>Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999 19:38:16 -0500
>From: "joe dees" <joedees@bellsouth.net>
>Subject: Re:virus: Re: virus-digest V3 #48
>
>My intent is to find out for whom memetics has become a
>cult, and who refuse to hold it amenable to rational criticism;
>who are the rabid Brodiest MemeNazis, if you will.
>Are you raising your hand?
Now, causing other people pain and frustration is sometimes neccesary. What purpose...what good are you doing for me which outweighs the damage? What lesson should I learn?
To lighten up? When I was in gym, in middle school, these four guys in the class made a ritual of beating me in the arm, always the same place. "Ouch, stop it!" I would say. And they would laugh and tell me I needed to lighten up. At least I wasn't Billy, the Omega male. That guy got the shit kicked out of him, in the showers, in front of our supposed "coach" who just stood there like a statue and handed us towels as we came out. I should have defended Billy, but I didn't have any faith. I've never been a big, tough guy...and to stand in the way would have been puting myself in danger. And for what? Billy was a little...troubled, dysfunctional. Nothing to be gained, personally. It wasn't logical. So I watched my ass, took my shower, and got out as fast as I could.
It's a pitiful site to see a naked kid cowering prone on those moldy tiles like that. Laughter echos off those slick walls and through the water. You can still hear it, down the hallway at your locker...and it chases you as you run out the door.
Second, Richard is my buddy. I don't worship the guy. Does having friends make me weak minded?
>The word was elided (which means much the same as eluded
>, so you got my drift ok).
Really? I'll have to look that one up. Neat.
>...it depends upon the intent both of the practitioners and
>the practitionees; it's possible, as you subsequently state, to
>use such an outlook for good or evil, and one person's good
>may be another's evil, also.
Well said. This is exactly what I mean when I say things are very often "context dependent".
>>"Every tool is a weapon, if you hold it right."
>
>This is where I agree with you.
Ani DiFranco, man...now THERE is a goddess. I have all her albums. I loved the concerts where she used to play to a couple hundred of us at colleges...me, the folkies, and the lesbians. Of course, I also loved the last tour where I saw her in Worchester. Me, the folkies, the lesbians, and about a thousand "grrl!" tenny boppers. I found it kind of neat that they decided that dyke was their idenity du jure... certianly better than the vampire/goth stuff, which kind of gives me the willies.
>Or perhaps our ideologies to overcome our sometines social
>but mainly egocentric natures?
I think human nature is inherently oriented towards good. We get side-tracked, and there are compromises, but the needle points north.
I was making a general statement. I depend on the fact that human nature eventually overcomes ideology. Is that better?
>As above, it all depends upon the intents of the
>practitioner and the practiced-upon, and the personal
>history of each person on this list will most likely
>bear this out (a most likely true observation concerning
>general human nature; see how easy it is?).
Right on, dude.
Do you have any evidence that anyone who claims to understand
"level 3" is intent on anything other than helping people?
Assuming they don't want help, they don't have to keep talking to us. But, geez, they make us go on and on and on. Nit here, fallacy there. Hah, Reed! You aren't as smart as you think you are, hah! Do you have any idea how much time and energy this is? I get the wierdest, coldest, fucking looks from my co-workers. "E-mail, again, ey?" I think they're a little jealous sometimes. I'm supposed to be writing a thesis, grant proposals, getting that last paper finished...but I do find this fulfills a need that my work sometimes doesn't, so I'm not complaining.
I know now, why you would write a book. Say it once and be done with it. There are some tunes, you know...you just get tired of singing. But people always want that same damn song.
Thanks.
Reed
Reed Konsler konsler@ascat.harvard.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------