Forum Overview :: American Beauty :: Way to miss the point, ES.

[quote name="Mysterio"]It's not that they're 'overrated,' it's that talking about memes as single units is less broadly applicable than talking about the effect of the entire meme-set. The scientists that worked on the human genome project are now using it to block off cancer's pathways into the body. If they succeed, this will be lots of small genetic alterations creating an alteration in the human phenome: low to nil cancer risk. Jews/whites/etc and their effect on public perceptions and behavior are the memetic equivalent of the genes that determine male pattern baldness - entertaining, but not that interesting. The real money's on the memetic subset relevant to the human mythos and logos, eg neo-mercantilism, nuclear proliferation, tolerance of certain levels of poverty or disease halfway across the globe in alleged superpowers. Sure, Palestinians are entertaining and engaging, but it's our response to the welfare or continued existence two billion disease-prone Eurasian peasants scattered across Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, and Asia that determines if we have a subcontinent sized petri dish for growing the next SARS and drinking all the clean water. In the meantime the west tries on different guiding principles - things like paideia in times of plenty and religiosity in lean times - as it ever did, which is more interesting than figuring out that the meme of branding is responsible for the popularity of Belvedere vodka and the Lexus. But insofar as memes get you jollies, you know, whatever. Nobody should stand between a man and whatever keeps him from finally going postal.[/quote]