Flash Mob (FLASH mawb) n. a large group of people who gather in a predetermined location, performs some brief action, and then quickly disburses.
However, but what use, we may ask, is a social movement with no figurehead, no slogans, no chanting, and no single issue? Simply swarming areas in order to undertake surreal, meaningless, and harmless tasks is hardly frontline radicalism. Or is it?
Thanks to the net, mobilizations occur with sparse bureaucracy and minimal hierarchy; forced consensus labored manifestos are fading into the background, replaced instead, by a culture of consistent, loosely structured, but sometimes-compulsive information swapping.
It could be argued that to understand this phenomena one can look at flash mobbing as the origin that all human activity gravitates toward a central cause, fed by the need of individuals wanting to be part of something larger than oneself.
Recently, I was in the Tampa Bay area when a flash mob took place at a Sears department store. About 120 people showed up in the home appliance department, applauded a washing machine for about 2 minutes, and then quickly disbursed. I asked one mobber, why flash mobbing? He told me that he could not think of any particular reason why he felt the need to mob, he said, "rather, I feel drawn to it because of the ability that one person had to mobilize so many people at a moments notice. I believe that this is the beginning of something big."
Later that evening I began to think about what the mobber had said. "I believe that this is the beginning of something big."
Then I began to wonder what if flash mobbing did have a central figurehead, or a cause. How powerful could someone become that had the ability to summon thousands or even millions of people from around the world to rally behind a single cause, and at a moments notice.
What kind of world would we live in if a mob of people could be summoned to bring one can of food each to a homeless shelter, then leave the food, and simply disburse? Or, what if a person had the ability to summon a mob on Election Day to vote for a political candidate?
As Europe continues to iron out the kinks before becoming united, and with the WTO's continual steps of promoting a one-world currency, it seems that the flash mob phenomena could be the platform for a clever and persistent individual to launch their campaign for the global presidency.
