... Tom Clark, Director of the Center for Naturalism, sent me this piece in reference to my review of Julian Barnes' new book: Don't Forget About Me:Avoiding Demoralization by Determinism.
It doesn't work for me, but it's a serious piece and deserves serious consideration. (But the whole debate brings to mind a favorite quote from my favorite determinist: "Ahab is forever Ahab, man. This whole act's immutably decreed. `Twas rehearsed by thee and me a billion years before this ocean rolled. Fool! I am the Fates' lieutenant; I act under orders. Look thou, underling! that thou obeyest mine.")
Sorry. Wrong numbness. Whenever I see the word, "meme," anymore, I go blank. It just looks like "me me" to me (which is not a comment on Tom Clark's piece, not in the slightingest).
ReplyDeleteI just wish writers who wish to be taken seriously would banish that word as well as "iconic" from their lexiconics for at least a decade. I think it was Johnny Carson who once mused on the word, "heart," in his opening monologue. He wondered how people would feel about Frank Sinatra tunes if every time the word made an appearance, it was replaced with "pump"; thus, "I Left My Pump In San Francisco."
Welp, I wonder, if every time a writer is compelled to deploy the word "meme," they would consider changing it to "balloonatic," a word coined by Sam Leith, as a matter of record.
Whaddya mean, why? Why not?