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January 16, 2007
mob, smart 2.01
As a follow up to my post about Ryanne's catcall video this morning, I left this comment on Tricia's Vox blog. Michael Verdi thought her allusion to Emmitt Till was off base but I disagree:
"I think the allusion to lynching is wholly appropriate not as a judgment of Ryanne's video but as a question to think about as our mobs supposedly get more smart.
I actually think what Ryanne did was good. It was direct and showed responsibility for what happens in her community. I wish more bloggers were so brave. But reading the comments that came afterward -- the comments that read more like the cries of an angry mob -- that's what felt sour to me.
The Hollaback sites are a place to feel good, to feel empowered, yet the offenders are never truly confronted in any way that changes their behavior. This makes their effectiveness rather limited (although fully satiating to the pride of anyone posting.) Ryanne's video, on the other hand, is confrontational because it is potentially publicly humiliating ("I was so not alone... I had my camera.")
But public humiliation is still just about revenge and revenge makes for an unsatisfying ending. What I'd love to hear about next is that Ryanne and the workers are able to say hello to each other when walking to work now, out of respect for each other."
By the way, the title of my first post was supposed to be smart mob 2.0. I thought it was at least a tiny bit clever, but that <strike></strike> tag doesn't show up in the feedburner feed.
Posted by yatta at January 16, 2007 11:55 PM