Fascinating phenomenon: cargo cults

[Tim Cornelis]

Nothing really to discuss, but I thought this was really interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult

[Guardia Rossa]

"Believers may stage "drills" and "marches" with sticks for rifles and use military-style insignia and national insignia painted on their bodies to make them look like soldiers, thereby treating the activities of Western military personnel as rituals to be performed for the purpose of attracting the cargo [richness and power]"

Interesting, melanesian indigenous people know more about war then the averange "Ocidental man"
:grin:

[Stirnerian]

Some of these are a little more ingenious than a Westerner might suspect.

Behold, the Johnson Cult (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_cult):


The so-called "Johnson cult", formerly misidentified as a cargo cult, was initiated on New Hanover Island in Papua New Guinea in 1964. Although initially labeled a cargo cult, it has since been characterized as political theater.

Papua New Guinea was divided into German and British territories when it was first colonized in the 1870s. Germany ruled northern New Guinea, while southern New Guinea and Papua was ruled by Britain. Soon after the Australian government took power, World War II broke out, and the islands were temporarily occupied by Japan. After the Japanese surrender, Australia assumed authority again. Pressured by the United Nations, they prepared for the territories' independence.

The so-called "Johnson cult" started when the Lavongai people of New Hanover voted for the American President Lyndon B. Johnson in the first election of Papua and New Guinea (still separate territories) in February 1964. Although the Australian authorities explained that they could not vote for President Johnson, the Lavongais refused to change their vote. They claimed they wanted the American President to represent them in their House of Assembly, because they wanted the Americans to rule over them instead of the Australians. Outsiders saw the Johnson cult as a cargo cult brought on by isolation, lack of education, poor economic development, and overall lack of understanding of the modern world. Dorothy Billings, who conducted anthropological research among the alleged "cultists", revealed that the Lavongai had, by voting for Johnson, consciously engaged in a theatrical act of shaming, seeking to draw attention to what they saw as poor colonial administration by the Australian authorities. They had never intended for Johnson to become their representative.

Now, I myself would be aghast at the idea of a civilized tribe idolizing a murderous primitive like Lyndon Johnson, but given the circumstances, it's more understandable. ;-)