Today's provocative topic: "A mob is still a mob, even if they are with you."

[Writer]

DISCUSS!

Edited for better syntax.

[sasquatch]

1. That's not a question

[Writer]

2. Hey, man, it's a topic of inquiry.

DISCUSS!

[phleshdef]

3. Is this kind of like putting lipstick on a pig?

[cali]

4. that's a statement, not a question

and it's a pretty inchoate statement at that. If you're asking if a mob is reliable if it's "with you", then obviously the answer is no, by dint of the basic definition of a mob. From Merriam-Webster:

1: a large or disorderly crowd ; especially : one bent on riotous or destructive action

[MADem]

5. And they can turn against you in the blink of an eye. nt

[I814U]

6. Cons try to distort the meaning of mob...

...to mean any large group. They oppose "mob-rule" which is just crypto-speak for democracy. As the Meeriam-Webster definition points out it is an "unruly" crowd but who gets to make the rules?

I would like to think it's "We the People" i.e. the so-called mob but these days I have my reservations.

[phleshdef]

7. I think what the OP meant was that we don't know when to put our torches and pitch forks down.

[baldguy]

9. The bigger problem is we don't know when to pick them up.

Instead we allow ourselves to be slowly & quietly murdered while we do nothing.

[phleshdef]

10. Speak for yourself. I've been waving my torch around for at least 6 years....

And its making my arm sore.

[Lucky 13]

12. An even bigger problem is when we use them to threaten the wrong people...

Then things devolve into a circular firing squad...

[Occam Bandage]

8. DU: home to the aspiring ochlocrat.

[I814U]

11. If a mob is an unruly crowd...

...who gets to make the rules and call them unruly?

[cali]

13. people get hurt in mobs

it's really that simple. And there is such a thing as a mob mentality. It ain't pretty.

[I814U]

14. There's a difference between mobs and riots and I eschew the latter...

...but progressive actions are often labelled as "mobs" i.e. anti-war protests. I'm just asking who gets to write the rules about what makes one group "unruly" and another more politically palatable.

That's all I'm saying.

[Uncle Joe]

15. For the purposes of this thread, what is your definition of a mob? n/t