# What exactly is a meme?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-meme/208350>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 19, 2003, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-meme/208350 "2003-10-19T12:47:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-meme/208350/41 "2003-10-21T21:10:00Z")

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**Dogface** : And I think memes are rigorously defined by the relevant materials and can be applied scientifically to predict future behavior.

Oh, and your example does not follow. You’ve reversed the roles in a way that shifts you from the questioned to the questioner, and you’re asking the same of us that your student asked of you. Either you’re being ironic (in which case I miss the humor), or you honestly don’t see the dichotomy.

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**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-meme/208350/42 "2003-10-21T21:39:50Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Dogface \*  
> \*\*I was asked for a cite for a personal conclusion. This is absurd. This is as absurd as a time I was in a philosophy course many years ago and one of the students screamed at me, demanding that I explain to him what gave me the RIGHT to question what he had to say.
> 
> These days, the term “meme” is so "meaningful’ as to be meaningless. Everything is now “memetic”. Well, if everything is memetic, then memetic is so trivial as to not be worthy of mention. \*\*

Get over yourself, **Dogface** , you said

> [@](#):
>
> **I’m surprised that Dawkins didn’t express regret at what happened to his idea, since Dawkins always struck me as a materialist, and _“memes” have definitely moved into the realms of spiritualism or some other form of “non-material reality”_.**

(my italics)

I don’t think it unreasonable in GQ to ask you to back that up! And I don’t think it looked like a “personal” conclusion.

Oh, and in regard to your comparison of me to your _absurd_ student colleague, what **Derleth** said.

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