Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id OAA27421 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 15 Jun 2001 14:42:38 +0100 Message-ID: <3B2A1005.CE418994@bioinf.man.ac.uk> Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 14:39:17 +0100 From: Chris Taylor <Christopher.Taylor@man.ac.uk> Organization: University of Manchester X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.77 [en] (Windows NT 5.0; U) X-Accept-Language: en To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: Mooning References: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3101745EF6@inchna.stir.ac.uk > <3.0.1.32.20010615092125.0069979c@agner.org> <992611854.3b2a0e0eb829e@www-th.phys.rug.nl> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Is this an example of a more general type of behavior?
> Once someone breaks a taboo (temporarily) as a provocative
> act of defiance. Its observers and bystanders, perhaps en masse,
> imitate the actor and as such break the taboo as well.
> A memetic avalanche effect by means of taboo-breaking?
Good call - it's like those frenzy scenes in films where a bag of money
has been cast to the four winds, then someone starts grabbing (money
that isn't theirs) and soon everyone dives in. The opposite would be
where thirty people watch someone drown without moving, because everyone
held the belief that someone else (presumably better suited than them)
would do something.
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Chris Taylor (chris@bioinf.man.ac.uk)
http://bioinf.man.ac.uk/ »people»chris
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