I have been reading an interesting discussion on a blog which started off as a review of my bluestones book and which evolved into a discussion about bluestones, memes and memeplexes. I had heard of memes before, but the word "memeplex" was new to me. I did some research on Wikipedia and discovered this:A meme[1][2][3] is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme.[4] A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices, that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures.[5]
Proponents theorize that memes are a viral phenomenon that may evolve by natural selection in a manner analogous to that of biological evolution.[6] Memes do this through the processes of variation, mutation, competition, and inheritance, each of which influences a meme's reproductive success. Memes spread through the behavior that they generate in their hosts. Memes that propagate less prolifically may become extinct, while others may survive, spread, and (for better or for worse) mutate. Memes that replicate most effectively enjoy more success, and some may replicate effectively even when they prove to be detrimental to the welfare of their hosts.[7]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme
Memes are of course most often visual -- but they don't have to be. And social media are widely used in their dissemination. Copying and pasting are happening all the time, and many visual memes are re-interpreted or re-imagined by artists and photographers on a substantial scale.
Richard Dawkins and many others have written about memes, and the idea resonates quite strongly with me that the gigantic edifice contructed by Prof MPP and others started off quite simply with this simple statement or meme: "The bluestones were carried to Stonehenge because they were considered special." The roots go back to HH Thomas, of course, a century ago, but over the past 25 years the meme has evolved, mutated and propagated itself in the work of Scourse, Ixer, Bevins, Parker Pearson and others, arising out of their conviction that no other explanation (of the presence of bluestones at Stonehenge) is possible. Now, of course, there is a MEMEPLEX -- with a host of beliefs and assumptions all swirling about, capturing the imagination of a gullible public and even attracting substantial research money as the proponents of the family of memes try to demonstrate that they are TRUE.
So there is storytelling and myth making on a substantial scale, and mutations galore, articulated over and again at the end of every article by Prof MPP, who is the self-appointed meme-spreader-in-chief.
All very interesting........
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8 comments:
.....and of course we had the escape of a viral mutation which went by the name of Bluestonehenge locatedat the bottom of the Stonehenge Avenue near the river Avon whence we have Parker Pearson's assumption (dressed up as an assured certainty) that said bluestonws were disembarked from a prehistoric boat [but, then, he's abandoned THAT assumption more recently, hasn't he]. Mamma Mia! Oh, and NO bluestone pieces were found at that dig.
No -- just some conveniently sizes sockets, as I recall. But hang on -- they were not really all that convenient, on closer examination........ But what the hell -- the story is the thing.
West Amesbury Henge is a more cautious, careful moniker for the so - called Bluestonehenge, but Parker Pearson is not known for caution in his ejaculations. What we find when we read the "Bluestonehenge" Wikipedia entry is two contradictory statements regarding the issue of there being any material sign of the catch - all rock type "bluestone". Somebody needs to correct this! Rob User told us on the Blog that NO bluestone has been found during that excavation.....
That should of course be Ixer -- heavily disguised as a middle eastern deity or some such thing.....
Yes, Ixer not User, mea culpa......the predictive text on my Kindle leads us up the garden path as nimbly as Mike PP diverts the unaware on his limitless hunt for red herrings on Preseli, year after year.....
The predictive text things on computers and other gadgets are a complete nightmare. You can always switch them off, if you can find your way through the control mechanisms.....
Not a Midde Eastern Deity but a lowly librarian at the Library of Alexandria. Deities, he would insist on being Lord Siva rather than Baal et al.
Disappointed that, instead of the sketch of the original Will Shakes - Pierre you didn't use a modern photo of Radio 4's Chairman of The Unbelievable Truth, David Mitchell ( who has also played Shakes - Pierre in a TV Comedy).
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