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Today I was thinking back to a book I read once "Breakfast of Champions" by Kurt Vonnegut. In it, one of the main character goes insane because of an idea in his head. Vonnegut presented the notion that an idea can be a disease that affects one's thinking. The advertisements in today's culture are so refined in their psychology that it's frightening. As ARTelevision linked in the second post of this thread, subliminal images are not uncommon. The frequency is these ads is even worse. 3-5 minutes of ads for every 20 mins of television watched is a very large amount.
On the other hand, my girlfriend's mom once told me one of the principals behind AA (Alcoholics Anonymous). Certain phrases are used and re-used for a purpose. More often than not a newly-sobered alcoholic doesn't want to listen to anybody. They have to cope with the fact that their old coping method can't help them anymore. The mind is a toolbox and the phrases (ideas) are tools that the alcoholic may not need right away, but are there for when they might need them.
Ubertuber - you wondered if you've ever had any meme-free thoughts? Well, you haven't. Everything we know and react to is based off whatever input we've had in life. Anytime we witness something different than expected, we are forced to process the information and organize it alongside previous inputted information. If it doesn't fit or we are too busy to process it, it will get stored for later consideration.
We world we live in is a contant flux of memes. Television and the internet explodes that flux a thousand times over. I don't believe, as humans, we were ever meant to take in so much information especially at young ages.
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