Quote:
A meme (rhymes with "dream") is a unit of information (a catchphrase, a concept, a tune, a notion of fashion, philosophy or politics) that leaps from brain to brain to brain. Memes compete with one another for replication, and are passed down through a population much the same way genes pass through a species. Potent memes can change minds, alter behavior, catalyze collective mindshifts and transform cultures. Which is why meme warfare has become the geopolitical battle of our information age. Whoever has the memes has the power.
- Kalle Lash, Culture Jam 1999
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I've been reading Lash's book (Kalle Lash is the founder of
Adbusters magazine) and stuff like this is blowing my mind. he has a view that our mental landscape has been and is still currently being ravaged by advertisers setting up shop inside our head as we develop and effectively brainwash us to constant consumerism at the cost of the planet.
Stuff like memes are perfect examples. That slogan or jingle that you can't forget. The political sound bite on the evening news. Everything is reduced to it's shortest possible form (a maxim) in order to be planted into our subconcious like a weed.
Am I the only one disturbed by this?
EDIT: Typo