Flash in the pan?

THE CITY'S grown-ups are dealing with yet another "flash mob," this time involving hundreds of teens who convened on South Street Saturday night. As in cases in the recent past, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter were implicated in the incident.

South Street merchants and shoppers were rattled by the mob, which apparently raced through the streets. The night ended with two arrests, and early closings of some businesses.

This is bad news, and the police, the mayor and other leaders need a thoughtful strategy for keeping order in the streets. But we also hope they aim for balance.

An earlier curfew might be in order, but not the extreme sanction recently called for by Controller Alan Butkovitz, who wanted student passes shut off at 4 p.m.; that wouldn't have had any impact on Saturday's incident anyway, as student passes work only during the week.

It's too often the default position to demonize teens. But in addition to swift action to halt this troubling trend, a little understanding could go a long way.

For one thing, the brains of teenagers are still developing. That means that stupid judgment calls, like joining 100 friends in a public place for no reason is the norm, not the exception.

For another thing, the thrill at flexing their collective muscle is a powerful factor; the resulting press coverage must have been satisfying.

The third is to recognize how human this is. For that, we turn to "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds," an 1841 classic book that explores how otherwise normal individuals become idiots when they become part of a crowd. For further proof of that, look to another Saturday event, when "tea party" demonstrators protesting the health-care bill, chanted racial epithets at two Black Caucus members, including John Lewis, and called Rep. Barney Frank a "faggot." *