Flashmob Hits Town, Feathers Fly

On the cover of Thursday's Gainesville Sun is a picture of a mass pillow fight taking place at Turlington Plaza on the University of Florida campus just before noon on Wednesday. Just before the event, participants seemed to arrive out of nowhere and suddenly came out swinging! A few minutes later, the battle abruptly ended and everyone dispersed from the scene as if nothing had happened. What did happen here?

It turns out that this was an example of a "flashmob", which is a planned event over the Internet (this one used Facebook) drawing participants from disparate parts to a specific location at a specific time to create a seemingly spontaneous event, usually doing something completely off the wall. And this pillow fight looked like a lot of fun. But I wonder.....

Suppose some evil mastermind resembling Lex Luther, Blofeld, or the Joker wants a mob at a particular place and at a particular time that suits his own secret nefarious designs (perhaps to serve as a diversion from a nearby "heist"). And he then plants one of these "flashmob" seeds on the Internet? I can see all hell breaking loose somewhere, drawing the attention of everyone (including the police). While the bad guys are pulling off their dastardly deed nearby unnoticed! But maybe this is just the cynical "goth" within me trying to paint a bleak picture out of simple fun!

One the other hand, mobilization through the Internet may already be used for bringing in mobs of protesters from the outside to attend town hall meetings of politicians and disrupt them. So my overtly cynical view of this practice may not be that far of a departure from reality, after all.

Flashmobs are definitely a phenomenon of our times, and one that bears a great deal of scrutiny. When a mass of people seems to come together out of nowhere and starts showing almost identical lines of behavior and speech, it's time to be suspicious. Especially if they're not carrying pillows!