The New York Times has a story on Flash-Mob projects in Berlin, where groups of people co-ordinate via email and SMS to "spontaneously" meet in a single location. It strikes me as a little odd that the Gray Lady would choose to cover the events in Berlin, since Flash-Mobs began in New York.
If you live in Austin, and you want to get in on the Flash-Mob action, join this Yahoo! Group listserv to receive instructions for a Flash-Mob later this month.
One little axe I have to grind with the Flash-Mob project is the way it purports to be apolitical; as a good postwhateverist, I see ideology embedded in nearly human endeavor, so I think that claim is disingenuous. Technology is core to a Flash-Mob project; in one sense its a way for persons with consumer devices to find new way to use them, but it also seems to be a celebration of technology and consumer culture. The NYTimes story describes a Berlin Flash-Mob where participants spoke nonsense into there cell-phones, making some statement about the use of technology.
Watching the Austin discussion, where it's pretty clear that people really want to mau-mau the suburbanites and Wal-Mart shoppers, I don't think it's apolitical at all.
That said, these things are relative. The South Austin Slow Ride Bike Club (is it still around?) was not exactly apolitical but it was a lot closer to it than Critical Mass. Nobody seems -- yet -- to want to turn FlashMobs into Seattle-style WTO protests. (I'd give it a few months before they do.)
Posted by: Prentiss Riddle at August 5, 2003 03:48 PM
First off, this is hardly random spam.
Okay, here's what I did to obtain your e-mail address. First, I pulled up the Advanced Search option of the Google search engine. Then, I entered "flash mob" in the "with all the words" field. After choosing "20 results", I then clicked on "Google search". Before I sent anybody this courriel, I examined each website to ascertain whether there was an invitation of any sort. By invitation, I mean phrases such as "I welcome comments" and other like remarks.
In a sense, you passed the test. And that is why you've received this missive. In the event you received one previously, this one comes with new information.
For the sake of quick review, a 28-year-old female aide was found dead in the congressional district office of former Representative Joe Scarborough, currently an MSNBC luminary. The official inquiry into death of the aide, a Mrs Lori Klausutis, left some details open to further investigation. In the earlier note, I mentioned that those details nag at me, A Alexander Stella.
What's more, I'm far from being the only one. There are dozens of websites that are devoting space to this curious happenstance.
So, for the sake of justice for Lori Klausutis, I'm asking recipients such as yourself to consider employing the phenomenon of flash mobs. If you would like like more details, you're certainly invited to click on the following hyperlink:
flash mob for Lori
thanking you in advance for your time in reading this appeal,
warm regards
/
A Alexander "Bogey" Stella
Oh, swell, likely enough, you'll have to click on my name, ah, the one by the date. And, if that fails, try inserting in the address field of your browser the following U.R.L, namely,
www.bcvoice.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=142
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