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Dept. of Short Memories: The "flash mobs" go back further than this
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
Dept. of Short Memories: The "flash mobs" go back further than this
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Yesterday, my colleagues at Philebrity posted a Tweet, presumably from some Philly teenager, declaring that the spot this weekend wouldn't be South Street – a la this past weekend's "flash mob" – but 40th street.
Which reminded me of an article I wrote last summer, about a few incidents of teenage "mobs" gathering along 40th street in West Philly.
Here's what I wrote then:
So why is this happening?
Ask the high-schoolers who come out to 40th on weekends, and the answers are straightforward enough:
"Girls," says Ockbar Suvan, 17, who's been coming to the intersection since last year. "It's getting better," he added.
"It's the chill spot," affirms a friend sitting next to Suvan. "If this isn't crowded, South Street's crowded."
Interesting phenomenon, although i def think Isaiah nailed it last summer. Seems it is 99 percent traditional teenagerness, 1 percent (possibly) game changing media. Everything else I've read seems pretty panicked. I like the less hysterical approach and would also recommend- The True Believer, Thoughts on the nature of mass movements by Eric Hoffer- a book from the 50's that explains what flash mobs have in common with the Russian Revolution and what they don't.
No, you're right; just doing a simple Twitter Search would stop it dead in its tracks.
I can't help finding it funny that we'll find the kids' parents' liable for them participating in flash mobs, but not them cutting school, selling drugs, having guns, etc. Call me a sap but I wish these kids would realize from these gatherings that YES, they DO have power...but they need to use it in more productive ways. Watching these kids videos from Saturday night, I just hope these kids find something better to do..."Team Bizzarre" aint going to take them very far... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oas5A6DfNQ
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Philly City Paper and philly news now, Yancey @YanceyG. Yancey @YanceyG said: Dept. of short memories: The “flash mobs” go back further than this: Yesterday, my colleagues at Philebrity posted... http://bit.ly/ceHYk3 [...]
What a scoop.
Please aLex - There's no need to lavish praise on me. For the proverbial record, this wasn't intended as any kind of told-you-so - just a connection I found kind of interesting. By the way, (and a nod to Philebrity here), anybody notice the big press announcement today that the city was going to deploy strike forces and undercover detectives to stop flash mobs? Seems to me one detective, doing what Philebrity did - that is, just trolling the web and looking for stuff posted by Philly teenagers - would go a lot farther. Any thoughts, anyone? Perhaps aLex has a drop of insight left that wasn't squeezed out in his last post? - Isaiah
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