sort of raises the question: what the hell's the point? The media reports and various participants have been spinning it as 21st "performance art." The Salon article has some cute quotes from a few of the hip, vapid youths who showed up: "It's sort of like being at a protest, but without the politics." "It's random art." "It's zeitgeist stripped bare ... It's urban festivity." And the worst one: "It's not like you have to have a cause, to be an activist."

Gosh, because, like, who wants to have to have a cause, and get caught up with all that baggage? A protest without politics, indeed. Perhaps the bored NYC Internet bourgeoisie were getting jealous of Hong Kong and Iran and wanted to go out and DO SOMETHING without, well, doing anything. It seems to me just silly nonsense from kids who ought to go GET a cause of some kind rather than stand around in a shoe store giggling like idiots.

The idea of a spontaneous mob isn't that new, though in the past they've usually converged for a reason. In Manila, the 2001 "People Power II" protests that ousted President Estrada relied heavily on technology, as well. The half-million-strong mob, many not typical protesters but pissed-off middle class types, was drawn in just hours mostly by mass-forwarded mobile phone SMS text messages. SMS forwards aren't as popular in the US as they are in Asia, where they were blamed for a SARS-related panic buying spree in Hong Kong, and have been censored by authorities in Shanghai. They're like those annoying email forwards you get from friends & co-workers, and in Manila they were essential to organizing the protest:

"Estrada was given a deadline by a panel of opposition negotiators: he had to resign by Saturday at 6 a.m. All through Friday night, demonstrators continued to gather. This has been called the pager revolution for good reason: within minutes of the Senate vote, text messages had flashed through the Manila ether telling anti-Estrada Filipinos to GO TO EDSA [Epifania de los Santos]. Hundreds of thousands converged on the capital, following directions to, as one message put it, WEAR BLACK TO MOURN THE DEATH OF DEMOCRACY. Said another text message: EXPECT THERE TO BE RUMBLES."

Now that's a "smart mob," which Howard Rheingold seems to think will be "the next social revolution." So these mobs have potential, and, I admit, my curiosity is getting the best of me. Plus I've found a good excuse to go: Fedex has unsuccessfully tried three times to deliver my Berkfest tickets, so now I have to go down to Fedex HQ on 42nd St within the next two days and pick them up before they're returned to sender. The flash mob will be happening tomorrow, just a few blocks away, beginning just in time for me to get back from work, off the A train at 42nd St, and up to one of the predetermined meeting points.

So. I'll let you know.

Posted by cce at August 6, 2003 08:06 PM | TrackBack