>The very last dumb question..........Where do i find the Archives?
Not dumb at all. All your questions were excellent.
The CoV site is at http://www.lucifer.com/virus/lb_index.html. Archives
are at http://www.lucifer.com/virus/list.html, but apparently only posts
written after April 1 are available there.
Below, a copy of Brodie's post which I kept and finally managed to locate.
lena
==
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From: "Richard Brodie" <RBrodie@email.msn.com>
To: "'Church of Virus List'" <virus@lucifer.com>
Subject: virus: The experiment is over
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 07:39:38 -0800
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For years, now, I've looked to this list as a refuge from the irrationality
and mysticism of the memes pervading world society; as a place where people
could go to meet others with the discernment and commitment to reality to
choose to live life uninfected by cultural viruses. We've even made a few
steps in the direction of creating a new designer virus, one that has the
potential to spread this life-freeing philosophy to the rest of the world.
I can't tell you how disappointed I am with all of you.
I have been running an experiment for the last several months. Under an
assumed name (because like it or not, there is too much attention and
credibility paid to my own name to make this possible), I have been sending
the most irrational, nonsensical posts I could muster, shrouding them in the
Trojan horse of coherent-sounding jargon. I've pushed the envelope farther
and farther, posting off-topic gibberish, responding to and quoting
nonexistent contributions from others, deliberately misunderstanding in the
most extreme way the simplest writings of fellow memebers. I have been
writing this under the assumed name of Brett Lane Robertson.
Now what did I expect would be the results of this experiment? Naturally, I
expected to be caught right away! I never thought I would go on indefinitely
and, like Hitler, seem to GROW in popularity the more extreme I became and
the more times I repeated the nonsense. Silly me. I forgot a basic tenet of
memetics.
But wasn't there ANYONE on the list with the discernment to see my posts for
what they were? It's almost as if the truth were so unimportant (contrasted
with blithely letting your buttons be pushed by my messages) that no one
here was conscious enough to poke through the curtains and find the man
behind the wizard. I almost think that, even after revealing myself, I could
continue posting as Brett, making myself even more irrational and
nonsensical and, even though you all now know the truth, it wouldn't make a
bit of difference.
In fact, I think it might make a good second experiment. Very well then.
I'll keep on posting as Brett for awhile. You all know the score now.
Even in this group of enlightened minds, will it make a difference?
Richard Brodie richard@brodietech.com http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie
Author, "Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme"
http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/votm.htm
Visit Meme Central! http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/meme.htm
-- Lena Rotenberg lrr@netkonnect.net