IMITATION IS THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY? OR GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery? or Great Minds Think Alike?
by pam ashlund

Karl Jung had a theory about why people all seem to have the same myths and dreams, even people and cultures that have no contact with each other. He called it the collective unconscious. It still gets called psuedo-science by some. Today I'm wondering....

In my spare time I write another blog about life in my neighborhood in North East LA. I've had a series of surreal experiences there lately. One: a coyote sighting in front of my apartment and another: coming across a red flashing sign advertising the LA Coroners office.

Three weeks after writing about my experience I noticed two other nonprofit bloggers writing about the same thing. I jumped to the conclusion that this was a case of copycat-itis. That was, until...a friend said "I think I read that somewhere else". I looked around and low and behold, one of the most popular blogs (if not THE most popular blog) Boing Boing had a post about the LA Coroners office. I wrote about my close encounter on January 8th, and Boing Boing's was January 4th. The problem? My friend doesn't read Boing Boing! So then what?

Check out my two posts at the end of this post (January 8th), and then compare them to the Boing Boing post and the two posted on my fellow nonprofit bloggers (January 23rd & 26th respectively).

Pam's Blogs: Posted on Lofty Thoughts and on the Nonprofit Eye

Boing Boings post

Then the following from two of my fellow bloggers:

Selfish Giving
and
The Nonprofit Consultant


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Comments

Anonymous said…
I have this deja vu feeling that I read about the Coroner's office selling weird items somewhere else (LA Times or one of the alternative print medias?) besides just in your blog. But maybe I'm just channeling my vague "previous reading experience" solely from your blog.
1/27/2007 7:00 AM
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