Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id OAA27493 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 20 Jul 2000 14:46:28 +0100 Message-Id: <4.3.1.0.20000720074948.0217f830@popmail.mcs.net> X-Sender: aaron@popmail.mcs.net X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 4.3.1 Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 08:39:22 -0500 To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk From: Aaron Lynch <aaron@mcs.net> Subject: Casualty of War In-Reply-To: <19991223081121.19711.qmail@nwcst282.netaddress.usa.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
At 08:11 AM 12/23/99 +0000, someone using this list wrote:
>Hello Aaron. Here I do not understand what you say. There are many academics
>working in memetics, and many have families. I take it you have no family
>(pardon me, I read between the lines of what you say) because you decided to
>study memetics instead. That is very noble, but also quite sad in a way that
>you have sacrificed so much, perhaps unnecessarily.
>
>Happy Chanukah (hope you had one)
>
>F.
The "opportunity" to make the above comment came after I alluded to someone
else's explicitly stated decision to suspend full time memetics work due to
family reasons.
Nevertheless, the above quoted comment bears uncanny resemblance to World
War II psychological warfare tactics. The only difference is that it tells
me that I am forfeiting having a family and a holiday not so that I can
work in the military, but so that I can work in memetics. Even the embedded
ethnic presumption harkens back to Word War II psychological tactics.
(Whether or not I celebrate Chanukah as my personal tradition is
irrelevant.) One might conclude that someone is attempting to fight some
kind of psychological war against me. As the old saying goes, "Truth is the
first casualty of war." With at least one person apparently attempting to
wage a psychological war with the objective of getting me to retreat from
memetics, I cannot presume that honesty prevails in all quarters of our
discussions.
I am not quite sure what my objectives are supposed to be in the "war."
Self defense? The right to use the word "meme" in connection with "thought
contagion"? No matter. It is clear that collaboration, collegiality, and
discourse cannot happen between certain parties unless there is convincing
evidence that real peace has broken out.
--Aaron Lynch
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