Thinking about internet memes: belief, behaviour, love

APOLOGIA

By Hendrik van der Breggen

The Carillon, October 25, 2012

Thinking about internet memes

The internet, especially Facebook, is a breeding ground for memes (a meme is a saying or image, usually both, that spreads over the internet as users re-post the saying or image). Some memes, if not carefully considered, promote philosophical ideas that suck the unsuspecting reader into intellectual darkness. For the sake of shining some light into the darkness—and thereby hopefully helping people not to get sucked in—let's take a critical look at two popular memes.

Meme 1: "Your beliefs don't make you a better person. Your behavior does." The text of this meme usually appears printed with chalk on a blackboard, as if a school teacher were instructing us.

Besides seeing this on the internet, I have seen a version espoused by an attorney in Psychology Today magazine (May 1, 2012): "To me, it's what [one] does in life that matters, not what [one] believes."

But let's pause and think. For the meme to make moral sense depends on what one believes "a better person" is. It also depends on what one believes is behaviour that is good or what a better person ought to do. It also depends on what one believes matters in life.

Think about this: Serial killer Ted Bundy (rapist and murderer of over 20 women) believed that “a better person” is one who is daring and willing to rape and murder.

In other words, ideas have consequences, so the idea, i.e., what is believed, matters.

As philosopher David Horner points out in his book Mind Your Faith (InterVarsity Press 2011), "what we believe will determine how we behave, and ultimately who we become."

Clearly, then, we should make every effort to discern whatever is right and true and excellent and good.

Of course, beliefs not acted upon don't amount to much. To paraphrase the Apostle James: belief without behaviour is dead.

But we should also add the whole counsel of Scripture (and reason): behaviour without belief is blind.

My point: To ensure that our behaviour amounts to something truly good also requires accurate beliefs about what is truly good.

Meme 2. "It matters not who you love, where you love, why you love, when you love, or how you love, it matters only that you love." This meme often appears with a photo of, and is attributed to, the late John Lennon, ex-Beatle, famous for the song "Imagine."

Yes, this meme seems soooo loving (and, yes, one can almost hear “Imagine” in the background).

But let's pause and think: "I love you," said the married businessman to his good-looking female secretary, as the businessman abandons his young children along with his wife who is dying of cancer.

Let's pause and think some more: "I love you," said the cannibal to his dinner; "I love you," said the pedophile to the child; "I love you," said the sadist to his torture victims.

You get the point. Clearly, we must define "love." Love has a moral structure, which includes moral boundaries. (Yes, John Lennon, we should also imagine that.)

Jesus, who Christians believe is God come to Earth as a human being, taught that love is of utmost importance, and He modeled love for us. Significantly, Jesus also taught that He didn't abolish the moral law. (For those who doubt this: Keep in mind that Jesus forgave the woman caught in adultery, but, according to the record, He also told her to leave her life of sin.)

Overall lesson: Love in accordance with the good—and read the internet carefully.

(Hendrik van der Breggen, PhD, is assistant professor of philosophy at Providence University College. The views in this column do not always reflect the views of Providence.)