Gone in a Flash

by Ainé Ardron-Doley

It hit Paperstreet, a massive local event promotion listserv, at exactly 1:35 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 5. In the hands of an anonymous organizer, a flash mob, the exciting social phenomenon thatís been sweeping the world since early summer, had finally landed in Philadelphia.

A flash mob is a large group of people mobilized through message boards and e-mail lists, slyly instructed to materialize suddenly in a public place, perform some brief and usually silly action, and disperse as quickly as formed. Members of the Philly e-mail list were told to meet at one of two locations, the Penn Bookstore at 3601 Walnut or Borders at Broad and Chestnut. Instructed to don sunglasses and a hat and assemble at 5:33 p.m., would-be mobbers gathered inside the doors of Borders. While told to seem to appear out of nowhere, the crowd could be spotted just a few minutes before the event, nervous and apprehensive, and checking watches. As the clock struck 5:33 p.m., what looked like an ordinary Friday afternoon of book browsing fast became a well-oiled mob. Young and old, normal and nerd, the first two minutes of mobbing required a suspicious silence. Two minutes later, the ruckus began. At first there was one pair of clapping hands, then two, then boom! We were one, united in thunderous applause and cheering for the next 30 seconds. Then, turning to one another, embracing and speaking loudly, we pretended to be long-lost friends. At just 5:37 p.m., the even more unified mob broke into more frenzied applause and cheering for 30 more seconds -- and, with that, we vanished. The instructions made it clear that the mob was for fun and that there was to be no stealing, littering or touching of books. Most customers in the store watched the oddity with amusement; the Borders security guard couldn't contain his laughter.

From London to Dublin to Zurich and Vienna, inexplicable mobs deftly assemble, follow their covert instructions, wow, amaze, dazzle and disperse. While quickly becoming a media favorite, for the most part the flash mob's been deemed a senseless, silly social gathering that brings e-mail addressees to life. However, the potential for the mobs to become politicized, a logistical nuisance or even violent remains a quandary. But for now, the power of the flash mobs have brought nothing but joy and a sense of overwhelming togetherness. Performance art or new wave social movement? Will it evolve into something great or simply fade into extinction?