A Straussian Meme is a meme that communicates different ideas to different kinds of people, according to their ability and willingness to hear the message. A Straussian meme has a specific structure:
There are higher and lower readings that are related but different. This is called multi-level messaging.
Those who accept the higher readings understand the lower readings but see them as “noble lies”, “socially necessary fictions”, or “useful simplifications”.
The higher-lower structure is self-stabilizing because of what level either conceals or says about the other levels.
Whether Straussian Memes are intentionally designed or the result of some kind of selection pressure, my claim is that powerful and enduring memes often benefit from self-stabilizing stratified structure in order to maintain a stable and broad base.