Sad State of affairs

Monday, Jan 22

 

"We used to have an unrivaled reputation among the backward people of the world. We were considered the true defenders of liberty, justice and peace, the hope of the future. Our anger, our ignorance and our frustration have made us forfeit this tremendous advantage." [written in 1962].
From: Thomas Merton. Passion for Peace: The Social Essays. William H. Shannon, ed. New York: Crossroad, 1995: 110.

 

I wonder what Merton would be doing today, were he alive, about the Iraq war. I don't think things are much different since his times in the 60s.

 

Its so hard to read the news these days; all of it is bad and revolves around war, military, death, destruction.

 

On the other hand, there is a lot of good going on in the world but none of it makes the news. The whole theory of memes is right. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme  

• Meme - refers to a unit of cultural information transferable from one mind to another. Meme-theorists contend that memes most beneficial to their hosts will not necessarily survive; rather, those memes which replicate the most effectively spread best; which allows for the possibility that successful memes might prove detrimental to their hosts.
• In Cultural Software: A Theory of Ideology, Jack Balkin argued that memetic processes can explain many of the most familiar features of ideological thought. His theory of "cultural software" maintained that memes form narratives, networks of cultural associations, metaphoric and metonymic models, and a variety of different mental structures. Some of these structures can help generate racist and anti-Semitic beliefs, by making this kind of belief spread fast and wide. Conversely, some memes can have moral implications that are generally deemed positive, such as the meme of anti-racism, which tends to generate behaviors of tolerance.
• Memes, like genes, do not purposely do or want anything — they either get replicated or not. Some meme systems have negative effects on the host or on their host society, but humans generally have a symbiotic relationship with these abstract entities.

More research needs to be done regarding memes -- and on how to encourage/multiple the reproduction of memes that are positive and tend to generate behaviors of tolerance. Any ideas?  Here is supposedly how memes replicate:

1. Experience: If a meme does not correlate with an individual's experience, then that individual has a reduced likelihood of remembering that meme.
2. Pleasure/Pain: If a meme results in more pleasure or less pain for its host then the host will have a greater likelihood of remembering it.
3. Fear/Bribery: If a meme constitutes a threat then people may become frightened into believing it. Similarly, if a meme promises some future benefit then people may incline to believe it. The memes "if you do X you will burn in hell" and "do Y and you will go to heaven" provide examples. Memes which pass on the fear of a threat, of the likelihood or effectiveness of a threat, that "something will happen if you do such and such a thing", have a high likelihood of success, and may therefore replicate and remain in the meme-pool. They may assist in this way in the survival of a thought, a theme or a philosophy within a community.
4. Censorship: If an organisation destroys any retention-systems containing a particular meme or otherwise controls the usage of that meme, then that meme may suffer a selective disadvantage.
5. Economics: If people or organisations with economic influence exhibit a particular meme, then the meme has a greater likelihood of benefiting from a greater audience. If a meme tends to increase the riches of an individual holding it, then that meme may spread because of imitation. Such memes might include "Hard work is good" and "Put number one first".
6. Distinction: If the meme enables hearers to recognize and respect tellers (as leaders, intelligent people, insightful, etc.), then the meme has a greater chance of spreading. The erstwhile receivers will want to become themselves tellers of the same meme (or of an evolved/mutated version). Thus élite knowledge can provide a promotion to élite status.

You can go through and show how the AQ ideology is perfectly suited to meet these evolutionary characteristics and explains why the AQ memes spread like wild fire. The question is how do we spread the antidote?