Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

mowotlarx t1_j3y22jq wrote

Is this it? Have flash mobs finally died? Are we free?

233

TonyzTone t1_j3ya26y wrote

Genuinely the weirdest phenomenon of the late-aughts.

96

karmapuhlease t1_j3yy1ih wrote

Eh, it's not that weird. For the first time ever, it was very easy to coordinate anonymously with an unlimited number of strangers for free. In the past, if you had wanted to do that, you had to put up posters and take out ads on the radio, but the internet made it free. People were bound to experiment with it.

48

TonyzTone t1_j3z09ex wrote

Yeah, but it was still kind of weird that people were practicing their routines for weeks. I'm not hating, just saying how weird it was.

15

sagrr t1_j411qi1 wrote

In a well-written history book a few hundred years from now, an author might point to this phenomenon as one of the curious impacts of the internet.

7

JohnnnyCupcakes t1_j46ak28 wrote

It’s weird how something like this couldn’t help people organize anonymously to form unions. When you think about it, a “silent protest” (kinda like “quiet quitting”) could potentially be more crippling for a company versus a traditional strike and picket line. Picture a bunch of executives sitting around asking each other, “where the fuck did everybody go?!”, kinda like how workers have no clue what’s going on right up until the last second when the executives finally tell everyone (usually on a Friday afternoon).

1

CaptainJZH t1_j47129r wrote

Tbf it's a lot easier to coordinate with a ton of random people than people whose lives all depend on their employment - so you get some who don't want to risk it, some who drank the Kool Aid and think unions are bad, etc

1