Re: virus: Will the real meme please stand up.

Tim Abbott (tmca@cfht.hawaii.edu)
Tue, 5 Aug 1997 11:00:57 -1000 (HST)


Tony Hindle writes:
> [Kill a tabacco spokesman]
> Actually I never thought of this meme originaly at all. I bloke
> I met in a pub told me it. I just want to know why it is a bad idea and
> so far nobody has given me anything except knee jerk moral arguments
> (until KMO, I think) and your reasons so far dont persuade me that its
> not a good idea.

One of the marvellous things about the great British pub is that
it provides the perfect place for a little time out of life (I've
yet to find the equivalent in the US). One of the bad things about
the place is that people tend to take what they hear there into the
outside world and assume that it has useful applicability. Rarely
is this assumption justified. (Maybe that's why Britain's in such
a mess).

> I think it is particularly infectious to people who are dying
> because of tobbaco, I have repeated this point time and time again and
> still nobody has raised any decent argument why it would not spread and
> why it would not be good. I assume the people who are keeping quiet are
> thinking
> "hmm, I cant fault it but I will keep shtum because there must
> be something wrong with it and I am sure someone will think of it
> eventually.

Alternatively, they're ignoring it because they think it's a dumb idea.

> Come off it, You have a couple of weeks to go, you hear a way of
> getting even THAT WILL SAVE MANY MORE LIVES THAN IT WILL COST, it will
> make you famous for the rest of your life and you could probably make
> enough money in that time to relieve your close family of all financial
> hardships for the rest of their lifes. If you didnt do it, it would just
> show that you were a brainwashed fuck.

Go back to the pub, Tony, have a drink, throw a few darts, and calm down.

Tim

-- 
Timothy M. C. Abbott, Ph.D.               http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/~tmca/
Resident Astronomer                                    tmca@cfht.hawaii.edu
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope                         Tel: +1 808 885 7944
Box 1597, Kamuela, HI 96743                            Fax: +1 808 885 7288