Tea Parties and the Wisdom of Mobs

by Ivan Osorio on April 15, 2009 · 1 comment

in Culture, Economy, Zeitgeist

In The Wall Street Journal, Glenn Harlan Reynolds, of Instapundit fame, describes the ways in which today’s “tea party” protests signal a new era of political activism.

So who’s behind the Tax Day tea parties? Ordinary folks who are using the power of the Internet to organize. For a number of years, techno-geeks have been organizing “flash crowds” — groups of people, coordinated by text or cellphone, who converge on a particular location and then do something silly, like the pillow fights that popped up in 50 cities earlier this month. This is part of a general phenomenon dubbed “Smart Mobs” by Howard Rheingold, author of a book by the same title, in which modern communications and social-networking technologies allow quick coordination among large numbers of people who don’t know each other.
In the old days, organizing large groups of people required, well, an organization: a political party, a labor union, a church or some other sort of structure. Now people can coordinate themselves.

CEI is joining the festivities. Check Openmarket throughout today for updates.

Tagged as: freedom, Glenn Harlan Reynolds, Instapundit, tax protests, tea party

{ 1 comment }

Rhys April 15, 2009 at 9:07 am: I've been saying protesters should be throwing tea into lakes for years now. But now that it's actually being done, it seems a little absurd to me. The main point of the Boston tea party was against taxation without representation. That's not really the issue anymore, except perhaps for residents of D.C. (at least according to their license plates). Eh, but I guess I'm nitpicking. It's nice that there are "smart mobs" who are coming together to make a relevant point. It's a good example of "the power of small." The original Boston Tea Party seemed like a small thing, but it helped turn the tide against the British and is still remembered today.