From: Steven Thiele (sthiele@metz.une.edu.au)
Date: Tue 24 Feb 2004 - 22:12:07 GMT
<< A kind of essentialism is at work within the concept of memetics,
homogenizing what in fact are very different ( IMO individualistic) discours/
structures and e(a)ffects.
For a population to be ripe for hegemony_ it means that its interests ( those
of all individuals living within ) enables it, to organise the whole of society
in accordance with those interests. That can 't be done, if not all of the
' consciousness ' points in the same direction.
In that regards, I don 't think that society/ culture manifest itself in the same
way individuals display, lets say a particular style of walking. Culture, is thus,
and must be in the ways by which it is explained, rather a complex, conflic-
tive field of meaning, in which some themes will be bound tight together to
the experience of a particular class ( and it will express dominance), while
others will ' float ' around, tugged- torn between now this way and now
another- in between the competitive ( memetic) powers.
A group, can be said, can 't be regarded as a kind of collectivized individual_
' groups ' don 't possess a ' consciousness ', an unity, an autonomy, a self-
determination_ there will be always contamination.
Although, I am not blind for the group- power, and thus that the contamination-
level is less than zero if it appears to move from individual towards collective,
but it can be said that therefore it is harder to see how exact dominant an
individual can be.
This suggests that in fact ' the social- evolutionary- interpretation' of what
Darwin wrote can be seen as a form of ideology.
Those who try to explain social life and thus culture in Darwinian terms focus
upon their quasi superior belief of Western scientific supremacy.
In fact, the progressive ' interpretation of Darwinism contradicts in essence
its revolutionary insight in evolution. Darwin tried to move God out of the
picture, but by replacing evolution by the more uni-linear term ' progress '
progressists put in yet another ' plan '.
In that way, it allows us to legitimate the replacement of other cultures
by ours. The argument is thereby that time is of the essence for all parties.
Some memeticians, those who argue that all has to do with memes, make
an error of judgement_ by including memes in almost everything they
include the notion that there is an indisputable terminal point to their assump-
tion. That is simply unjustified and unwise.
Kenneth
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