Reverse engineering the meme (a fascinating read)

After our robust discussion in class, I think I know what a meme is. The rumor from the Presidential election that John Kerry had an affair with an intern certainly seems to fit the bill. This is a great article by Alexandra Polier, the woman who was the subject of the rumor. She is a journalist, and she went back and traced the origin of the Kerry-affair meme. She does an excellent job in this article of tracking down the birth of the meme. It was, as you can guess, largely a blog-birth. The article illustrates the awesome, frightening power of the false meme, as she says it changed her life.

p.s. picture is taken from the article; see the piece for the photo credit