by Daniel Rigney
You may have seen Woody Allen’s time-travel comedy, “Midnight in Paris,” about a popular Hollywood screen-writer working on a serious novel about a guy who opens a little “nostalgia shop” selling memorabilia from half-imaginary golden eras of the past.
Seeing this movie made me want to open a little meme shop specializing in customized words and phrases that refract future thought and action in progressive directions. I’m picturing a little shop of hope for this pessimistic time of horrors.
What I’m imagining is just the opposite of what conservative Republican propagandist Frank Luntz sells in his little shop,“Word Doctor,” on the other side of the street. Luntz, whose company specializes in creating and managing words and images for his right-wing clients, describes himself as an “Orwellian” manipulator of emotions – and he means that in a good way. [NPR interview with Terry Gross, “Fresh Air,” 1/9/200
I momentarily thought of naming my progressive shop the Meme Boutique, but I quickly discovered that name had already been taken by a women’s clothing store in Raleigh, North Carolina. Besides, the name was way too chi-chi for my taste.
How about the Meme Factory? Sounds like an assembly line operation. I wasn't sure an industrial metaphor would evoke the creative spirit of the kind of place I’m imagining. Too brutal.
The Philosophy Shop? No, Jay Leno (a philosophy major in college) has already laid claim to that name. Anyway, it's way too non-anti-intellectual for this country.
Me!Me! ? Too narcissistic.
Progressive Memes? It says what it is, but is it catchy enough? Does it have viralocity and iconability? [Text to self: How does the word "progressive" do in Luntz-style focus groups? Is "liberal" too bell-bottomy these days?]
Or how about calling the shop Manipulative Memes? No. That wouldn’t set it apart from any commercial ad agency -- including Luntz's "Word Doctor." For Luntz, it's not an estate tax; it's a "death tax." It's not oil drilling; it's "energy exploration." It's not global warming, it's "climate change," which doesn't sound nearly as scary. It's all in what you call it, and in the audience's emotional reaction to what you call it.
Why are there not more Frank Luntz's working on behalf of progressive causes? A progressive might, for instance, call for a more equitable economy (not the current "dog eat dog"or "everyone for himself" economy); for energy conservation and clean 21st-century technologies (to supplant our reliance on "dirty energy" and "dirty industrial" technology); and for sustainable environmental policies to replace the "slash and burn" policies that are now turning the North Pole into the "North Pool."
Two teams can play this game, Frank, and our team is just getting warmed up.
Finally, I considered calling my little corner of e-space the Meme Shoppe. That name, it turns out, has not been overcommercialized yet. I hesitated for a moment, thinking that to call anything a "shoppe" outside the former British empire would be laughable on several levels.
But then I thought “laughable” might be a good thing, so I decided to go with it as a provisional brand name. Nowadays it's all about the brand in our frantic attention economy.
The Meme Shoppe, if it ever actually exists, will be a branded shop that makes and sells more brands – a cultural replicator and mutator in the service of worthy causes.
You may have seen Woody Allen’s time-travel comedy, “Midnight in Paris,” about a popular Hollywood screen-writer working on a serious novel about a guy who opens a little “nostalgia shop” selling memorabilia from half-imaginary golden eras of the past.
Seeing this movie made me want to open a little meme shop specializing in customized words and phrases that refract future thought and action in progressive directions. I’m picturing a little shop of hope for this pessimistic time of horrors.
What I’m imagining is just the opposite of what conservative Republican propagandist Frank Luntz sells in his little shop,“Word Doctor,” on the other side of the street. Luntz, whose company specializes in creating and managing words and images for his right-wing clients, describes himself as an “Orwellian” manipulator of emotions – and he means that in a good way. [NPR interview with Terry Gross, “Fresh Air,” 1/9/200
I momentarily thought of naming my progressive shop the Meme Boutique, but I quickly discovered that name had already been taken by a women’s clothing store in Raleigh, North Carolina. Besides, the name was way too chi-chi for my taste.
How about the Meme Factory? Sounds like an assembly line operation. I wasn't sure an industrial metaphor would evoke the creative spirit of the kind of place I’m imagining. Too brutal.
The Philosophy Shop? No, Jay Leno (a philosophy major in college) has already laid claim to that name. Anyway, it's way too non-anti-intellectual for this country.
Me!Me! ? Too narcissistic.
Progressive Memes? It says what it is, but is it catchy enough? Does it have viralocity and iconability? [Text to self: How does the word "progressive" do in Luntz-style focus groups? Is "liberal" too bell-bottomy these days?]
Or how about calling the shop Manipulative Memes? No. That wouldn’t set it apart from any commercial ad agency -- including Luntz's "Word Doctor." For Luntz, it's not an estate tax; it's a "death tax." It's not oil drilling; it's "energy exploration." It's not global warming, it's "climate change," which doesn't sound nearly as scary. It's all in what you call it, and in the audience's emotional reaction to what you call it.
Why are there not more Frank Luntz's working on behalf of progressive causes? A progressive might, for instance, call for a more equitable economy (not the current "dog eat dog"or "everyone for himself" economy); for energy conservation and clean 21st-century technologies (to supplant our reliance on "dirty energy" and "dirty industrial" technology); and for sustainable environmental policies to replace the "slash and burn" policies that are now turning the North Pole into the "North Pool."
Two teams can play this game, Frank, and our team is just getting warmed up.
Finally, I considered calling my little corner of e-space the Meme Shoppe. That name, it turns out, has not been overcommercialized yet. I hesitated for a moment, thinking that to call anything a "shoppe" outside the former British empire would be laughable on several levels.
But then I thought “laughable” might be a good thing, so I decided to go with it as a provisional brand name. Nowadays it's all about the brand in our frantic attention economy.
The Meme Shoppe, if it ever actually exists, will be a branded shop that makes and sells more brands – a cultural replicator and mutator in the service of worthy causes.
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