A meme is like a thought gene. You suddenly see something appear in human behaviour that spreads by imitation and in some way appears to have validity. You could say people starting sentences with 'so' was a simple meme. They do it because they hear others doing it and by repetition it in some way become accepted. Trump was a genius at starting meme's - MAGA... A wall keeps people safe... - ideas that gained credence, simply because the ideas spread by repetition and imitation.
You could say any propaganda is a meme trick - as propaganda relies on belief and repetition by a mass.
Human's are an imitation species - we copy each other without even realising it (didn't Desmond Morris cover how we follow each other in The Naked Ape and follow ups?) - and we want to fit in with peer groups so copying and spreading memes could be seen as genetic.
The word meme was invented by Richard Dawkins, in his great book The Selfish Gene. It means a unit of imitation, and he gives as examples tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothing fashions, and ways of making pots or of building arches. They propagate themselves from brain to brain by imitation, and are subject to mutation and selection, in an analogous way to the propagation of genes from one individual to the next. Memes which spread via the internet are a subset of them.
@NorthernJoe. How ironic, it would be if all the religious bigots ended up in the same place😂
It would indeed be preferable to them making life a hell on Earth for the rest of us. 😠
Indeed so. Religion is the cause of many of the world's problem, but is the solution to none of them. If any religion has been shown to be immune from Covid, I'll start praying to their god.
I tend to disagree with you on this. My past was believing in God because I was white, English and lived in a quiet village. I was a child. I got to high school and encountered a very good teacher with one flaw he was a strong Christian even evangelical about it. His arguments for Christianity were preposterous so I rapidly lost religion. I then became like many, a devout atheist is what I call them. Strongly anti religion to the point of becoming a religion. Typified by all the world's problems caused by religion comments. I've since come to understand society and religion more. I've finally grown up if you like.
My current view is that what is basically wrong with the world, all that is wrong is down to humans, in particular power and culture. Pure religion, whilst being based on the unprovoked unseen, has a lot of merit. It's always been about understanding the world and everything. It's about living as a society when the rules were written. But above all it's based on culture and power. This is what is wrong with religion and the world.
By this I mean is best explained by Christianity and heaven/hell/10 commandments/schism/protestantism and so on. It's all power and culture. As we understand more through education, learning and science it changes our need for the cultural parts of religion from the past. But there's still merit left.
I'd recommend reading religion for atheists by Alain de Boton. He's a philosopher, commentator and historian I believe. Academic with non academic activities too. It can be a heavy read at times but there's good points in there.
Put it bluntly, without ever having religion would so much of what is important to us exist? Rule of law for example. Religion was the origins of modern laws. The religious clerics were the administration clerics too. Civil service had its origins with religion too. Clerics for the administration were clerics from religion.
The trick is to separate our tie cultural aspects. Male patriarchy, top down power, rules of suppression, etc. Every bad thing about religion is more power plays than actual religion.
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"It brings indescribable sadness to know that the BBC's failures contributed significantly to her fear, paranoia and isolation," he said.
I think he should look to his Father, and family, to see who did the real damage to his late Mother.
My current view is that what is basically wrong with the world, all that is wrong is down to humans, in particular power and culture. Pure religion, whilst being based on the unprovoked unseen, has a lot of merit. It's always been about understanding the world and everything. It's about living as a society when the rules were written. But above all it's based on culture and power. This is what is wrong with religion and the world.
By this I mean is best explained by Christianity and heaven/hell/10 commandments/schism/protestantism and so on. It's all power and culture. As we understand more through education, learning and science it changes our need for the cultural parts of religion from the past. But there's still merit left.
I'd recommend reading religion for atheists by Alain de Boton. He's a philosopher, commentator and historian I believe. Academic with non academic activities too. It can be a heavy read at times but there's good points in there.
Put it bluntly, without ever having religion would so much of what is important to us exist? Rule of law for example. Religion was the origins of modern laws. The religious clerics were the administration clerics too. Civil service had its origins with religion too. Clerics for the administration were clerics from religion.
The trick is to separate our tie cultural aspects. Male patriarchy, top down power, rules of suppression, etc. Every bad thing about religion is more power plays than actual religion.