Theres a lot of talk lately about the Cult of Qanon. Whatever else it is-and theres a few overlapping as well as solo scams going on at once there- but a lot of it sure has a lot of aspects of a Cargo Cult.
“Cargo Cult” a sociological term about an obscure phenomenon, but it’s also an interesting and enlightening filter on the MAGA Madness and Q insanity that seems to has a good enough chunk of this country talking and acting crazy.
So what exactly is a Cargo Cult? Ive read as much as I can find on them. Its a bit of an obsession of mine since I first heard the term in reference to an episode of Star Trek (more on that later).
The classic historical Cargo Cult refers to a religious phenomenon that arose on the isolated pacific islands used as bases by various militaries during the Second World War. The truth is the British Empire had spawned a few in the days of wooden ships already though.
The native islanders in places like Papua, New Guinea had not had much contact with the outside world. Their ways of viewing the day to day world included a good dose of the paranormal.
If someone got sick, perhaps a curse had been put upon them. Flood? Famine? Perhaps the villagers aren’t living up to the standards of their pantheon of deities. A thumbnail description would be that they fed the Volcano to pacify the gods,who were surely a bit crazy.
After the Second World War began in the Pacific the lives of the native islanders were subject to massive culture shock. Literally overnight and literally out of the sky in the form of shiny silver airplanes as well as great iron beasts from the sea came the mid-20th century. None of the previous limited contacts with outsiders provided a frame of reference for what transpired on their islands, their very world, as emerged over the weeks following arrival of troops from both sides of the conflict.
To these isolated natives the idea that an internal combustion engine would spin gears and operate pistons to spin a propeller to power a vehicle capable of carrying goods or people was inconceivable. Imagine bringing a flashlight, cigarette lighter and .9mm pistol via time traveling helicopter to Dark Ages Europe to get any sort of grip on this.
To the natives of islands such as those of New Guinea the planes were not
machines but great beasts akin to hollow metal dragons. They were summoned from the sky by rituals at a holy temple, or as we would call it, a Military Airfield. The “rituals” were the day to day operations of the base. Waiving in incoming planes with flags and lighting runways. Groups of identically clad men marching in formation, chanting magic words (read: military cadences) and sometimes even firing their bang sticks!!
Then things changed radically again when the war ends.
In the wake of the War these isolated bases were mostly abandoned and life, for the natives, returned to ‘normal’. But it was a ‘New Normal’. They had become accustomed to the gleaming aluminum dragons regularly summoned by the clergy (read: US Navy Sea Bees) with the sacred relics (read: radios, landing lights and parades). No longer were the great beasts from the air and sea disgorging the material goods they now so desired. Gone was the supply of
the coveted “cargo”.
In a turn of events still being studied by sociologists and historians, the Cargo Cults emerged. The natives formed into cults of sorts and imitated in ritualistic fashion the actions of the men who had summoned the great beats and cargo from the sky. Coconuts were fashioned into radio headsets, bamboo control towers were created. Uniformly dressed men marched in ritual manners similar to the military drills they had seen under the mistaken belief that by simply doing so they themselves would please the gods of the sky and bring down the shiny metal beasts filled with goodies. These beliefs were personified in the form of an image of an American World War 2 Sailor, frequently portrayed as African American, known as “John Frum”. Think of him as a sort of Santa-Jesus type. British occupied areas developed similar cults based on an idealized perception of Prince Phillip.
The John Frum Movement and Prince Philip Societies- who I gotta imagine are in for a real challenge now– still exist today in New Guinea. Despite the fact that these places slowly became less isolated and were slowly but steadily overtaken by rational explanations of the outside world some still cling to the Cargo Cult beliefs. In the case of the Prince Phillip society egotistical detachment from reality is shared by the object of their affection. Prince Phillip perhaps unwittingly, endorses the cult’s beliefs by sending gifts and autographs. This leads to the inevitable conclusion that what is really needed, by the prince and his worshipers, is some help handling a brutal but needed dose of reality. This need also applies to early 21st Century Tea party Republicans. Ritualized Reaganistic Worldview has become a meme accepted by most Republicans, albeit for the most part unknowingly.
READ- CARGO CULTS AND JOHN FRUM THEME OF 2013 BURNING MAN FESTIVAL??
The most familiar Cargo Cult known to Americans in popular culture would be the “Gangster Planet” in the famous episode of the Original Star Trek “A Piece of the Action”,
where an isolated planet had been exposed to 23rd century technology by earlier space travelers. When the Enterprise arrives a generation later they find an entire culture influenced by a book the first explorers from Earth left behind about 1920’s gangster culture in places like Chicago and New York. By looking, dressing and acting like the gangsters they read about the natives of Sigma Iota IV were attempting to make a great leap forward by throwing themselves feet first into imitating a society that had been outlined in book that to them seemed a blue print to the “cargo” they had seen accompanying the first earthmen they met, technology and abilities that would provide for worry free prosperity.
How does this apply to early 21st century American Conservatism? The Republican Party is now packed with under qualified ideologues who espouse an unrealistic image of a worry free past, in this case, the Go Go 1980’s. The images of John Frumm (a bastardization of “John From America”) and Prince Phillip have been replaced by an idealized, unrealistic image of Ronald Reagan. Like John Frumm, Ritual Reagan is a demi god who summoned “Cargo” (read: Worry free prosperity) through rituals that included sparring with the Russians, a somewhat narrow social view and an overemphasis on an extreme interpretation of “Christian” thought.
To one degree or another every single modern conservative is a member of a Reagan oriented Cargo Cult. The Cargo Cult mentality has threaded its way into every aspect of current Republican narrative.
The Cargo Cult Volcano God demands certain sacrifices be made lest it grow angry and erupt. Among other things, it demands ritual.
Repeated mawkish Ritualistic displays by Republican’s have so far done nothing to dispel the validity of the Cargo Cult Assertion.
The Cargo Cult will likely thrive for years to come. Right now its re-centered on Donald Trump.
My Pillow Lunatic Mike Lindell seems to somewhere between a believer and a staright up Q and MAGA Preacher. He’s also got his ritualistic oversized cross and signature folksy weirdness. The Cargo Lindell is promising is Trump’s imminent and heretofore twice postponed return to the presidency.
Lindell moves the date each time one passes, but it sure seems like he’s saying that the way to make this happen is to use some weird vaguely bible-ish code for a discount on a pillow on his website. I sort of think Lindell is using Crack as a Performance Enhancing drug on this one.
The Q Cult is a blog post of it’s own. A bunch of people thinking JFK jr (who died in 2000) is tweeting out secret info about a nearly all Democratic Party Controlled Goverrnent cabal of Cannibals who frighten children to death to get high off some likely fake drug I’ve never heard of outside the drugged up semi-fiction of Hunter S Thompson til now by drinking their blood- a method of staying apparently pioneered in a pizza shop by Hillary.
Anyway, now you know pretty much everything about Cargo Cults and most of the Q Conspiracy as it is of this writing.
