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Memes are like a virus. Memes are beliefs that get passed along from person to person, growing and evolving until they have a life of their own. Memes have a purpose; to mess people up and to keep folks down.

Our culture is full of memes that keep people in their place like; ‘It is better to give than receive,’ and ‘money is the root of all evil.’  Our memes about religion emphasize that we should be self sacrificing (so we can go to war and be willing to die) and that a rich man can’t get into heaven (so people will be satisfied with their lot in life.)

One of the really popular artistic memes is that an artist isn’t famous until after they’re dead. This popular meme has inspired a story where an artist fakes his his own death to artificially drive up the value of his work and, lord knows, maybe someone somewhere has even done this.

In reality, if you examine the lives of many of the great composers, you will find that many were actually quite successful in their own lifetime. Beethoven, for example, was generally acknowledged as the greatest living composer of his day and the city if Vienna, at one point, paid him to live there and knock out a symphony or two whenever he could manage.

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