<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=GB2312" http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
<br>
That mo-fo dings em every time.<br>
<br>
Mofang is pinyin for imitation, bingdu is a virus.<br>
Bing is disease, du is a harmful substance or infectious agent.<br>
Mo is a pattern. Fang means copy.<br>
<br>
I say sometimes that the mofang bingdu is by far the most dangerous<br>
and harmful bingdu (virus). Unfortunately few Chinese know this<br>
obscure technical term so its not a very effective pun <br>
in general practice. <br>
<br>
It is also a non-resonant concept among the chronically afflicted<br>
and persistently infected.<br>
<br>
*<br>
The idea of ideologic resonance is an interesting one.<br>
It is said that the success of that perfidious individual<br>
who goes around as Bill Clinton is attributable to resonance<br>
to his words among the population. That is a most disturbing,<br>
nay, frightening, thing to ponder.<br>
<br>
First of all, it points out that people are more likely accept<br>
ideas that resonate with concepts previously acquired. If you<br>
want to poison a dog, you don't pour strychnine on the sidewalk.<br>
No dog will lick that up. You have to mix it with some meat,<br>
then the dog will go for what it wants, and get the poison along <br>
with the accepted material. Every successful virus uses a similar<br>
mechanism to trick receptors and gain access to the interior of the
cell.<br>
<br>
One wonders how the resonant memes got there in the first place. <br>
The nature of a dog is obvious. It is not so obvious how a Clinton<br>
resonant meme was established among the population. I obviously dont<br>
seem to have acquired it. Imelda Marcos has been noted <br>
to have an awesome Presence by those susceptible to it.<br>
<br>
Solomon noted bitterly that there was "nothing new under the sun". <br>
<br>
Yet there seems to be a source of new information not necessarily <br>
the same old recycled memetic garbage.<br>
<br>
Persig calls that "Dynamic Quality". Quality he equates with the Dao.<br>
Some call it revelation knowledge.<br>
<br>
Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: <br>
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, <br>
but my Father which is in heaven.<br>
<br>
Dao ke dao feichang dao. - Laozi <br>
(This triple pun is not easily unwound, as it is triply recursive.<br>
Usually people give up and write "The Way that can be spoken of is<br>
not the everlasting Way." Dao means way, it also means speech, words,<br>
discussion, a path, and walking on a path. ke means able. <br>
feichang means uncommon, not often, wonderful.)<br>
<br>
Something is outside the box, and there is a box and an outside of it.<br>
<br>
Taichu you dao. - John 1.1 (in the beginning there is the dao.)<br>
<br>
Persig talks about how un-doing a contact with ultimate reality can be.<br>
<br>
Jacob wrestled with it, and walked with a limp thereafter.<br>
<br>
*<br>
<br>
"And do you have an opinion? <br>
A thought of your own?<br>
I thought you were special<br>
I thought you should know..." <br>
- Shirley Manson<br>
<br>
On 08/25/13 23:46, Carl G. Estabrook wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:9B191B20-16B5-414C-A73D-E6955245FC1C@illinois.edu"
type="cite">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=GB2312">
"Virus of imitation" is great. (I'm tempted to write it, "Mo-fo dings
you.")
<div><br>
</div>
<div>How would you write it in Pinyin - just "mo fang bing du"?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
<div>
<div>On Aug 25, 2013, at 10:15 AM, "E. Wayne Johnson ÖìÎÈÉ" <<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:ewj@pigsqq.org">ewj@pigsqq.org</a>>
wrote:</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
<blockquote type="cite">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=GB2312">
<title></title>
<div bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
Girard makes some interesting points about mimetic behaviour.<br>
<br>
People can indeed be motivated by the lust of the flesh, the lust<br>
of the eyes, and the pride of life. <br>
" the tree was good for food (lust of the flesh), <br>
and that it was pleasant to the eyes (lust of the eyes)<br>
and a tree to be desired to make one wise (pride of life).<br>
<br>
Paul the Apostle said that it was covetousness that got him into<br>
trouble, and Girard's mimetic motivation seems to be in parallel.<br>
<br>
But I think that people can be motivated by love (in the best sense)<br>
and by an appreciation for goodness.<br>
<br>
*<br>
<br>
"Meme" is translated into Chinese as Ä£·Â²¡¶¾ mo fang bing du<br>
which means "virus of imitation".<br>
<br>
<br>
On 08/25/13 19:56, Karen Aram wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:BAY177-W262A430121A4D288FA9DE1A3480@phx.gbl"
type="cite">
<style><!--
.hmmessage P
{
margin:0px;
padding:0px
}
body.hmmessage
{
font-size: 12pt;
font-family:Calibri
}
--></style>
<div dir="ltr">Carl<br>
I think thats a great idea, as long as we keep it informal, not a
"requirement", or too structured, as the CP and SWP, with discussions
separate from our regular get togethers. <br>
Let's discuss at this afternoons meeting.<br>
<br>
<br>
<div>
<hr id="stopSpelling">Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Banality of
Evil<br>
From: <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:galliher@illinois.edu">galliher@illinois.edu</a><br>
Date: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 21:42:04 -0500<br>
CC: <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:stuartnlevy@gmail.com">stuartnlevy@gmail.com</a>; <a
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net">peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net</a>;
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:ewj@pigsqq.org">ewj@pigsqq.org</a><br>
To: <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:karenaram@hotmail.com">karenaram@hotmail.com</a><br>
<br>
Girard is difficult but repays study, I think.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>If AWARE were into "internal education" in the old CP
fashion,
I'd suggest a reading group on Arendt and Girard.</div>
<div><br>
<div>
<div>On Aug 24, 2013, at 9:02 PM, Karen Aram <<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:karenaram@hotmail.com">karenaram@hotmail.com</a>>
wrote:</div>
<br class="ecxApple-interchange-newline">
<blockquote>
<div class="ecxhmmessage"
style="font-family: Calibri; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">
<div dir="ltr">Wayne, I do agree with you in respect to
individuals
being scapegoats, though I support justice and individuals taking
responsibility for their actions. Eichmann's trial and execution was
just that, a show to appease, allowing many collectively to escape
justice. Perhaps it brought solace to surviving victims, but I doubt it.<span
class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span><br>
<br>
Carl, I have to reread your statements more than once to comprehend,
will comment at a later date. I enjoy the discussion/food for thought
from you both.<br>
<br>
<div>
<hr id="ecxstopSpelling">Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Banality
of
Evil<br>
From:<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span><a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:galliher@illinois.edu">galliher@illinois.edu</a><br>
Date: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 20:27:17 -0500<br>
CC:<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span><a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:karenaram@hotmail.com">karenaram@hotmail.com</a>;<span
class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:stuartnlevy@gmail.com">stuartnlevy@gmail.com</a>;<span
class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net">peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net</a><br>
To:<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span><a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:ewj@pigsqq.org">ewj@pigsqq.org</a><br>
<br>
The scapegoat theme is worth pursuing. I keep running into (as in a
traffic accident) the work of Rene Girard. I think the cosmos is trying
to tell me something.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>"...The phrase 'scapegoat mechanism' was not coined by
Girard
himself; it had been used earlier by Kenneth Burke in Permanence and
Change (1935) and A Grammar of Motives (1940). However, Girard took
this concept from Burke and developed it much more extensively as an
interpretation of human culture.<br>
<br>
"In Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World (1978), Girard
develops the implications of this discovery. The victimary process is
the missing link between the animal world and the human world, the
principle that explains the humanization of primates. It allows us to
understand the need for sacrificial victims, which in turn explains
the hunt which is primitively ritual, and the domestication of animals
as a fortuitous result of the acclimatization of a reserve of victims,
or agriculture. It shows that at the beginning of all culture is
archaic religion, which Durkheim had sensed[citation needed]. The
elaboration of the rites and taboos by proto-human or human
groups would take infinitely varied forms while obeying a rigorous
practical sense that we can detect: the prevention of the return of the
mimetic crisis. So we can find in archaic religion the origin of all
political or cultural institutions.<br>
<br>
"According to Girard, just as the theory of Natural selection of
species is the rational principle that explains the immense diversity
of forms of life, the victimization process is the rational principle
that explains the origin of the infinite diversity of cultural forms.
The analogy with Darwin also extends to the scientific status of the
theory, as each of these presents itself as a hypothesis that is not
capable of being proven experimentally, given the extreme amounts of
time necessary to the production of the phenomena in question, but
which imposes itself by its great explanatory power."</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
<div>
<div>On Aug 24, 2013, at 8:15 PM, "E. Wayne Johnson ÖìÎÈÉ" <<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:ewj@pigsqq.org">ewj@pigsqq.org</a>>
wrote:</div>
<br class="ecxApple-interchange-newline">
<blockquote>On 08/25/13 6:30, Karen Aram wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:BAY177-W124C555C2FCBEC194C256CA34F0@phx.gbl">
<div dir="ltr">In reference to some of our discussions at
the
Market this morning related to the film and writings of Hannah Arendt,
and her "banality of evil" I attach the below. I consider not Adolph
Eichmann, but many here in the US, myself included, as the banality of
evil, when viewing through the eyes of many elsewhere in the world. We
drive our SUV's, feed our pets better food than some people receive,
shop until we drop, consuming resources that cannot be replaced,
and allowing wars and killings to take place in the name of "self
defense".<span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span><br>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
I would agree that after you have made certain that the last human<br>
is ok, then you take care of the first dog, but my attitude is angering<br>
to some.<br>
<br>
I consider Eichmann to be a scapegoat, much like Bin Laden and Michael
Vick.<br>
<br>
Having said that humans are so much more valuable that dogs<span
class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span><br>
[worst human >> best dog], now I must say that there is great<br>
evil possible in the action of masses of human. Alone an<span
class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span><br>
individual can do relatively little evil.<br>
<br>
Scapegoats provide the hoi polloi a focus upon which to fix the
pointless banality of their<br>
useless lives of vanity. <span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> </span><br>
<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br class="ecxApple-interchange-newline">
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<pre wrap=""><fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
_______________________________________________
Peace-discuss mailing list
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:Peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net">Peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net</a>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss">https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
</body>
</html>