Don't Think About Elephants

No. I told you not to. But, more than likely, you are, if only in a curious way. Is that suggestion? Likely. Or is it the concept of the meme, also referred to as a mental virus.

There is lots of pop-sci on the idea of an idea that burrows into the subconscious and gets replicated and spread throughout a culture. Richard Dawkins coined the term "meme" (pronounced like dream or gene) to refer to these terms, thoughts and concepts. Stealing shamelessly from one of the many Dawkins' inspired websites:

Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leading from body to body via sperm or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation. If a scientist hears, or reads about, a good idea, he passes it on to his colleagues and students. He mentions it in his articles and his lectures. If the idea catches on, it can be said to propagate itself, spreading from brain to brain.

Thus, by creating the idea of the meme and sharing it with others, Dawkins becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy -- his concept gets replicated. Folds in on itself rather quickly, doesn't it?

What does that mean for the sports media professional? Ever wonder why certain catch phrases become a part of the sporting culture, to the point they become cliche? Maybe they were the successful memes that permeated the collective sports consciousness.

If you want to read more, Richard Brodie gets deeper (and creepier) into the concept in his book and on his website.

There are plenty of adherents that twist the meme concept to their personal belief system -- that religion is a meme or that science is a meme -- with the implication that you're infected by belief in either. There's also a good bit of internet stuff pointing to genes, nano-level biological function and relating that with the meme. OK -- way too deep.

But, the next time you're curious, ask yourself this question: Boo-yea. Cute catch phrase or insidious meme?