Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 16:24:45 -0400
From: Michael Wilson <mpwilson@concentric.net>
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Operationalising Memetics and Jones
It was called "The Wave" I remember it fairly well (he says tenuously). It was
complete down to the armbands and the basic symbology.
It was the subject of a film, but I don't remember in what context.
If I remember correctly, the dis-enchantment took place in an auditorium, where
the students were gathered and told quite explicitly what was going on,
complete with footage from the Hitler Youth training, etc.
That would mean, I suspect, that it was critical that the "subjects" had a very
specific example of that scheme at its worst. Their negative emotional
association with the Nazi scheme was although disassociated (in fact the
disassociation was critical) much stronger than the positive one to the newly
'introduced' doppleganger. As such, they were able to release its hold on
them.
I too would like to verify my memory of this experiment.
- Mike
Eva-Lise Carlstrom wrote:
> > From: Arel Lucas <arel@pacbell.net>
> > Date: Wed, 22 Apr 1998 19:52:05 -0700
> > Subject: Re: Operationalising Memetics and Jones
> ....
> > On another tack, have I missed seeing anything on this list about the
> > inadvertently memetic experiment Ron Jones conducted in Palo Alto on his
> > high-school class? He clearly demonstrated that it is possible to:
> > a. Extract the basic elements of the Nazi scheme (to use Hofstadter's
> > term for a structure analogous to a chromosome with memes for genes)
> > without any memetic training or conscious knowledge of memetic theory;
> > b. Teach them quickly to a group of adolescents;
> > c. Cause a rapid contagion of this highly virulent scheme, even to
> > racial intolerance where there was no explicit articulation of this meme.
> >
> > Fortunately, he also proved that it is possible to stop a contagion of
> > this sort--at least at such an early stage and when done by the
> > acknowledged leader.
> >
> > Does anyone know of any followup of this remarkable experiment?
> >
> > Arel Lucas
>
> Not only do I not know of any followup, I'd really like a pointer to a
> source so I can find out more about the original experiment!
>
> --Eva-Lise Carlstrom
>
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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