From: Lawrence deBivort (debivort@umd5.umd.edu)
Date: Thu 02 Dec 2004 - 04:10:02 GMT
MOTORCYCLE DIARIES can be seen as myth-making re. revolution: the young
idealistic (and not too serious) young man sets out on a travel adventure,
and stumbles into social situations (poverty, exploitation) that 'open his
eyes' and he becomes an idealist, and, forced by a realization that the
'establishment' opposes progress, a revolutionary.
It is portrayed in the movie as a credible journey, and can probably be
found in other cultures and countries. I imagine a number of USA
revolutionaries would share a similar development. Phoolan Devi (BANDIT
QUEEN) provides grist for a similar meme in India.
Cheers,
Lawry
-----Original Message-----
From: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk [mailto:fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk] On Behalf Of
Lawrence deBivort
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2004 9:41 PM
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: RE: God gene etc
Scott, have you seen the MOTORCYCLE DIARIES? Thoughts?
Cheers,
Lawry
-----Original Message-----
From: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk [mailto:fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk] On Behalf Of
Scott Chase
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2004 6:49 PM
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: Re: God gene etc
--- stunned <stunned@execpc.com> wrote:
> Agreed Scott. The discussions were relevant - I
> wasn't even following
> them in great detail, but I did notice that although
> politics in
> relation to Memetics was being discussed - there was
> a little egoic
> attachment to particular views - nothing out of the
> ordinary however.
>
I happen to be reading two books on the politics of
the Old South in the US _The Rise of the Southern
Republicans_ and _The New Politics of the Old South_.
I can see relevance to list discussion in these book,
in how ideoological stances played a role in the
creeping rise of the GOP in the South after civil
rihts an voting right wre passed, but since this is a
*political* topic someone might blow a gasket.
I've also developed an interested in Che Guevara and
his role in Latin American history, but this interest
has absolutely no relevance whasover to memetics so I
suppose I won't discuss it here, lest I get boted from
the list. As an aside I have developed an interest in
geurilla warfare and have read about Mao in China and
about the American patriot Francis Marion of South
Carolina (loosely depicted in the fictional Mel Gibson
movie _The Patriot_), but the development and spread
of unconventional warfare strategies and tactics have
no relevance to memetics...
I've also developed an interest in Cuba and have an
excellent article that brings my previous hobby horse
of rastafarianism into play: ["Rasta, race and
revolution transnational connections in socialist
Cuba" by Katrin Hansing in _Journal of Ethnic and
Migration Studies (Oct 2001) p733- ], but Cuba is
irrelevant to memetics.
Shucks.
>
> This is probably what Bruce is referring to. Bruce
> should realise as a
> list administrator that censorship for something as
> tame as this is not
> the answer - some people just identify very strongly
> with their beliefs.
>
Yeah my brief mention of animal rights extreism as
another form of ideologically based activism and
someone's mention that this was used as a plot device
in a movie and my comparison of said zombie movie "28
Days Later" to Charlton Heston's "Omega Man" had no
relevance to memetics nor did my aside about the Ring
series by Japan's Stephen King, the author Koji
Suzuki, and how that series has been Americanized in
film. How films morph between one culture and another
(ie- Ringu vs. The Ring) and how the makers of "The
Ring" movie chopped that story from its Japanese
context and fit it into an American context have no
relevance to memetics. The basis on Suzuki's first
book on contagion and the notion of copying videos to
save ones self from the fate forewarned by an urban
legend (the movie plot) has no relevance to memetics.
My brainstorming has no place here on this list.
Cricket chirps are more important than topics or
discussion.
We can all kindly worship in peace at the altar of
Hari Seldon now.
>
> Speaking of beliefs: Did we discuss the book "The
> God Gene" here yet?
> I haven't read it yet, but as a molecular biologist
> and someone very
> interested in comparative mythology, I am going to
> pick it up soon.
>
I've noticed a few books on the speculative biological
bases for religious belief. Since you're interested in
comparative mythology, I'd assume you're familiar with
Jung. We wouldn't want to talk about him though since
he's not relevant to memes and memetics and we might
get booted from the list for disturbing the chirping
crickets who have taken residence in the rafters
during the lack of list activity.
>
> (I'm probably a bit behind y'all) I'm very
> interested in how the
> hereditary of the gene ties up with the hereditary
> of religious memes.
>
A gene-meme leash or a highly canalized culturgen?
I've not read too much evolutionary biology or
memetics books lately, since instead of taking theory
and fitting facts to it, I'm trying to clean my
ideological slate and accumulate facts so that I can
beter evaluate competing theories down the road.
History is irrelevant to memes and memetics. I've
found that reading too much memetics and evolutionary
biology for analogies as to how culture works can dull
one's senses for how much complexity the historical
record actually offers.
>
> And..I'm leaving Milwaukee and moving to Seattle WA
> this coming week!
> Anyone here in Seattle?
>
Uh oh. You just went off topic. When you're in Seattle
you might want to take up the grunge movement in music
and fashion as a topic for research. Alternative music
has no relevance to memetics.
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===============================================================
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
===============================================================
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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