Msg # 415   
Date: 12 Oct 91  16:49:51
From: David Rice
  To: All
Subj: Memes and MetaMemes
____________________________________________________________________________

Tag: Granny Spider
Frm: David Rice

GS> "Hello, David! I'm unfamiliar with the term "memes" and can't
GS> find it in my trusty dictionaries. Would you please tell me
GS> what it means? Bright blessings! Granny Spider"

Have you heard the story about the old woman who put her poodle
in the microwave oven to dry after a bath? Or the story about
the "Mrs. Fields Cookies" recipe being distributed "underground?"
Ever been in a UFO "flap," where every one in town has seen a UFO
last month, or knows someone who did, or knows someone who knows
someone who did? Or hear about the "Fatima Event," where an
entire town witnessed Goddess visting three children?

A "meme" can be considered a "thought virus." It feeds off of
mental energy, and has similar behavior patterns as real viruses,
with the exception that a meme lives in "virtual" space (i.e. it
is a thought or an idea) and thus does not physically exist. A
meme must infect other minds if it is to survive.

"Printed money has value" is a meme. There is a "virtual" virus
in our capatalistic minds that makes us believe this statement,
and it is vital that the meme is passed on.

Memes are responsible for Urban Myths such as the poodle-in-the-
microwave-oven one, the "Satanic Crime/Conspiracy" myth, and the
host of all other Urban Myths.

In the context of this echo, a meme is what is responsible for
people to worship an old book, and believe what they "know in
their heart is true" but have no evidence that their belief is
true. "Creation 'Science'" is a meta-meme, as it is trying to
destroy and take over the ground that the evolution meme now holds.

Usually a meme is based on fiction, such as "creation." It can
be considered a "silly notion" or "wives' tale" that "every one
knows" or that "the in group knows." Hince religious memes.

There is a meme that says "some people win at slot machines."
All people who put their money in slot machines believe this
meme, even though most have never met someone personally who
has done so. It is always "a friend of a friend" who has won
money from a slot machine.

Memes are tenatious. All evidence that contradicts a meme is often
not only ignored, but totally invisible to the infected mind. One
example: millions of people believe some godlet died on a tree
two thousand years ago, even though there is no record of the
event. Another is: we "had" to build a massive nucular deterent
because the commies were out to burry us. Another: America was
"moral and just" to kill 20,000 children in Iraq, to teach
Saddam a lesson.

Memes do not lend themselves to scrutiny. If they are seen for
what they are, they are easily driven from the infected mind:
"How could I have been so STUPID!" is the phrase one exclaims
when the infection has been iradicated. Knowledge, information,
and critical thinking is the best innoculation, though it is
not by any means a prevention against meme infection. Hince,
if the infected mind receives a remote, tiny glimmer of the
memes' existance as a parasite, the meme goes into over-production
of mete-memes to prevent full disclosure. Tell an infected mind
"Jezuz never existed" and it will yank out an old book to "prove"
otherwise. Tell an infected mind "sodom and gamorah never existed"
and they will point to New York or LA as "proof."

A meme fights very hard to stay alive, and will sometimes cause
the infected mind to attemp such things as killing other people
who are not infected with the same meme, and thus gain a very
secure nitch. The "I support our troops" meme. The "witch"
burning meme. The "she wanted me to rape her" meme. The "damn
niggers are the cause of our troubles" meme. The nationalism and
patriotism meme that says "We're number one!"

A meme can and do mutate. Someone infected in a down-town bar
may believe the meme "The Rams are the best football team."
Another individual infected with the same but mutated meme,
will believe "The Raiders are the best football team." This
example shows how various religious "denominations" come
into being. A meme mutated while it was passed from one mind
to another. It is the cause of many a bar-room fight and
racial genocide, as each meme fights it out for the same nitch.

Blessed Be!


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