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Wednesday, September 10, 2003
So summer's pretty much over and the flash mob phenom is, as expected, fading. Or is it?
Yeah, yeah. I know you're sick of mobs, I'm sick of mobs, we're all sick of mobs, etc. etc. I went to one, blogged it up, got a bajillion site-hits, got interviewed, got bored, turned anti, turned apathetic, got trolled, got insulted, then just plain forgot. Ran the gamut of the experience in just a few hours of total time spent. So here's another five minutes for ya ... This new story on Wired News details not just the disruption of a mob attempt in Prague, but the beating of two participants, including a Czech journalist attempting to photograph the event. There are probably some bitter, hipper-than-thou surfers out there who just started chuckling. The anti-mobsters, the flashhackers, that tool over in South Korea. I can see ya, looking down your noses, chortling in defense of the 'common working man' who has his day disrupted by this 'pointless' behavior. Laugh it up, fuzzballs. Y'see, this story's different. This mob did have a point. It was one of the first mission-mobs, organized "as a protest against local laws that prohibit the taking of photos or videos in supermarkets and malls." Seems they were out to prove something, and boy did they ever. If they were lookin' for attention, they got a couple of fists full. Looks like in addition to spotlighting the silly anti-camera laws, they revealed a apparantly nasty trend of brutal Czech security guards. Check out the story, visit the links, see the photos. They're thug-tastic. The Wired story also tells of New Zealand's first flash mob, which had 200 people moo-ing at a Burger King. A not-so-subtle vegetarian message, for sure. What that mob also showed that you can't assume businesses and its employees are disturbed by the so-called 'reality hacks'. The BK's manager, when asked his opinion of the mob after he'd cooked a bunch of extra food assuming a bus had shown up, reportedly said "the loss was quite limited and there were no hard feelings". Then he invited the entire mob back for lunch. Read the second page of the article and you even get a Howard Dean mention. It all ties together, y'see?  |
 neil halstead live in cambridge, ma on november 14th, 2008 previously: joy formidable - boston 2011 recent posts on the 'nac...
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