Absolutist memes

From: Dace (edace@earthlink.net)
Date: Tue 26 Oct 2004 - 19:07:53 GMT

  • Next message: Keith Henson: "Re: Absolutist memes"

    According to Israeli journalist Uri Avnery, Jewish fanaticism has reached such a fever pitch that the country is now obsessed with the possibility of civil war. The fanatical Jews, no different in principle from fanatical Christians or Muslims, want to abolish democratic institutions and turn Israel into a fundamentalist state. The fanaticism is most prevalent among Israelis who have illegally settled on Palestinian land.

    http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery10252004.html

    Avnery asserts that most settlers did not begin as fanatics but only developed an absolutist stance as a result of their situation. Only a minority of settlers, the "hard core," began as fanatics and remain to this day totally open about their beliefs. The implication, from a memetics point of view, is that absolutist memes are more powerful than rationalist memes. Even when the number of individuals harboring absolutist memes is tiny, at first, compared to the number who harbor rationalist memes, over time the group as a whole is liable to fall under the spell of the absolutist memes.

    Ted

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