Memes, Alexander, sick cat

[pauraque_bk]

I RELENT. NO MORE COLOR BARS PLZ.

No, actually, that's not what I was going to say. I've noticed some musings around town on what exactly a meme is, where the concept comes from, and how you say it (it's meem, btw).

-Cecil Adams of The Straight Dope gives the basics: What is a meme?

-And zompist discusses the nonsensical results when the concept is abused: The new pseudo-science of memes.

I don't know how or when the word acquired its secondary sense: a usually simple activity, exercise, or decoration spread via online journals, especially a quiz, survey, slogan, or Mad Lib-style randomly generated amusement. If anyone has any knowledge of how this sense developed, I would really appreciate hearing about it. (If I had the free time, I would love to compile a fandom dictionary with primary sources for its etymological information, and discussions of the range and evolution of the senses of each term. A boy can dream.)

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I have not seen Alexander, but everyone on my flist has. So, for absolutely no reason, here are my favorite Alexander posts from recent days:

-cruisedirector talks about how the movie was really gay, and also terrible, which is a position taken by quite a few... what do you call people on your flist? Not your friends, surely... Flistees? Well, in any case, Our Cruise Director also gives us a cool and topical poem, as she frequently does.

-noblerot talks about how the movie was terrible, but scandalously un-gay. Snails and oysters are mentioned, and if you don't know what that means, go back and watch The Celluloid Closet again.

-dailyplanet writes an open letter to Alex. The phrase "vainglorious mullet" appears.

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So, I've got this cat, and she's been throwing up a lot. She's always been prone to tossing her cookies, but in recent weeks it's become intolerable. Hardly a day goes by now when she doesn't vomit. Aside from the obvious carpet damage, paper towel expense, and personal trauma, I'm worried for her health. She doesn't seem ill, but she can't be getting much nutrition (it just comes back up undigested), and is constantly begging for food.

By way of background, she's a 7-year-old spayed female medium-hair. I brush her and give her hairball-preventing goo daily. I haven't changed her food. She was really my mom's cat, and my mom always used to feed her... but she couldn't really be vomiting because of that, could she?

Do any of you have any suggestions? I'm extremely reluctant to take her to the vet, because she's very aggressive. No, I mean very aggressive. No vet has ever been able to examine her while she's conscious.

Comments

[julia-fractal.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for the fascinating links on memes! I found the definition of memes as self-propagating ideas very interesting and convincing, but I'm quite disturbed by the urge to use it to explain away free will. Can't you also argue that the individual has the capacity to choose which memes to believe in and transmit, or that competing memes will ensure diversity and prevent any one set of ideas from totally dominating? Why is it that biological determinism seems to be a staple belief of modern science ("genetics is destiny"), and nobody remembers that there's always an interplay between biology, individuals, and society?

Working in science has made me a lot more skeptical of scientific theories and claims. It's not that I don't believe in the scientific data, it's just that too often bad science is used to prop up social mores, because the biases of the researchers are making them ask the wrong questions and skew the results. The assumption that there must be something abnormal to make people gay and the consequent search for the gay gene would be a classic example.

Sorry for the long rant in your journal, and thanks again for the links!

I love your idea of a fandom dictionary with all the etymological roots (and I don't even like semiotics that much).

Sorry to hear about your cat. I hope that she gets better soon.