Theos-Talk Archives (March 2005 Message tt00339)

Dear Kathleen,

Lurkers outnumber posters here, so welcome to the minority! I 
should say that I'm just a dabbler in memetics and by no means an 
enthusiast, but Adelasie's question made me think of CWL in terms of 
memes. You asked:

> easy enough to believe with 'physical' sex. I'm guessing that 
what has been happening with the whole Leadbeater line of chat would 
count for a sort of astral sex among the stirred up 
participants? ...spawning a few more
> generations...powerful seed that guy has.

It is important to keep in mind, as Nigel has reminded us, that 
Perry made no reference whatsoever to CWL's sexual behavior. Radha, 
while being generally evasive and hostile ("No reply is solicited"-- 
good Lord!) raised the issue that Perry had not. Then the question 
became why Adyar leaders are so dogmatic and aggressive about CWL 
and so hostile towards The Elder Brother-- and sex became the 
dominant theme because it's obviously anxiety and shame about the 
sexual issues that make them behave that way.
> 
> Question meme-wize...what conditions would have to be present in 
order that certain memes just wouldn't replicate in a given person? 
a stronger, competing meme?

I think that immunity is the concept which applies, and this site 
has some definitions of various memetic terms:

http://www.aleph.se/Trans/Cultural/Memetics/meme_lex.html
> 
What I find particularly relevant is the notion of metamemes and how 
they can convey immunity to meme infection, particular the metameme 
of tolerance:

"TOLERANCE: A meta-meme which confers resistance to a wide variety 
of memes (and their sociotypes), without conferring meme-allergies. 
In its purest form, Tolerance allows its host to be repeatedly 
exposed to rival memes, even intolerant rivals, without active 
infection or meme-allergic reaction. Tolerance is a central co-meme 
in a wide variety of schemes, particularly "liberalism", 
and "democracy"."

A related memetic term that applies to something often observable 
here is meme allergy:

"MEME-ALLERGY: A form of intolerance; a condition which causes a 
person to react in an unusually extreme manner when exposed to a 
specific semiotic stimulus, or `meme-allergen.' Exo-toxic meme-
complexes typically confer dangerous meme-allergies on their hosts. 
Often, the actual meme-allergens need not be present, but merely 
perceived to be present, to trigger a reaction. Common meme-
allergies include homophobia, paranoid anti-Communism, and porno 
phobia. Common forms of meme-allergic reaction are censorship, 
vandalism, belligerent verbal abuse, and physical violence. (GMG)"

Now we can readily see that the memes "CWL was a liar" 
or "pedophile" or "propounder of doctrines that conflict with HPB's" 
evoke an allergic reaction from some Theosophists. They simply 
cannot tolerate the existence of that thought. Others are allergic 
to any meme about HPB other than the ones they devote their lives to 
promoting.

HTH,

Paul