Memes in Popular Culture

In modern times, the mass media has become a major vector for the spread and dissemination of popular-culture memes throughout the population. As a vector, the mass media has been wildly effective, quickly and efficiently transmitting many and varied memes through the population of radio listeners and television viewers. News programs and cross-cultural radio and especially television shows are disseminating memes with ever-greater efficiency. Some interesting memes from popular culture include the millennium bug, astrology, and urban legends.

The Millennium Bug

One of the most noticeable memes in popular culture is that surrounding the arrival of the "new millennium" in the year 2000. Dire predictions of impending doom mingled with widespread misunderstanding of the concept of millennium to create a fascinating meme complex. This meme set diffused throughout popular culture for months before the advent of 1 January 2000.

First in the millennium meme set are the widespread Y2K worries, which ranged from predictions of mild inconvenience to utter ruin. In an interesting demonstration of the fact that predictions of doom outreplicate reassurances, a few computer programmers' concerns that some systems would not be prepared for the new date were amplified by the mass media into predictions of doom. Journalists and news anchors were warning against possibilities ranging from loss of electricity to confusion with bank records, and some radicals went so far as to predict that civilization would come to a total halt. These doomsayers prompted some to hide out in isolated areas with stockpiles of food, while others became terrified that the stock market would cease functioning; more moderate responses included stocking up on milk, batteries, and other staple items. "Millennium hysteria" infected a large percentage of the population to varying degrees; many people were convinced that problems would occur. They adopted memes that they picked up through the mass media, and generally tried to retransmit them to acquaintances as well.

Another meme in the millennium set is the confusion over the actual beginning of the new millennium. Bolstered by repeated references in the media, the "2000 is the new millennium" meme spread even more rapidly through the population. People made plans for massive parties and celebrations which will almost surely far outweigh the excitement for the real new millennium in 2001. Most people intellectually knew that 2000 was not the real millennium, but the media meme spread caused them to accept and retransmit the 2000 meme.

Accompanying both of the above memes were the strange fringe cults that seemed to crawl out of the woodwork, prophesying doom and destruction in 2000. Most centered on predictions of the coming of Judgment Day or a similar occurrence; many Christian extremists departed for Jerusalem, expecting the Second Coming of Christ. While most people did not go so far as to adopt these memes, popular interest in the paranormal increased markedly, and a few even correlated the potential computer difficulties with paranormal activities.

Astrology

Astrology has been a common meme for centuries; some Roman emperors had their own personal astrologers to guide them in making decisions about the fate of the empire. In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church officially discouraged such belief, but it remained widespread among the peasant population despite the Church's efforts. In modern times, it has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in the wake of increasingly influential memes involving mysticism and variants of Buddhism. Disturbingly, one survey reports that "roughly one in 10 of us admits we seek out astrological advice . . . and more than half - 53 percent - can't resist checking their horoscope when flipping past it in print." (Bernice Kanner, Are You Normal?, p.82) In addition, the answers to MSN UnderWire's Spirituality Quiz state that 40% of American adults "say astrology is 'very' or 'sort of' scientific'."

Astrology is a complex meme whose appeal is to those who seek simple answers without analyzing their source. Astrological predictions are intentionally made vague and undefined, so that they will seem true to a large number of readers. In addition, astrology takes advantage of the fact that people have a tendency to remember what they perceive as correct predictions, but forget incorrect ones. Consequently, they arrive at a warped conclusion of how often astrology is correct. Furthermore, comparisons between independent astrological predictions rarely seem to agree in any fundamental respect, but most faithful devotees of astrology get their horoscopes from the same source every time, so they have no opportunity to notice this glaring fact.

In Thought Contagion, Aaron Lynch details how astrology memes are especially good at spreading by proselytism. Each new horoscope or change of signs provides fresh opportunities for hosts to proselytize nonhosts by revealing their fates, destinies, etc. Thus, nonhosts get repeated exposure to the memes. As Lynch puts it, "By their very structure, astrology memes keep the proselytism flowing and the ears listening. Belief spreads from the time-honored impact of repeating a message over and over, giving astrology an enviable following" (p. 141).

In modern times, astrology also plays off common misunderstandings of today's scientific developments and achievements, which are often poorly communicated to the general public. People who misunderstand science are more likely to be taken in by pseudoscientific claims such as those made by astrologers.

Urban Legends

Urban legends are defined in The Lifecycle of Memes as "stories that: appear mysteriously and spread spontaneously in various forms; contain elements of humour or horror; . . . [and] make good storytelling." They generally have simple, easily remembered plots with many possible variations which are introduced either by deliberate innovation or by errors in memory. They are generally replicated because they are humorous or horrifying, and because they attract attention to the storyteller. Oftentimes the horrifying varieties are repeated out of genuine concern for the listeners' well-being, such as the well-circulated myth that McDonald's uses worm meat in hamburgers; other times they are simply told for entertainment value, such as ghost stories.

Urban legends are usually realistic and plausible, especially given popular perceptions of whatever is being discussed (as in the McDonald's example, in which many people already perceive McDonald's to be of low quality). They are often given respectability by the storyteller's attributing the story to an authority figure (often the government or "heard on the news") or to a real person such as "the friend of a friend."

Urban legends also commonly refer to subjects of interest that are often considered to be impolite or socially improper, such as embarrassing affairs, the supernatural, or the always-popular exposé directed against an establishment. They may evolve from simple rumors, fictitious tall tales, or from actual experiences (usually much modified).

Looking Further: Links and References

These links and references will be of assistance in the study of the memetic phenomena discussed in this section.

• Books
  • Thought Contagion: How Belief Spreads Through Society by Aaron Lynch
  • The Meme Machine by Susan Blackmore

• Websites
  • The Millennium Contagion by Aaron Lynch
  • The Memetic Mind: Natural Selection in Mental Software - Astrological Dating by Aaron Lynch
  • The Real Romance in the Stars by Richard Dawkins
  • The Lifecycle of Memes - Urban Legends by Henrik Bjarneskans, Bjarne Grønnevik and Anders Sandberg

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