Yes, flashmobs are back…
"LONDON, England (CNN) -- Thousands of dancers jammed a major London train station in a Facebook-driven "flashmob" mimicking an advertisement for a phone company. And the event last Friday evening was so successful that another is planned for next Friday in Trafalgar Square in central London. Plus, a group has been set up to organize another one at Liverpool Street Station a week later. Videos posted on the social-networking site showed Liverpool Street Station completely filled with people, counting down the seconds until the clock showed 7 p.m., then dancing to music on their mp3 players as the hour struck. The sheer scale of the event came as a complete surprise to the organizer, a 22-year-old Facebook user who identified himself only as Crazzy Eve." (Click here to read the rest, but the whole deal seems to be fairly dance-party inane.)
I remember when, some four or five years ago, the flashmobs first appeared, I expressed a certian fascination and noted how “if we’d had that kind of technology back in the radical 1960/70s, we might have conquered the world.” Or maybe not, but it does surprise me that the technique has not – to my current knowledge – been used as a means of mass political protest. And it isn’t just a matter of creating an instant angry mob. It could just as easily be a coordinated flashshout, an updated version of the venerable Howard Beale concept of going to the window and yelling your disproval. We should try a test sometime.
The secret words are Mad As Hell
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8 comments:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Chanology
The grand protests against the Church of Scientology might count... Anonymous did that [the group], and a bunch of other stuff, I always think of the group when people post as anonymous here.
I think if they're planning it for next Friday, there's nothing "flash" about it. It's just a meeting on a street.
Seems to me that we did 'conquer the world'- at least in the sense that I'm satisfied that the Psychedelic Renaissance accomplished all it was meant to. I (actively) await Whatever's Next.
i may be facile but that looks a good laugh,i try to keep as little about myself off the internet so i don`t `facebook` but i`m now thinking about it.incidentally my cat rolled up about an hour ago,shouting his bloody little head off & demanding his tea,treats this place like a hotel. i`m so glad.
Not Flashmob but mob nonetheless, I was on a demo outside City Hall in support of some local striking workers last Friday. At one point I reflected on how many times I done this and to what avail, was it really worth etc etc
But then I realised that is exactly what THEY would like you to do - give up....
you alright doc?
I express similar concern...
You there?
This is merely the unimaginative, blindy succumbing to advertising. Mobile phone adverts, in this case.
There is NO anger. There is NO protest. Flashmobs were never about protesting. They may have been about advertising.
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