[pjc50]

This isn't really the same thing; lynching was primarily an expression of racial hatred. And the angry internet mob is definitely a worldwide phenomenon.

Mob justice is very definitely a response to feelings that the conventional justice system is either too slow, too narrowly drawn, or too favouritist to address actual problems. And it sort of works; I wonder how many hunting trips have been cancelled after this event? (Hard to know since they were secret and illegal in the first place.)

[JadeNB]

> And it sort of works; I wonder how many hunting trips have been cancelled after this event?

I think that the 'sort of' here is important. Mob justice is, presumably, very good at curtailing activities of which the mob disapproves; but, not only is there no guarantee that the mob disapproves only of 'bad' activities—as the Gamergate situation mentioned by the article proves—but, perhaps even worse, there is no guarantee that what the mob approves today it will also approve tomorrow, nor that what one mob approves another will not attack.

[tbrownaw]

No, they are the same thing.

From what I understand of the climate at the time, the justice system was seen as wrong in turning against recognizing different classes of people.