n. The spread of a successful but pernicious
meme,
esp. one that parasitizes the victims into giving their all to
propagate it. Astrology, BASIC, and the other guy's religion are
often considered to be examples. This usage is given point by the
historical fact that 'joiner' ideologies like Naziism or various
forms of millennarian Christianity have exhibited plague-like cycles
of exponential growth followed by collapses to small reservoir
populations.