Memes

I am truly fascinated by memes and the power of ideas. Ideas can be infectious, empires were built on it, coups were initiated by it, religions are propagated by it, and wars were fought for it. So, what is a meme? It’s a postulated unit or element of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, and is transmitted from one mind to another through speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena. In basic terms, it is the ideas or practices we inherit from our upbringing and also from our environment.

To understand the power of memes, consider the Muslim movement of Jihad or if it’s too clichéd let’s take the Nazis, they created anti-Semitism in the minds of the millions of Germans, the holocaust that followed is considered to be the very low point of human civilization. Closer to home, the idea of regionalism seems to be catching on with the help of opportunistic politicians like the Shiv Sena. Memes are also quite notorious in the markets, it’s commonly known as market-sentiments, and millions are lost because the idea of poor performance or the reverse catches on faster than wild fire.

So, why understand memes? As educated individuals, understanding the power of memes and their implications would help us to use our intellect and rationality to use them for our own means and obviously, in positive ways.

"The meme for blind faith secures its own perpetuation by the simple unconscious expedient of discouraging rational inquiry"-Richard Dawkins