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Notes -
"Convention" as in "Consensus", "Law", "Guideline", "Policy", not "Tradition". You might argue that this is imprecision in language, but language is, unfortunately, imprecise. Note the "Currently", which states that this is a convention of the present. So no, this doesn't seem to me to be a colorable argument.
Rwandan racial grievances and the Blood Libel are other examples of mere memes that are nevertheless serious threats, and other examples (Marxism, Protestantism, Christianity, "this random guy is actually the legitimate heir to the throne", &etc) abound. Ideas are dangerous, in the strictest and most concrete sense. Memes motivate, and of the means-motive-opportunity trio, motive is the most important.
I'm aware that the cliché in question has a pedigree, but I'm struggling to actually think of a single case where its use is straightforwardly both applicable and productive. I think this is just another of those academic "insights" sustained by a complete lack of rigor in their native environment.
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