Mob Quote

Dan Eldon was a young photojournalist on assignment for Reuters in Mogadishu, Somalia, ready to leave for Nairobi on July 12, 1993, when he was called to the scene of a bombing by UN forces. An angry mob stoned him to death. The young man's life was cut short two months and six days before he was to turn 23.

I learnt of Mr. Eldon's tragic death several years ago, unable to recall exactly when. I have also known of his posthumously published books for some years.

This weekend I picked up The Journey is the Destination from the local library.

Less than a year before his stoning, Mr. Eldon wrote:

The hardest situation to deal with is a frenzied mob, because they cannot be reasoned with.

A frenzied mob was what brought him down.

Yet, we are told that rule based on the masses is the best form of government devised.


Mr. Daniel Robert Eldon had been a schoolmate of yours truly. I did not know him personally or otherwise.