Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id PAA18745 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 16 Mar 2000 15:55:21 GMT Message-ID: <38D10350.A33E7CB5@fcol.com> Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 10:52:48 -0500 From: "Robert G. Grimes" <grimes@fcol.com> Organization: Grimes & Grimes, Consulting X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (Win98; I) X-Accept-Language: en To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: Complete thoughts References: <20000316122857.AAA28043@camailp.harvard.edu@[205.240.180.178]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
As Wade intimated, symbology is the key word, whether written, hummed,
whistled, painted, photographed, etc., etc. I recall when I was in the
Navy in W.W.II and on Saipan, Mariana Islands, and we began to notice that
some of our Navy men were getting arrested over and over for running through
stop signs. We found that these folks actually couldn't read and had been
stopping or slowing, etc., depending on the shape and color of the signs
when in the States.
Not having the customary traffic signs, ours might be written on a board, on
the side of a Quonset hut, vertically on a pole, etc., but one had to
"read" to know when to stop or to get directions, etc. The non-readers had
slipped by a lot of things but this environment blew their cover. One of
our messengers was a young French Canadian from the Northeast, with a strong
accent, etc., and he could read and speak French but no English. After this
was discovered (as a messenger he got a lot of tickets driving his jeep) he
would ask me to read his letters from his English speaking girls for him.
The astounding thing was how so many guys who couldn't really read had been
taken into the Navy and had managed to get along until exposed by something
like this. We had an educational unit on the island where we taught all
sorts of things. I had set up a course for Radiomen strikers, with
typewriters, code machines, telegraph keys, etc. But we also had courses
for adult non-readers and we required these guys to enroll.
There is no telling how many people are going through life utilizing a
"different" symbology than the rest of us! Or how many are getting a
different message, missing messages, etc., symbolized in abstractions but
interpreted in different fashion, etc.
Cordially,
Bob
"Wade T.Smith" wrote:
> Very interesting....
>
> I would only but this but-
>
> >Also, the "complete thought" MUST be a WRITTEN one
>
> - that I think there is something very right about the above statement,
> in that culture (vs society- after all, ants have a 'society') should be
> artefactual- but, I would contend that art (images, dances, rituals,
> etc.) are just as valid as writing to be cultural artefacts, and thus
> contain 'memes' under your refining definition.
>
> Yes, no?
>
> - Wade
-- Bob Grimeshttp://members.aol.com/bob5266/ http://pages.hotbot.com/edu/bobinjax/ http://www.phonefree.com/Scripts/cgiParse.exe?sID=28788 Jacksonville, Florida Bob5266@aol.com robert.grimes@excite.com bobinjax@hotbot.com
Man is not in control, but the man who knows he is not in control is more in control...
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore....."
=============================================================== This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing) see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Mar 16 2000 - 15:55:36 GMT