virus: Communication

Tadeusz Niwinski (niwinski@direct.ca)
Tue, 14 May 1996 14:53:18 -0700


"This one really is a crisis"
are the last words of Richard Brodie's excellent book "Virus of the Mind".
He wants to save us. He wants to teach children
"to be conscious! Conscious! Conscious! Conscious!"

Is he sincere or is he pushing "the crisis button" to get us in *his*
investment?

I am trying to understand this.

Tom Loeber wrote something which triggered quite a bit of emotions up to "a
polite but firm 'Fuck You!'" from Reed Konsler. It looked like Tom
considered himself as more than a human. In response I confessed I was from
planet TeTa (I really am) and I sent him a heart.

Then I received a private mail from no-more-no-less Richard Brodie. I
thought he was trying to intimidate me with a question if I knew what a
"meme" was. It appears, the question was just a part of his signature (I
think so now). *The only other contents* of his mail was "ROFL!", which I
did not understand. I asked several people in Vancouver (educated here) and
they had no idea what this "ROFL" meant, which made me feel little less
guilty about my Polish upbringing. Then I asked the group. Reed Konsler
explained (thank you) and then Richard Brodie wrote :

>ROFL=Rolling On the Floor, Laughing. =)
>
>I certainly didn't mean to be intimidating, but of course those
>Microsoft memes had years to infect me...
>Richard

What *did* you mean, Richard?

I suggested Richard was using an "undocumented meme". I think his book
explains quite a few "manipulating people" memes (as well as Robert
Cialdini's "Influence, Science and Practice"), but does not contain this one.

Knowing the formal meaning of the abbreviation I still don't understand it.
ROFL may mean "I liked your joke" (why didn' you just say so., Richard?) --
or -- quite a contrary: "What a stupid joke".

This was *the only* message sent to me. What was the purpose of it, Richard?

If we want to save the Planet, I suggest we start learning how to communicate.

Tad Niwinski
(from TeTa)