Is there a point?

The Sydney FlashMobbers Site carries the simple and to the point banner: Organize : Congregate : Act : Disperse. That sounds like a pretty good description. But though flash mobs and smart mobs may have grown out of the same technology, the SYDMOB site tells us quite prominently on the bottom banner of its main page:

SYDMOB does not organize political, social or national protesting.

And close to the top of the page we read:

For the organizing of pointless random acts of spontaneity

Frankly, though I can see very little point in them, apolitical flash mobs seem to make much more sense than their more political brothers. As important as spontaneity may be in a demonstration, people who want to engage in meaningful protest ordinarily have to consider the consequences of their actions, have to define the audience they wish to influence, and more. Congregating and dispersing, and causing people to scratch their heads and ask "what was that?", can probably be quite a bit of fun, but doesn't seem to be a particularly promising method of bringing about social change.

Go to: Are crowds really that smart?