what we don't let in

From: Wade T.Smith (wade_smith@harvard.edu)
Date: Tue 05 Nov 2002 - 00:00:20 GMT

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    > Douglas:
    >
    > I'm interested in the ways in which cultures shut out (ignore)
    > information. is there a meme-specific way of talking about this?

    All religions are by nature isolationist cultures, and it is quite impossible to introduce certain ideas into them. Politics is also isolationist in this way, and so are all tribal structures. In fact, it is a rare culture that does not shut out information, as indeed, since cultures need to maintain a large degree of status quo, and pure information is always information about change, they have to. Sometimes, things change so much that, pop, in it comes, like women at Harvard, and revealing adult buttocks on usanian TV.

    It is still impossible for McDonald's to get into Harvard Square, although Dunkin' Donuts squeezed in.

    Is there a word for it, or a meme-specific way of talking about it? Exclusion is just as much a memetic influence as anything else is.

    - Wade

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