Word of the Day: Memeplex!

Recently in the discussion about Iran, someone brought up a very interesting blog post from the Citizen Warrior blog, in which the author deconstructs the "memplex," or collection of memes, found in the religion of Islam.

The author compares memes and genes, highlighting several tenets of Islam and explaining how they contribute to the religion's spread by inducing certain behaviors and thought processes, just as genetic traits promote the spread of a gene.  The author is adamant on the fundamental point that a successful meme or gene is not always beneficial for its carriers, and in fact can often cause great suffering even while spreading the gene or meme far and wide.  Just because millions of people adhere to a memeplex, or carry a gene, that doesn't mean it's good for them.

As a reader points out in the comments section of Citizen Warrior, this method of deconstruction could be used for all religions, and in coming posts I hope to have some thorough deconstructions of all the major religions, and, of course, the Church of the SubGenius as well!

Dr. Euphonium suggested in IRC discussion that a thorough study of this type should allow us to create an ultimate "antiviral" memeplex to combat any harmful memes currently spreading across our globe.  I contended that the Church of the SubGenius already is such a memeplex!  Without being trained in the science of memetics, Ivan Stang and Philo Drummond instinctively crafted the SubGenius memeplex to revolve entirely around the success and happiness of the carrier, not the success of the memeplex's propagation.  This explains the Church's perpetually dire financial straits!   

"The SubGenius Must Have Slack" is one of the most powerful memes in the SubGenius memeplex, and although the definition of "Slack" has already run into the hundreds of pages over the past three decades, it's clear that the state of having Slack is a pleasurable state for the individual, so making the Slack meme central to the SubGenius doctrine is a powerful prophylactic against any memeplexes which might try to instill behavioral memes that are good for itself, but bad for the carrier!

In essence, becoming a member of the Church of the SubGenius is not only the best $30 you'll ever spend in terms of entertainment, but it is also actually incredibly beneficial as a mental antiviral treatment against invasive harmful memeplexes!!!  Take two "Bobs" and call me in the morning; that's my advice as a Doktor of Forbidden Science!