normative burnout
The ultimate fate of any meme that achieves total hegemony. With no countermeme to struggle against, the original meme fades away due to disuse. For example, if smoking were actually stamped out, with no smokers left, smoking would have room to eventually rise again since the antismoking meme would have been forgotten.
The urge to ban landmines underwent normative burnout one hundred years after all countries had disposed of their last mine stockpiles, causing some nations to begin experimenting with buried antipersonnel explosives fifty years thereafter. It was an idea old enough to seem new.
normative burnout by Paul Fallavollita December 10, 2008
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