About memes...

[the_vulture]

One thing that I noticed upon my recent introduction to Live Journal is the use of the term "meme." It brings me back to the brief period in my life when I was avidly reading "Ad Busters." My understanding of a meme is that ideas are much like viruses, replicating themselves in the consciousness of people. Some are more competitive than others and the study of this "ideological Darwinism" was referred to as "memetics."

In Live Journal, though, I wonder if the meaning of "meme" has drifted to refer more closely to widgety doodads that people copy and paste from one journal to the next. (At this point, given that this entry follows closely on that discussing haikujaguar's "celebration of achievement" meme, I will clarify that I am not referring to her's; it is close to the original idea of "meme.") Such things include the "life's sign post meme," or the "clique calculator meme," which, while entertaining, are, to me, mislabelled according to my original understanding. If anything, they seem to be more related to modern folklore within the specific cultural context of Live Journal users.

Am I just being too picky about semantics?

Comments

You're too picky. :D

[rowyn]

From dictionary.com:

"Richard Dawkins's term for an idea considered as a replicator, especially with the connotation that memes parasitise people into propagating them much as viruses do."

The problem isn't so much that the word "meme" is being used to describe quizes and doodads. What else are these things that sweep through LiveJournal, if not ideas that are parasiting people into replicating them on their journals? The trouble is that the poor word *only* gets applied to these objects, which are like the 24-hour-colds of the meme world: annoying but short-lived. Whereas nearly-incurable memes that infect people for life, like religion or existentialism, aren't called "memes", even though they also are.

But m'dear...

[the-vulture.livejournal.com]

... the widgety things are objects of the material world, more related to computer viruses than ideological ones. The true meme lives, feeds, replicates, and dies all within the expanse of human thought. The widgety things don't do this; they do not invade our mental realm and take residence there. In RL, I would never bother telling anyone about the "signpost meme." I might, however, tell another about celebrating one's accomplishments every six months. THAT is a transmittable idea.