Not only was the flash mob a vacuous fad; it was, in its very form (pointless aggregation and then dispersal), intended as a metaphor for the hollow hipster culture that spawned it. I know this because I happen to have been the flash mob’s inventor.
Harper’s senior editor Bill Wasik tells all in a very interesting article [part 1. Experiment, 2. Propagation and Backlash, 3. Co-optation, 4. Bloggers, 5. Experimental Effects on Subjects]. This puts events like the Toronto subway party and the Vancouver zombiewalk in a new light – just part of one guy’s experiment? It’s an interesting essay overall though.
Original link courtesy of Beestar via Zhan. Photo is property of Mike Epstein.