Human Meme

Human Meme

By David BolesSociety & CultureArtsPerforming Arts
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Human Meme episodes

  • Things Fall Apart
    When things come undone, we search to blame. It isn't enough for us to accept a failure. No, for closure, we need just one reason for the fall, but only one reason. Neil Young taught us that, sometimes, there are a thousand reasons for a fall and that fact alone needs to be the answer.
    12 min
  • Performative Grief
    We cannot be left alone to learn community rituals. We become one, together, by sharing information, and by teaching expectation; and if time is not spent on bringing young minds into the human rituals of society, we become, and then remain, broken and alone as a people.
    13 min
  • Skinflint: Blood in the Stone
    Cheap is not the path to generosity. You've met the skinflint. You know the cheapskate. You might even be one of them; but there are few things in life more disappointing than being told after the fact that you owe someone money. Here's how to deal with the deadbeat payer.
    14 min
  • When Dummies Decide
    There's a difference between being dumb, and being a Dummy. A whole book publishing industry is dedicated to those who self-identify as a Dummy; but what do we make of those who are proud of just being dumb, and unwilling, and protected from learning anything new? The biggest threat to a safe society is the self-identifying, self-comforting, and self-condemning, dumb person.
    14 min
  • The 300-lb Ballerina
    A human aesthetic is created to celebrate, not humiliate. What do we choose to value in Art? Is inclusion more important than ability? Do we care more for participation than precision in performance? Some among us want to change the look, and resonance, of the traditional performance Arts; but do we want to so quickly toss away a 500-year-old standard?
    12 min
  • Adding to the Christofascism Lie
    The Holocaust is not an Easter story. There are some, the Christofascists among us, who propagate the lie -- some, perhaps, unwittingly -- that the Christ child is the center of all religions, when that is not true. Here is the story of how that lie is propagated.
    14 min
  • Where the Day Goes to Die
    We seek renewal in the East, and find death in the West. In that arc of the day, we struggle to define the truth of each moment, while resisting the evil effort to rewrite what has already been lived.
    18 min
  • Too Many Tomorrows
    We have a shared, and fatal, fat mentality. Some try to convince us there's such a thing as being "Healthy Fat" when no such condition exists. If we are ever again to regain our place in our own lives, we must become honest, and face down the temptation of the adverse calorie.
    13 min
  • The Great White Bridge as Throughline
    Joe Biden is a historical bridge worth crossing. Sure, Joe is owned by the big banks. Sure, Joe told student loan borrowers to pound sand. Sure, Joe lied about the $2,000 stimulus checks; but maybe there's more to his throughline than we need to imagine.
    13 min
  • Putting it on the Record
    A "Deal is a Deal" is dead and gone. A handshake is cancelled. All the terms of keeping your word have now gone the way of the comfort of community where you once belonged merely by being. Now the world is about paper, contracts, and the forced enrollment of a morality that no longer matters.
    12 min

About Human Meme

From the publisher's feed

The Human Meme podcast examines what separates human consciousness from mere biological existence. Each episode investigates the inherited behaviors, cultural transmissions, and cognitive patterns…