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2 von 2 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich:
3.0 von 5 Sternen
thought provoking, but not scientific, 29. Dezember 1999
If you are looking for a stimulating read, then paperback edition at Amazon's prices is not a bad investment. The book includes a sweeping overview of human history, discussions of interesting tidbits of anthropology and an attempt to show how memes influence behaviors of human society. Memes are presented as virulent ideas that take hold upon the masses, seemingly beyond the victim's will. Memes are thus comparable to biological and software viruses, but no scientific proof that memes exist is provided, whereas we have conclusive proof that the other kinds of viruses do exist.The author makes the case that religions are memes. Indeed, the author points out some destructive aspects of Hinduism (citing proof that the Hinduism was designed by a Iranian ruling class that conquered India in the distant past) were deliberately crafted. In the case of Islam, the author cites proof that Mohammed was mentally ill and that his conversations with the angel Gabriel were delusions. However, the founders of Christianity seem to escape similar judgement. Perhaps this is because the author researched Christianity's origins in depth and found that Christianity had a perfectly altruistic basis. I suspect though that the author went looking for references that described the origins of Hinduism and Islam in negatives, but didn't look for similar references for Christianity. Or perhaps he did, but didn't find any. In any case, the credibility of the author's veiled portrayal of Christianity as a superior religion would have been bolstered if he'd been up front with his research. In the interest of full disclosure, the author should have stated what his religious beliefs were. The book is also an exercise in bashing 1980s U.S. culture and advancements, and points out that U.S.'s failure to capitalize on its research lead in technology like VCRs as evidence that the U.S. in in decline. Although the book is somewhat dated (1997), even in 1997 we saw the U.S. achieve prohibitive leads in software, the Internet, computers, and an open minded base of U.S. consumers that embraced these technologies. The author seems to miss the fact that the profit margins in software, ISP service, and PCs are higher than VCRs, and the author doesn't note that in 1997 the U.S. economy was roaring, while the rest of world was still sputtering. The U.S.' prohibitive lead in productivity is ignored. The author notes that history has shown that time and again, a seemingly invincible power is overthrown by its neighbors, but he doesn't even consider the advantages that the U.S.'s geography has in preventing a fate that the Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, and Chinese empires suffered. As a citizen of one the U.S.'s two closest neighbors, I'm well aware of the might of the U.S., and can assure Mr. Bloom, that at no time in the future will Canada's barbarians ever succeed in taking down the U.S., if for no other reason, than the U.S. wields the biggest stick on earth. A stick which on one hand, Bloom criticizes the ancient Chinese for de-constructing which led to being defenseless from the hoards, but on another hand, he criticizes the Reagan administration for re-building. Bloom also criticizes the quality of 1980s rock music as further evidence of U.S. decline. I suppose Disco from the 1970s was superior? In any case, comparing quality of pop music seems like a poor way to measure cultural decay.
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von Thaddeus Golas
DVD ~ Vera F. Birkenbihl
