Responsibility of Memes

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- HighOctane
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Responsibility of Memes
OP - September 14, 2009, 12:42 AM

Hi, quick question: who is responsible for a meme?

To be a bit more clear:
- if a terrorist blows up a building by being brainwashed into Islam, is it the fault of the meme ... or the person? (easy, but wait there's more .... )
- if a (brainwashed from the society) father makes sure their kids are brought up also brainwashed in Islam and his daughter dies because she didn't want to see a male doctor and it caused her to die, again, is it the fault of the meme .... or the daughter or the father or the people the father grew up around and followed?

So basically, from terrorists, to the second class status of women, to the death of apostates in Islam ... who is responsible: the people or the meme (or the people who invented the meme)?

I think responsibility lies 50%:50% seeing how easily the mind can be brainwashed. What do you think?

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Re: Responsibility of Memes
Reply #1 - September 14, 2009, 01:18 AM

Quote from: HighOctane on September 14, 2009, 12:42 AM
I think responsibility lies 50%:50% seeing how easily the mind can be brainwashed.

That'd be my guess.

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Re: Responsibility of Memes
Reply #2 - September 14, 2009, 01:28 AM

Both, yup. A meme is not a person, it's an idea (or set of ideas), so it can't itself be "held accountable" however memes are started by, followed by and spread by persons. People who spread invalid or inhumane memes need to be held responsible, and the memes themselves need to be challenged so that any new persons about to latch on to or propogate an invalid/inhumane meme will have information that exposes the ridiculousness of that meme.

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Re: Responsibility of Memes
Reply #3 - September 14, 2009, 08:35 AM

Also the peers who advised them to blow up the towers are at fault, as well as the society/culture in which they were born. The percentage of fault sifts depending on the intellect of the person. I certainly would not attribute as much of the blame to soemone who is mentally challenged, as I would to someone with a high intellect.

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Re: Responsibility of Memes
Reply #4 - September 14, 2009, 08:47 AM

I never understood memes...I know it sounds stupid

So basically, religion can be a meme?
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Re: Responsibility of Memes
Reply #5 - September 14, 2009, 08:55 AM

A meme is any idea we pass on to eachother, any and every idea. Even children copying the behavior of their parents, friends. That's my understanding of it.

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Re: Responsibility of Memes
Reply #6 - September 14, 2009, 08:59 AM

Depends how you see it, religious people wont see it as a meme.

A meme is a cultural unit that are seen in darwinian terms. They get passed down the generations and can evolve. It can be down to how you brush your teeth, whether you add garam masala to your chicken curry, how you wipe your butt etc. In the same way as evolution, if a meme is unable to multiply itself (it may no longer be useful, or the fear of losing it too great) then it will also die out.

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Re: Responsibility of Memes
Reply #7 - September 14, 2009, 09:00 AM

Ahh okay I get it now Cheers.
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Re: Responsibility of Memes
Reply #8 - September 14, 2009, 09:10 AM

You can see why it is is such a useful term in explaining Islam's growth by checking this link http://www.citizenwarrior.com/2007/10/terrifying-brilliance-of-islamic.html

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Re: Responsibility of Memes
Reply #9 - September 14, 2009, 09:25 AM

Cool, reading it now. So far I've only read the first two paragraphs but it's pretty interesting. Gonna get a cuppa and sit down to rid this, it looks like an interesting article to read.
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Re: Responsibility of Memes
Reply #10 - September 14, 2009, 12:55 PM

Wow nice link IsLame! Yep, that totally sums up what I was thinking, and more.

I totally agree with this:

Quote
In the same way, the success of a meme doesn't necessarily mean it's good for the person holding that meme.

If a memeplex says it is wrong to use contraception and wrong to masturbate, that memeplex would get itself copied into more minds than an identical memeplex without these two added memes (assuming offspring would be taught the memeplex too).

So the hapless believer, trying to follow the rules and be a good person by avoiding the evils of contraception and masturbation, would have more children than he might want or could afford, causing him to work overtime to support them ? working two jobs if he must. It sends him to an early grave, but puts more copies of that memeplex into the minds of future generations than someone without those two memes.

It is for the power of memes I'm starting to question where the blame lies ... the leader more so than the follower? Being a leader comes a responsibility with the power to lead and not pass on bad memes, but then is it the follower's fault for not critically thinking before accepting the meme? Hmm.

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Re: Responsibility of Memes
Reply #11 - September 14, 2009, 12:59 PM

Quote from: IsLame on September 14, 2009, 08:35 AM
Also the peers who advised them to blow up the towers are at fault, as well as the society/culture in which they were born. The percentage of fault sifts depending on the intellect of the person. I certainly would not attribute as much of the blame to soemone who is mentally challenged, as I would to someone with a high intellect.

Yes I agree here ... which leads me to think something pretty debatable in terms of "meme viral susceptibility".

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