Today's Topics:
meme-ology
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From: dryfoo@athena.mit.edu
Message-Id: <8911150357.AA22895@BEETHOVEN.MIT.EDU>
Subject: meme-ology
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 89 22:57:51 EST
Is anyone working on a cure or vaccine for the "Believe me or something
awful will happen to you" meme?
It's really dangerous, because all kinds of other screwball
idea-complexes bid for that meme. It usually goes to the highest
bidder, i.e. the idea-structure that promises to use it most frequently
and spread it most effectively.
Be careful to differentiate it from its less subtle mutant source:
"Believe (or do) this, or I will hurt you" That's mere bullying. The
virulent advantage of its mutant offspring is that it doesn't actually
ever have to hurt anybody to be effective, or even have the capability
to inflict actual damage.
Fundamentalist Xtianity wouldn't be anywhere near as dangerous without
this sucker. In fact, it would be kind of cute. The reason they're so
weird is because they're in a permanent state of barely controlled
panic. Their behavior might be understandable in a foxhole, between
artillery bombardments, or if seated with a bunch of
temporarily-sleeping lunatics on a large platform balanced, teetering
precariously at the edge of a monstrous precipice. Under those
extreme circumstances, the sort of behavior they demonstrate daily might
be comprehensible.
Even $tang demonstrated the technique of "scare 'em to death" to get 'em
to agree. It's a vector for spreading an infectious idea that uses the
"Believe me or suffer" meme. Of course, if you're asked to believe the
increasingly preposterous, you hit a point where you either build up
some resistance to the damn thing, or you go bonkers and believe
everything.
Suggested reading: Binky Brown Meets the Virgin Mary. Also, any issue
of the Bayside Virgin's Newsletter.
"If you can't wash, grill it, boil it, or peel it, then don't eat it."
-- dr foo
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|Gary L. Dryfoos | "But first...
|ARPA/Internet: dryfoo@athena.mit.edu |
| UUCP/Usenet: ...mit-eddie!athena.mit.edu!dryfoo| ...a little Bo-Bo!"
| Phone: (617) 253-0184 / (617) 825-6115 |
| USPS: E40-342g, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139|
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End of SubGenius Digest
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