On the topic of the Martyrdom meme-complex:
1] Martyrdom is usually thrust upon someone. If you want to die, it's no big deal when your
killed, we all saw it coming. But when someone (like, say, Jesus) whos memes have little to do
with death its martyred, it has a powerful effect.
2] People who willingly sacrifice themselves, like those at Jonestown, do not usually do it as a
sense of martyrdom and they do not usually make great changes to other peoples memes.
-- David Leeper Homo Deus http://home1.gte.net/dleeper/index.htm