From: Scott Chase (osteopilus@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat 30 Oct 2004 - 04:10:47 GMT
--- Paul <paul@dna.ie> wrote:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk
> [mailto:fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk] On Behalf
> Of Keo Ormsby
> Sent: 29 October 2004 21:04
> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Subject: Re: Absolutist memes
>
> [snip]
>
> >The point I want to make, is that this
> interpretation does not say
> anything >about whether a population with absolutist
> memes will have a
> better >survival rate than another with
> rationalistic memes, or vice
> versa. It >might, but it would be a side effect.
> Perhaps one can suppose
> that fear >memes in general populate a special
> ancestral (i.e. genetic)
> place in our >psychology, that make them important
> for biological
> survival. That would >account for Keith's keen
> observation that
> absolutist memes appear in >stressed/worried
> populations, but I do not
> think it is necessary to assign >a biologically
> relevant selective
> pressure, or a specialized inherited >psychological
> process to each and
> every kind of meme (absolutist, >rationalistic,
> religious, etc.) It
> sounds a little phrenological to me.
>
>
> This is really getting interesting. Ruling out the
> possibility of a
> genetic biological relevance on selective pressure
> or a specialised
> inherited psychological process of memes with
> regards to memes appearing
> in a stressed/worried population; what process in
> your view would have
> to take place in order for the absolutist memes to
> establish an ESS?
>
I can think of an example where an absolutist mindset
has remained in a population hat has had some
significant economic success overall (ceteris
parabis). Cuban exiles in Miami have been rather well
off in many respects. Many lack the looming privation
Keith often refers to. As a matter of fact some of the
more extreme have enjoyed great privilege and status
in the community. After finishing Ann Bardach's _Cuba
Confidential_ I realize, from her discussion, that the
CANF lobby has tamed down a bit, especially after Mas
Canosa, the exile war horse, died. Yet as CANF became
more moderate another more extreme faction emerged
called the Cuban Liberty Council that takes a hardline
stance on policy towards Castro's regime. So movements
can have their absolutist elements and also a tendency
to moderate their views. I don't know that fear is a
factor that causes polarization of the extremist
element in the Cuban exile situation (unlike fear of
Palestinians might generate extremism in settler
views), though it might silence the more moderate
exiles from expression of their views. The Cuban
exiles seem to be well off economically or at least we
might rule out their economic situation being a factor
in generating a since of relative privation. They
might sense a loss of inheritance for the properties
lost to Castro in Cuba though. What stresses and
worries should they have that are any different than
any other population in South Florida, at least that
are connected to generating the absolutism of the
anti-Castro ideology? I'd say this anti-Castro mindset
have enjoyed a relative amount of stability over the
years. Unlike Israeli settlers they are not fighting
off Palestinians in their midst, though there are
frictions between various ethnicities in the Miami
area that have come about due to the mass influx. Yet
these tensions are not related to the hatred of
Castro, since Castro doesn't live in Miami (unlike
Palestinians living in the occupied territories as a
target of settler animosity).
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