Whimsical flash mob freezes 30th St. Station

Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | April 1, 2010 | Robert Moran

[Willie Green]

As Jean Smith, 63, arrived at 30th Street Station on a train from Wilmington this evening, she and other commuters were warned that there was a large gathering of young people inside the station.

Some "Facebook thing," they were told.

Oh, no.

A South Street flash mob, she thought.

"I watched the faces of the people getting off the train," said Smith, of Blackwood. "They were shocked."

But what they found was not a riot, but people standing around as if time had stopped.

It was a flash mob, but of the whimsical type.

Amtrak police estimated about 500 to 600 people participated in the "Frozen 30th Street Station" flash mob, which was organized by Drexel University students.

People pretending to play musical instruments, toss a football, or read a newspaper, froze in place for three minutes starting at 6:30 p.m.

One man was on bended knee fake-proposing marriage to another man while holding out a roll of Charmin Ultrasoft.

[Above My Pay Grade]

>>>They used to call graffiti whimsical and “art” too. Its a sign that the city isn’t serious about enforcing the law.<<<

I’m curious. What laws were broken. Also, I don’t remember grafitti ever being called “whimsical”.

This is not my idea of “art” but it seems harmless to me. They even notified Amtrak in advance. They basically just froze in place for 3 minutes. I know the same thing has been done in Grand Central Station in NYC at least once, with no problems.

This was nothing like the recent “flash mobs” in Philly where gangs of youths vandalized businesses and beat up white people.

[DejaJude]

A grinning Jon McGrath, 22, also a Drexel student, took the opportunity to place leaflets for his church in the hands of the helpless flash mobbers.
"It's like a perfect opportunity," he said. "They can't not take it."

heh.

[wardaddy]

Hey Willie....

talk about arrested development

whatever happened to panty raids and stuffing college kids in phone booths

FR kids scratch heads...”what’s a phone booth pops?”

[stevio]

I was in Philly yesterday, and dressed for the occasion. I replaced the .38 Specials with .357 Magnums.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

Yeah, I’m the asshole.

I posit the idea that there ‘may’ be something more nefarious to this growing problem of flash mobs (did you hear about the one on South Street a few miles away that turned violent a couple of weeks ago?) and you accuse me of having had some “fun” center removed.

You must have had the “grow up out of adolescence” center removed from your brain.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

That is exactly what I have been thinking.

My worst fear is that a flash mob will be called to an area where some Islamofascists have pre-planted some car bombs.