Power In Numbers/Questioning "Authority"

Submited By: T. Widmaier

     Recently, our city has come under attack by teens who perfectly display the negative side of group behavior. "Flash mobs" are popping up all over Philly. Groups of teens find anonymity in large numbers, and are encouraged by each others approval. Individually, the members of these groups are relatively harmless. When they get together, however, they are motivated by the idea of fitting in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4WOYMWp29g&feature=player_detailpage

     The above link is a news broadcast showing hundreds of teens flooding the street with no purpose other then to cause chaos. In this case the authority figure is not a single person; The authority is the majority. I believe the more people you have on your side the more people will be willing to join in on your "cause". Perhaps some are even afraid to not take part. The news story mentions the use use of social media to communicate information. People may feel that they need to go along with their group of friends in order to remain in that group. The fact that their are hundreds of young adults taking part in these flash mobs may also indicate the  desire to rebel against city police and officials.

    No real reason has ever been given for the attacks. It is easy to assume that the participating teens are just bad people, but sociology teaches us that their must be enviormental causes or else the numbers wouldn't be so large.  The news click mentions the cities apparent desire to sweep the issue under the rug as it is bad for tourism, but this time last year i recall us dealing with the same issue. While the initial reaction will obviously be to punish those who are doing harm, perhaps we should be spending more time trying to figure out why its happening.