Re: assisted twinning

Harvey Newstrom (harv@gate.net)
Sun, 11 Jan 1998 19:56:32 -0500


At 1:36pm -0500 1/11/98, Michael Lorrey wrote:
>Really? Think about all of the really resonant messages out there, like
>"Visualize
>World Peace" (and was satirized by "Visualize Whirled Peas"). Bumper
>stickers are
>actually very good meme spreaders, since people's memory is reinforced
>when the
>person has a high adrenaline level, and when the average person is
>driving, they
>have elevated adrenaline levels, especially in traffic jams, you have a high
>adrenaline, capitve audience with nothing to do but look at the message on the
>bumper of your car.

Maybe I just don't pay enough attention to other people's messages. You
may be right. I'll have to observe this for a while.

>The message is that by satirizing the PETA name (WHich stands for, if you are
>living in a hole, "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals") in such a
>contrary
>manner, I am a) showing total contempt for the real PETA group's message,
>and b) in
>entertaining people with this satire, I am planting a counter-PETA meme that
>celebrates the carnivorous lifestyle, and humanity's position as the top
>predator
>on this planet.

I recognized PETA, and understood your contempt for that group. I don't
see how this helps bring about the future by spreading Extropian memes. It
may be my interpretation. I don't subscribe to the logic that says
ridiculing your opponent will make them look bad, or if they look bad you
must look good. This probably works for much of the population, but since
the logic is faulty, I would hate to try to spread reasonable memes with
such unreasonable logic.

Thanks for giving me much to think about. A lot of my posts lately have
been in response to yours.

--
Harvey Newstrom <mailto: harv@gate.net>
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