Brassed off?! (YouTube, 5 min.) Like the health care debate itself, the boycott / buycott confrontation regarding the recent article by Whole Foods CEO John Mackey may be heating up. Mackey, who was previously investigated by the SEC for making anonymous internet posts talking up his stock while trashing the valuation of an acquisition target, now faces opposition from suppliers and labor groups, a decrease in brand perception, investor calls to step down... and pesky oom-pah bands.
posted by markkraft on Sep 28, 2009 - 29 comments

Technology of Cooperation (.gif map), from Howard Rheingold's Cooperation Commons project. Rheingold on Amish technology practices. [more inside]
posted by cortex on Jan 21, 2008 - 6 comments

Every number from Alan Parker's "kids as mobsters" 1970's musical, Bugsy Malone.
posted by jonson on Jul 26, 2007 - 38 comments

Peekskill, 1949. "The mob was rolling toward us for the second attack. This was, in a way, the worst of that night. For one thing, it was still daylight; later, when night fell, our own sense of organization helped us much more, but this was daylight and they poured down the road and into us, swinging broken fenceposts, billies, bottles, and wielding knives..." Howard Fast's account of a terrifying evening that was supposed to be an outdoor concert near Peekskill, NY. You can think about the political implications ("...it illustrates how easily, when terror is unleashed in a nation, it can take hold, and how thin the line is that separates constitutional government from tyranny and dictatorship...") or just enjoy the riveting tale. (Related song and picture here.)
posted by languagehat on Dec 1, 2003 - 22 comments

There's no justice like angry mob justice. "But like vigilante gangs of the American frontier, ad hoc communities seeking justice on the electronic frontier sometimes trample the very laws they seek to enforce, as their quest for justice warps into a plot for revenge." Sounds familiar. Man swindles eBayers out of 125 grand; angry mob takes control of his e-mail account, grills his mother and assumes his identity.
posted by Big Fat Tycoon on Jan 25, 2002 - 3 comments

Behold the power of slashdot. When slashdot ran a story about an ISP shutting down a guy hosting a FBI spoof video, the owner of the single person ISP became inundated with hate mail. It's seems like this is happening fairly often: slashdot runs a story based on some early information that may or may not be checked, the zealots get fired up and go on the rampage. The last time I remember it happening was the bogus Dreamcast telnet story that resulted in numerous angry calls to Sega's tech support lackeys. It's sad to see that even a group of mostly educated geeks often reacts with pack mentality before thinking of the implications of what they're doing.
posted by mathowie on Nov 30, 1999 - 0 comments