From: gts (gts_2000@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Mar 29 2003 - 12:09:35 MST
Back in the 70's a friend convinced me to do the EST training, created and
promoted by Werner Erhard. (Anyone remember EST?) Some say Erhard was a
charlatan, and charlatan he might very well have been, (I'm not going to
defend him against those accusations), but I will say on his behalf that he
was big believer in spreading positive memes.
In about 1977 I signed my name to his "Hunger Project," which was
essentially a project designed to spread the meme that famine in the world
could be and would be eradicated by the year 2000. Needless to say it didn't
happen; there is still famine in the world in 2003. But as I recall hundreds
of thousands of people signed their names to the project of spreading that
meme. I have no doubt that it made at least a slight impact on the problem
of world hunger.
Anyone in those days who, like me, was willing to agree that world hunger
was a solvable problem, and who was willing to sign his or her name to the
idea and spread it to others, would have been more likely to vote and act
and donate accordingly.
I'd say the most successful meme of the 20th century was "human rights."
There really was no such thing as "human rights" at the turn of the last
century. Now almost every nation in the world acknowledges the idea as
"real," though some still do not abide by it. I'm not a democrat or a
liberal, but I applaud Jimmy Carter for the key role he played in spreading
this meme and helping to make it real in the world.
-gts
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