From: joedees@bellsouth.net
Date: Sat 23 Nov 2002 - 21:50:36 GMT
> > From: "Lawrence DeBivort" <debivort@umd5.umd.edu>
> >
> > One of the insights of the US civil rights movement is that until
> > there is tolerance for all, there can be tolerance for none, and in
> > Joe we see the quintessential bigot: a raging anger against things
> > and people he cannot understand; a recourse to binary, simplistic
> > 'me-good, you-bad' thinking; and a biased selection of 'facts' for
> > obsessive repetition; and, a
> pervasive
> > paranoia - 'they are out to get me.'
> > It is sad, really, for a couple of reasons: Joe is not stupid, so
> > there is in principle a waste of intellectual capability going on,
> > and it occupies time and space on our list. Joe will never
> > understand that we are here to study memes as objects, because
> > instead he gets caught up inside them. And Joe's raging bigotry is
> > toxic; to the extent that anyone buys into it, it impedes the
> > ability of the US to form intelligent and effective views
> of
> > the world, and so to find our way to effective international
> > policies. The consequence is that the US alienates itself from a
> > world in which we need all the friends possible. It is ironic, too.
> > Joe makes President Bush
> look
> > like a model of insight, understanding, tolerance and leadership.
> > Joe
> lines
> > up with the Falwells and Pat Robertsons of our country, and only
> > make the job of the President harder. Joe will rush to say that he
> > is
> anti-religion,
> > but his bigotry is on a par and with and of the same nature as
> > Falwell's
> and
> > Robertson's.
> > Having said all of that, I will also say that Joe's presence here on
> > this list is interesting and not without value: it gives us our own
> > case study
> of
> > memetic warfare, and reveals a dark side of the American soul, a
> > dark side that harks back to the foundations of our country - the
> > dispossession of native peoples by Europeans colonialists, slavery,
> > anti-black prejudice, religious fundamentalism, and now,
> > international bullying in the form of power-based relationships. I
> > know that not everyone here is interested in this memetic battle,
> > and sympathize. As with the battles that attended these other dark
> > issues, we can't always choose our case studies. Sometimes they
> > choose us <smile> Best regards, Lawry
>
> Thanks for this. No doubt you've expressed the feelings of many on
> this list.
>
Especially those who still resent me for deflating their pet delusion.
>
> Ted
>
>
>
> ===============================================================
> 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 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
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