Memetics and Stuff, not necessarily in that order

The first posting seems to me an inherently intimidating one, since I take it to be an introduction to a beast that has not yet fully evolved. How do you introduce something that doesn't yet exist, and is ever-changing once created? My answer? I won't. My blog will probably reflect my fairly fractured thinking. You've been warned.

ANYHOW on memetics. I was thinking about how the nature of blogging seems to be somewhat narcissistic, and although its negative and grand generalization, I can't seem to reject that personal association with the word. Thus, memes spread through blogs are somewhat narcissistic by default. By latching onto a particular phrase or idea, you indicate that it has some kind of personal importance to you. Fair enough, you want to become part of a club, an aesthetic, or whatever, because that community makes you feel more right in your own skin. It's as if you're given liscence to spread a particular aspect of yourself because you're backed by a larger community. The survival and proliferation of that meme suggests that that aspect of you is also entitled to survive. As time goes on, you will evolve (emotionally, intellectually, socially...) and so your values and tastes will change, and the old memes you associated with will either die or evolve with you. It's the basis of successful branding. It's like t-shirts for blogs! The very term 'meme' has become a designer logo of sorts, suggesting that the site that brands it offers some kind of worthwhile information to be spread. And of course, that designer logo has created thousands of cheap and worthless knockoffs sporting the same brand.