| |
|
Chapter 3: SNIPITS
Racism Meme
“By definition Hitler was a Zionist.”
Only Damion could mutter such a bewilderingly offensive statement.
Everyone looked at Randall the Jew: “Yeah, that makes sense.” He was eating a salad, trying to lose weight, and drinking what else but coffee.
They pondered that reaction, or lack there-of, for a moment when Damion started ranting in glee, “The Nazis wanted to move all Jews to Palestine. Isn’t that Zionism? Albeit the Nazis wanted involuntary immigration, but that just makes it an even more extreme form of Zionism. It was the British that wouldn’t allow that. The Final Solution was just that, their final solution. There were attempted solutions before that one.” He happened to be eating French fries with plenty of ketchup and hot sauce. Now he was in his vegetarian phase, but he couldn’t get full from just salads, so he ate side dishes. Which were all fried so just as unhealthy. Damion was drinking free water.
“Speaking of which Damion, what is your overall view of Zionism?” said Grover, who didn’t matter.
“Um… I don’t really approve. It’s a dumb idea. I think Jewish people would be better off to invest their time in making themselves not oppressed in their own country if that’s the case, or immigrating to America or somewhere. The fact is that the country of Israel was won over militarily and their will always be conflict with the Palestinians. The terrorism proves that Zionism hasn’t even achieved its main goal, for Israel a safe haven for the Jewish people. If you are supposed to be a free country you can’t indefinitely oppress a whole group of people, that’s having it both ways. However you spin it, in Israil if you are Jewish you have more rights, whether those being rights of immigration or getting land or whatever. And I’m uncomfortable with the idea that a race or a people have a right to their ancestor’s homeland from thousands of years ago. Without even getting into Ashkenazim and the Khazars and if it even is their homeland, a long discussion in of itself, what if every ethnic group did that? Should every people have the right to displace others and re-populate where their ancient ancestors lived?”
“But Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East,” said Randall, in defense of his race.
“Well that’s not necessarily saying much! So they have more rights than Iran? There is such huge leeway between those third world dictatorships and decent modern countries. By the way, did you know Israel has no constitution? We’re all anti-terrorism here, but you know there is simply always going to be Palestinian conflicts because of the fact those people are treated so deplorably.”
“You know what, I still noticed a prejudiced double standard that you and everyone have against the Arabs you claim you care so much about. Why is it you and the world focus so much on Israel’s alleged oppression but not the far worse oppression of its neighbors? You mentioned Iran already as being worse. It is because Israel calls itself a Western democracy so everyone gives them those high standards, but when stupid Arabs kill each other nobody cares, it’s expected of animals. That’s the attitude you have.”
“Iranians aren’t Arabs, but I see you’re point. Hmmm…”
“It’s like the pathology of blacks rioting when white cops kill them but not when black-on-black crime is through the roof and a far worse problem. Speaking of black people there is also the argument of how world opinion focused on South Africa’s apartheid. But in other African countries they were literally committing racially motivated genocide and no one cared. Because it was black ethnic groups doing it to other black ethnic groups. You see,” said Randall, smug.
Damion pause for a moment, in thought. “Hmm… Very well, I will take your premise and accept it. Not from a racial standpoint but from a cultural standpoint. Israel purports to be a Western democracy then we will give it those higher standards of the superior culture. They absolutely should treat any peoples within their borders or under their control with dignity and respect. Especially better than their neighbor dictatorships do, and we absolutely should care more when they don’t.”
Now that Damion had disarmed him by agreeing Randall did not have any ammo left and nothing to say. Damion won the debate. Randall may have been more knowledgeable, but Damion was the master of lateral thinking.
Damion had something to add, “In any case, my main gripe is that America gives Israel 5 billion dollars a year and is so involved in the region. Since I’m still in my libertarian phase I am against all foreign aid. Our country meddles way too much in the affairs of others. Why are we so involved with correcting the ills of the world? Let ‘em all nuke each other. It’s not like we even do a good job of meddling. After years and years of government investment in the Middle East there is almost nothing to show for it. Clinton may have calmed things down for the moment, but how long will that really last? Just you wait, it’ll get worse again. It’s just such an unsolvable complex mess that it should just be given up on, and that goes for both sides of the conflict.”
Grover decided to ask another of Damion’s opinions, as he always would, “that was just such a racially charged conversation, which begs the question Damion, just what is your stance on racism?”
“I can come across as racist, can’t I? I just try to be offensive for its own sake sometimes; it’s good to push boundaries. But I don’t consider myself racist. In fact I wish to God that I was a minority.”
“Uh… would you inebriate on that?”
“There is just such a rich experience of society that I am missing by being a WASP in a nation of them. I want to be discriminated against, that would evolve me. That’s why I’m taking Chinese, so I can live there and be the only white guy. But you’re asking about my endless theories and opinions on race aren’t you? Well I will admit to dancing around some racist beliefs in my past but right now it’s something that I don’t believe in. It is important to challenge your beliefs to find out if they are true or not, then your conclusions will be stronger. One thing I am definitely not against is generalizations. Many people say it is bad to generalize groups of people and to be prejudiced. I say generalize, but do it smart and logically. It is simply how your mind is supposed to work; you see people and judge them based on the personality classifications and archetypes that they show. Race may be one of many traits to generalize people with. But for survival, every once in a while you should do that. You know what I’m talking about, we say ‘black neighborhood’ in conversation and everyone knows we’re talking about a dangerous ghetto. You always generalize without thinking about it. I happen to like labeling things and people, you know ‘that guy is an Asian computer nerd’ or ‘that lady is a redneck slut’. All too often generalizations turn out to be totally wrong though. See, I think we all need to be open-minded, but to me being open-minded does not mean not judging or even not prejudging, it means being able to rapidly change your judgments when new information is presented. By all means sometimes judge a book by its cover, we hardly have time to read every book in existence to get the information to make a clear judgment on it. But always be willing to change that opinion when you hear it is a good book or what it is about. Always open yourself up to new information. Generalize and prejudge a little, but be open-minded enough to listen to new information and change your opinion when necessary. That’s the balance.
“For that matter a generalization might be true. If I say whites are on average smarter than whites, I don’t think that is necessarily a racist statement. I do not believe that it genetically has to be that way, but for cultural reasons it is that way for the time being. It’s nurture over nature. Isn’t it probably true, in general but not true in every case, that rich people are usually smarter than poor people? But even still, you should judge an individual as an individual. I have met many intelligent blacks, and there is no shortage of stupid white people. Oh God how many millions of idiot white people there are! A person is an individual, not a race.”
Randall starting pondering to himself, “We all have subconscious racism though, regardless. There is always going to be meme residue. How can you get rid of it as much as possible? Perhaps by introducing the contradictory meme? Would that be multi-culturalism?”
“God no,” said Damion. “Multi-culturalism is just redirecting racism to another direction, and ultimately it’s hopeless to never judge anything, as I just stated.” He had to point out how he was not a fan of multi-culturalism, but then he began to think about what the concept Randall had just brought up really was. ‘De-meming yourself by introducing a contradictory meme.’ Where could he go with that train of thought? Oh well. “In the end my bottom line is that I strongly believe that all humans have souls. The genetics might have some superficial effect, but everyone has the same spiritual potential that is not tied to their earthly bodies, especially in the realm of intelligence. I’d have to say that if I was an atheist, logic would force me to accept racist creed.”
(There are some more snapshots of various interesting conversations, like what I first posted, but it isn't done. Here is the crucial last part.)
Liberal vs. Conservative, and just what the fuck is reality anyways?
“I am goddamn going nuts. I just can’t take it anymore,” said a certain Mr. Gilmore.
Now today happened to be a rare public appearance by none other than another certain Mr. Evil Ray. At this point he had unexpectedly started succeeding in life and it intimidated the rest, just as he liked it. He got some scholarships that he didn’t deserve and was due to study abroad. Tonight he was studying Damion intently; he watched what he had to say very closely.
“What I am going nuts about,” he said, “is this whole talk radio phase I’m going through. Now at work all day I listen to AM radio and hear Rush Limbaugh and all of his dittohead imitators that pervade the industry. And when I listen to their logic it makes perfect sense. Then Al Franken writes a book disputing everything he said, and what he says makes perfect sense. Then Rush on his show goes down the list rebutting every claim and it makes perfect sense at the time. Then I go home and read left-wing articles all night on the internet and they make sense. Oh it would just be so much easier if I just chose a side. I wouldn’t have to think defensively so much. Agree with everything left-wing 100%, or agree with everything right-wing 100%. It would be so easy that way; thinking the way I do now is too damn hard. I can’t give both sides of every issue equal time. It’s fucking with my whole sense of reality. I can’t take it!”
“Quit your incessant whining,” said Ray. “Why can’t you take in any more knowledge and points of view? Me and Randall have no problem with doing it. The puny and simplistic philosophies of political merit are no challenge to sift through.”
“So Ray, do you still consider yourself a fascist?” asked Randall. “I sure wouldn’t agree with that point of view. Fascism only makes sense when you yourself are in charge.”
“Quite so, I completely agree. And that’s exactly why I classify myself as such.” said Raymond.
There was a confused pause. Then Randall spoke up, “Um, so about talk radio, didn’t we already have a conversation about this already? We agreed that talk show host-style debates cheat in that you debate in quick low-attention-span segments, and the host always has the last word over a caller and then hangs up on them. They are also so obsessed with labels, and labeling everything liberal to disqualify it And we talked about how they can only see the world through the narrow viewpoint of liberal vs. conservative.”
“At least only FM goes interplanetary and AM stays earthbound. Although that would disappoint Art Bell. Why do I make such trivial statements?” Damion muttered to himself.
“We made points about how all political philosophies and subculture ideologies have a victimization complex where they see themselves as the underdog and the other side as the elite,” continued Randall. “It’s not a question of whether Big Business is the enemy or whether Big Government is the enemy, they are both in cahoots 100%. So it is corporate socialism that we live under, and frighteningly enough that is a term to describe National Socialism i.e. fascism,” said Randall. “And we spoke of how everyone talks about ‘the system’ and how you should be against them. But there are competing ‘systems’ so fighting one can be just conforming to another. Hence the counterculture is replaced by the countercounterculture in an endless cycle. But what of countercountercounterculture? But anyways I thought your own political conclusion was that mixture of lesser evils that is libertarianism.”
“Yeah, I guess. I don’t even want to have any more of these conversations, that’s the point I’m getting at. But I guess my conclusion as of now is that the political commentary I’m learning only has validity when it is breaking down something or someone, when it is anti-something. But I shouldn’t listen when they say Democrats/Republicans are good. Talk radio tells me what’s wrong with Clinton, leftist articles what’s wrong with Reagan and/or Bush.” Damion then started to mutter to himself again, “Perhaps a philosophy of contrarianism should be added to my burgeoning philosophy. Isn’t that a Christopher Hitchens term, contrarianism?” He stopped muttering. “No! This is what’s wrong with me! I can’t add this stupid new –ism to the mess that is my head. It’s not just sifting through conflicting liberal and conservative that’s so hard. I have a thousand other things to factor as well. Just today I was at the bookstore with a book Why People Believe in Weird Things simultaneously reading the chapters on Holocaust Revisionism and Ayn Rand Objectevism. I had the latest Skeptical Enquirer issue with a stack of UFO magazines on top. A Scientology book that I don’t put any stock in, History of Man. A Kabbalah picture book, and of Philosophy for Dummies. That’s just today. Can’t I go back to just reading comic books?!”
The others were beginning to be concerned for him. They had never seen Damion act anything like this. Ray decided to prong him further, to see where else he’ll go.
“So are you just stupid? How hard can it be to read a few books? What’s wrong with you? Information overload just because your feeble brain can’t store enough?”
Damion just sat quietly and didn’t say anything. Finally he spoke, “Well let’s see. What have I dabbled in just these past few weeks? As mentioned, there’s Scientology, Holocaust Denial, Ayn Rand Objectivism, skeptism and UFOs, and talk radio brand conservativism. I’ve also been getting into secular humanism and existentialism. Atlantis theories, Gnostic texts including the Nag Hammadi and Manichaeism too. Some Eastern mysticm, some Western mysticm. Freemasons. A racial theory that says that the size of one’s male genitals is exactly inverse to their IQ. I could make a joke about myself but I won’t. I formulated a racial theory of my own about how all humans have a personal heartbeat identification, and theirs already a theory on how these tones may be the origin of why humans enjoy music. My own theory: if heartbeats are genetic and it bleeds into race generalizations, then therefore different races have different music tastes. I then refuted my own theory by pointing out the excessive amounts of white people listening to rap music. I see you nodding Ray. I wrote a paper and everything.
“So what else? I joined the local Communist Party last week. That’s an interesting story in of itself. I learned I Ching and Tarot, Palmistry is next on my list. Dualism and Zoroasterism. I read some Stephen Hawking pop physics. I researched the good effects of free trade. I researched the bad effects of free trade. Inductive reasoning vs. deductive reasoning. Why the South were the good guys in the Civil War. Sumerian and Babylonian history and mythology. The Nation of Islam. I read up on how Jesus didn’t exist because the Biblical and Apocryphal stories are just re-tellings of mythology from Sumerian, Egyptian, Mithras cults, and Hare Krishna Hindu. The early Gnostics new this. Then I read about how the great secret of the world is that Jesus sired all European royalty. Subliminal messages in advertising and the media. I juggled the conflicting nature of my own vegetarian theories with the Atkins diet fad. I got into some more on memetics. So that all is just these past few weeks of what’s been on my mind. I’m reading four books at the same time right now. I’m memorizing like a few books a week. This doesn’t even count any of my school stuff. I have endless, endless stupid opinions and theories on Goddamn everything! Enough already! So is that enough information overload Ray?! Fuck you! I give up. I’m sick of thinking. Maybe I should be a drug addict, that would solve it. The point is I give up on all this!”
“… Jesus Christ. Uh well I guess that means you’re winning this ‘meme race’. Are you okay Damion?” asked Randall in genuine concern.
“I am the meta-ideologue. I need to put down on paper all of these contradictory thoughts going through my brain at lightspeed. I need to start my own religion. This cult, which all new and old religions are, is the anti-cult cult. A goddamn eclectic mess of a religion. As are all. But mine shall excel and embrace its own insane eclecticness. Either I do that or blow my brains out with a shotgun, that would let the thoughts out. I don’t want to think so much. But I have to, I am a prophet. A prophet of --, uh well I’ll think up the name later. I certainly don’t need any of you guys, you are all wastes, Ray was right. I’m leaving and I’ll never see any of you fuckers again.”
Damion had lost it. Nobody knew what to do and they all just looked at each other and him as he grabbed his stuff and stormed out. That was it.
* * *
Then they noticed Raymond Elder had left the table. Damion and Ray were standing in the parking lot in a very familiar setting. It was still a little cold before spring would settle in, on this mid March night. The night was dark and beautiful in its silent glory.
“Ray-- !”
“Shut up! I don’t need to hear it. I am leaving for school in Europe soon, I may not see you again for a very long time.”
Then Ray unexpectedly hugged Damion. The air and background scene had stilled for what seemed like a very long time. At first Damion felt confused but then passionately embraced his long time friend.
“I know it might not seem so but you have been a very dear friend of mine. I dare say my very best friend,” said Ray. “I apologize if I haven’t done a good job of showing it, that’s just my way. I may not have acted like it, but what you have done in there has greatly impressed me. You are a genius with no other equal in the world. Be damn sure you are above all other maggots on this planet. Do something with your life. But please don’t turn into the worst aspects of me. I won’t have it. You are a good person, and I treasure that. I love you. You are going to become something great. Goodbye my friend. I will see you again one day, I promise.”
“… See ya man.”
Was Ray crying? Was Damion? Slowly they parted ways to go on their own respective paths, and they did not look back.
And that was that.
(Here is my first draft of Chapter 4)
Chapter 4: ISMIST
It was a dark and beautiful night when he declared his epiphany.
Slowly he pulled the car into the Scotterson’s parking lot. His old and dirty car. The lot was mostly empty on this boring Tuesday night. But Damion Gilmore smiled when he recognized two of the cars.
He parked and stepped out. He paused just to absorb the moment. That perfect scent of night-air and industry, the exquisite lukewarm temperature of a springtime 1:00 AM. All was good.
“Ay, my man!” he heard directed at him as he walked through the double doors; it was Milo’s loud and familiar voice. He was drunk.
Damion circumvented the host and proceeded to seat himself. The cheap rubbery seat on the aisle side of the booth, that green atmosphere. The elevator Muzak. All was still just as perfect as it needed to be.
“My man, my boy!” said Milo Jacob. Damion nodded. Sitting next to Milo was his sister Alexis Jacob; and next to Damion was Randall Bloomberg. The perfect crew, everyone of any importance. Raymond Elder may have been missed, but one could not have it all.
“I’ll have to apologize for my brother’s behavior,” said Alexis. “It’d be nice if I had to apologize for mine too, but I was forced to be the designated driver.”
“Yeah right, you’re not even old enough to drink, ya nineteen year old. And we all know you’re too much of a dork to have a fake ID,” snapped back Milo.
“But Milo, you’re the one hanging out with your little sister. Dork,” said Randall, very much not the one to make fun of others for being dorks.
“Whatever,” said Alexis, fed up with something or other. PMS? thought someone. “I don’t even need to be here this late tonight. I’ve got a paper due tomorrow that I’ve got to wake up early to work on. Remember, I’m going to school fulltime at the University? I’m going to do something with my life, not go to part-time community college forever. Milo insisted on coming here for some dumb reason. He said he could sense something important.”
Damion smiled. Before he could speak Milo blabbered out, “But don’t you see that the levels of perception and sixth senses are heightened when one can see with the altered view that an intoxicating substance gives you? Even beer, to some lesser degree.” He was struggling to sound smart at this point.
Randall now spoke up, “So what does bring you here Damion? I thought you were done with this loser scene.”
All eyes on Damion. Here we go--
“Well. First of all, I would like to apologize for the other night. But it was all very necessary. I’ve relaxed a lot since then. I slept for about fourteen hours, and then haven’t slept in the two days since. I called off work and skipped class. I haven’t read or watched TV or even listened to very much music. Just sat around, lazing about. Thinking. Meditating. I shaved of all of my body hair. Like Pink”
“Pink, the pop singer, doesn’t have pubic hair? That’s hot,” said Milo.
“No not that Pink, you drunkard. Pink from the movie Pink Floyd: the Wall. Remember?”
“Oh. Well, if you don’t have any pubic hair either, that’s still hot.”
“I’ll have to follow up that one with declaring my intentions to start a sexual relationship with Alexis here.”
“What?!” said Alexis and Milo simultaneously.
“If you find that taboo, that’s even better. For reasons I will get explain shortly.”
“Well Damion,” said a dumbfounded Alexis, “uh, you don’t have to put it so bluntly like that. Geez. Let’s just go out a few times and see where it goes. I’ll accept that.”
“Good. Well I would like to apologize. I have had an epiphany.
“So here we are. All these useless conversations. Years of wasting our nights. Hundreds of hours going towards… what? The mental exercise? That’s all well and good, but is their a larger point? I think that there is. Everything needs a label to exist in our minds. Does that limit us? Maybe. Oh well. The label I have given to our collective philosophy is ‘Ismism’. What we’ve been through. Ismism is this process of sifting through every possible ‘-ism’ until you find the right combination that works. It’s been a long and grueling time, but I think I’m much closer to finding out what works.
“To summarize: I’ve gone nuts because I was Ismising too fast. With regards to me and Randall I liked the term ‘meme racing.’ That works too. How can one find the truth? It takes a long time to sift through every philosophy and religion and political ideology until one finds what works best. It is probably supposed to take longer for this process to happen, but I think that because I’ve had competition I’ve sped up and gone further than I was supposed to. Of course, the journey for truth is never over, nor should it be, especially anytime soon. But I think I have reached a very critical point. Maybe this is not the end, but this is a great tool I think I may have discovered to get so much closer to the end of this endless quest for truth.
“So now we all know what Ismism is? Do I have your attention?”
No one said anything so apparently he did.
“Here it is, the important part: NeoZen. That’s the other word I invented. Here is the gist of it: All of our minds are cluttered with memes and conditionings that we are not even aware of. One example is language. There simply has to be a thousand subconscious ways that the language meme manipulates our thoughts. Let’s say that the English speaking world is more intelligent because English is so hard to learn, and the Chinese and Asian languages that use the pictograph writing systems are smarter because they have to memorize such a complicated writing system. Or primitive illiterate cultures are closer to nature and God because their minds are less cluttered. I don’t know. But the point is that language has to be manipulating our thoughts and actions in a million different subtle ways. You cannot unlearn language, it is impossible. So what can be done about this? That’s the important question. I propose that the only thing you can do about it is to learn as opposite a language as possible. To be multilingual is great, but if you may not have the time to study multiple languages. And also learning other European languages may not bring enough mental diversity to de-condition yourself. Lucky for me, I am studying Mandarin Chinese. I think the language is different enough from English as to promote the necessary lateral thinking skills. Extreme lateral thinking. That is the goal.
“A big part of this philosophy is to diversify your experiences. Don’t get used to any one thing. I suppose it’s impossible to get rid of all patterns and rituals 100%, since we are ritualistic animals whether we like it or not. But at least be totally aware of your rituals and consciously shake them up and replace them with new rituals every once in a while. Sleep at other people’s houses, change your workout routine, change your sleeping patterns. Whatever. Like every good philosophy or ideology, it is usually too hard to commit to the orthodoxy of every rule, but to just lean in the general gist of the mindset can be helpful.
“About the diversity of experiences point. Travel to different countries if you can afford to, try different weird ethnic foods. I’ve always contended that one measure of a person’s open-mindedness is how willing they are to eat strange foods. Anyway, let me say why I need to have a relationship with Alexis here. First off, destroying taboos is obviously part of this process, but most importantly I need someone to experiment on and to experiment on me. There are a lot of sexual type avenues to look into for this evolution. I’ll have to experiment with homosexuality, for one. Nudism, although nudists would argue that it is not a sexual philosophy, makes a lot of sense. Think about how extremely conditioned we are to be embarrassed by nudity. There is no logic behind that cultural instinct; it is just such an engrained cultural norm. We have to ascend beyond culture. I was reading about nudism and naturism on a website--”
“Now why would you be looking at those websites? Purely intellectual research?” asked Milo in mock curiousity.
Damion smiled. “Of course. Well, this one of the problems with my NeoZen anti-religion religion and where my head is at. There is a tendency to overly think of examples in a sexual direction. New experiences, de-conditioning cultural norms, etc. But overdoing the sexual avenue would be limiting my mind too. I will also try celibacy for an extended time period one of these days, with even no masturbation. Keep my experiences diverse from every point of view.
“But why put the term Zen in NeoZen? Let me get into that. I think many of the elements discussed come from certain aspects of Zen. Some from other spiritual disciplines as well, but Zen is the best starting point. The best thing I like to point out is how Zen monks will spit on statues of the Buddha. I love that. It is so they do not get too caught up in routines and habitual patterns. Getting rid of routines and habitual patterns. That is one of the purposes of Zen. The quote ‘if you see the Buddha on the road, kill him.’ Same thing. Do not get caught up in your worship patterns and rise above the shallow ideas and attachments to this world that limit your enlightenment. The Zen master will whack you upside the head with a bamboo stick to rid you of your outmoded thought patterns.
“Another thing that I plan to try, speaking of spiritual disciplines, is to perform the tantrick vama marg ritual in which one has sex with a diseased hag to place yourself above your attachment to the body and the lower three-dimensional world. There is any number of repulsive acts that I need to do so as to null myself above any feelings of disgust. I must experience everything. The worst trauma and tragedy, disgust, near-death experiences, extreme pain, all of it. I definitely need to experience some extremely bad events for ascension. As Kabir the 16th century Sufi poet said, ‘If you have not lived through it, it is not true.’
“There is so much meme residue and prejudices in our minds that it is next to impossible to know the ultimate truths. The only counter defense is to imprint every counter-meme that you can fit. That is the closest to a balance we can get to. My pseudo-philosophies of Ismism and NeoZen are not really about finding the meaning of life, but are about preparing your mind to accept if you ever do come across it.
“I think that if there is ever a time to start in on this, let me recommend to you to do so as soon as possible. Just as language is easier to learn the younger you are, and more difficult to learn as you age older; so too must you train your mind for multi-dimensional thinking when you are younger. You may have more information and knowledge the older you are, but you get far too locked in the specific ways that you think. It limits you immensely. Unless you counter it early on. So I decided the least I could do is write a little NeoZen Bible and distribute it amongst you.”
Damion proceeded to search through the stuffed bookbag that he always carried around. The others were still trying to absorb his winded speech and give a reaction. Damion took out a few folded pieces of paper that had handwriting all over. He passed them out.
“Here’s my pamphlet. Open and see. But first read the back.”
Cover: NeoZen Bible
Back cover: FREE YOURSELF OF THE TYRANNY OF MEMES
“if memes can give humanity self-destructive behavior as information genes, than why cannot humanity create a self destructive meme virus to destroy all memety, including the very meme-plex?”
Opened: THE LAWS(suggestions) OF NEOZEN
-do not breed within your ethnic group. Just as information diversity is needed for cultural evolution, so too is genetic diversity needed for biological evolution.
-always be consciously aware of your rituals. Periodically replace them with new ones.
-the term ‘weird’ must be rid of all negative connotations.
-de-meme yourself be repeatedly introducing contradictory memes.
-learn distant and unrelated languages. Be multi-lingual.
-look at thing with a negative cynical point-of-view. Therefore you will get more information.
-cultural norms are always relative and meaningless.
-morals may not be relative. Hurting others is immoral. Order of immorality is order of level of hurt caused, and level of responsibility for such. Complications arise when negotiating lesser evil. Karma is a truth of the universe.
-always add and diversify your experiences.
-be open-minded and judgmental at the same time.
-question everything, especially NeoZen.
“Memes are the ultimate tyranny of mind-control. I must destroy them. I have engineered the anti-meme meme. A self-destructive information virus. Liberation is at hand.” He had definitely lost it.
(After this, if you care, it is five years later and Damion is researching for his own novel. His novel will be about me writing about him, more metafiction that I apparantly shouldn't do. He looks into the Illuminati and learns all the secrets of the universe and goes insane. But what's shown is all I have for now.) |
|
|
