>Brodie sez:
> -------------------
>Think of something you want that you don't have. Sex? Peace of mind?
>Approval?
>
>Now imagine that you could have this thing if you truly believed in
>God.
>
> ---------------------------
>Perhaps the author is suggesting that, by having the mental environs
>that allow
>infection by the God-meme a person is also easily infected by other
>memes
>that operate on the basis of authoritarian supervision.
While I don't disagree with that, I wasn't suggesting it. I'm suggesting
that a human being is programmed by his meme set, and that the
programming results in consequences. Belief in God frequently results in
desirable consequences, regardless of the truth of the belief.
>
>Approval...from God, from parents, from law, from someone "higher."
>Peace of mind...because your actions are sanctioned and "approved" from
>aforementioned
>authority.
>Sex...internet junkie dreams, I guess. Or maybe the ability to have
>sex with whatever comes
>along, because it's been "approved" or possibly pre-ordained.
Yes, among other consequences.
>
>Anyhow, my point...if you have no immune system to reject ideas based
>purely on faith,
>why not go whole hog and have faith that a slew of swimsuit sucubii
>tend to your
>private nocturnal needs, or that God approves of a wholesale slaughter
>of "heathens?"
I detect a bit of hyperbole here, but if you want an answer, it's
because such things don't fit into their existing meme set. They would
create uncomfortable dissonance, the way God creates such dissonance in
you.
And don't labor under the misconception that you have less faith in your
meme set than they have in theirs. The only difference is that you value
truth more than goodness, while they value goodness more than truth.
>
>It seems as though once a meme takes hold, the rest of the family
>starts pulling up
>in rusty trucks full of broken furniture and moving in.
Great analogy. I doubt you'd find any disagreement in this forum that
your existing meme set paves the way for compatible meme infection.
>
>Richard Brodie RBrodie@brodietech.com +1.206.688.8600
>CEO, Brodie Technology Group, Inc., Bellevue, WA, USA
>http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie
>Do you know what a "meme" is?
>http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/meme.htm
>