>>The trouble is of course that communities form organically, and so they frequently need to be policed organically. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? >>And I'm

>>The trouble is of course that communities form organically, and so they frequently need to be policed organically. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? >>And I'm not convinced the line between a "mob" and a "grass roots movement" actually exists. To which I agree. In their mechanics there is little difference between one group and other. Just like there's little difference between soldiers and mercenaires. >>Just for the purposes of illustration: Were the protests in Egypt a decade ago, or in Hong Kong more recently, "mobs"? Why, and who decides? They are mobs to people who, rightly or wrongly, wanted to discredit them (respectively the Mubarek regime and the Chinese government). A stronger set of examples you could have compared are how the American news organizations reported the more violent elements of the George Floyd protests (statue topplings, burglary, arson, etc.) and the January 6 riots. But if you mean in an objective sense, I'm asking the same questions as you are. Those two questions are the determining factors to what a community will be immune from and what "norms" to consider appropriate. But they have to assessed on an individual level lest one creates a cult or a dictatorship.