Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id TAA20546 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Sat, 21 Apr 2001 19:50:52 +0100 Message-ID: <000d01c0ca98$f16769e0$6f03bed4@default> From: "Kenneth Van Oost" <Kenneth.Van.Oost@village.uunet.be> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> References: <20010420201552.AAA8642%camailp.harvard.edu@[128.103.125.215]> Subject: Re: Is Suicide Contagious? A Case Study in Applied Memetics Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 21:25:42 +0200 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2314.1300 Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
----- Original Message -----
From: Wade T.Smith <wade_smith@harvard.edu>
To: memetics list <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2001 10:15 PM
Subject: Re: Is Suicide Contagious? A Case Study in Applied Memetics
> On 04/20/01 15:48, Robin Faichney said this-
> >But is anyone really suggesting that genuinely
> >non-suicidal people might be influenced to commit suicide?
> More to my original ethical consternation about these experiments, and
> JR's original wording, how else can you offer proof of influence except
> that you've managed to make someone kill themselves?
> And how can you prove that unless you have people who have no inclination
> to do anything like that in the first place?
Hi Wade,
Just slippin' in,
Cases like you mentioned above can be explained by the scape- goat-
principle. If, in a sense you could prove that the media, or anything or
anyone else uses that principle in their reports, writings and/ or sayings
you have a point.
If for example, the media in reporting about a recent suicide pin points
its reports to the social background/ the age of the partents, the colour
of the hair of the little girl,... in other words, marginals somehow than
a group of people, and thereby influences others you have managed
in a way that people would kill themselves who had no inclination to
that in the first place.
But that's need more examination though !!
I don 't there is any report about such a subject avaible...
But, for a good reference about the scape- goat- principle,
Le Bouc Emissaire by René Girard, Grasset, Paris 1982
Don 't know if any translation into English is avaible, maybe have a peek
on the Net.
best,
Kenneth
(I am, because we are)
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