Cargo cult in Melanesia from natural material. What

If you happen to be on the islands of Melanesia, then, while enjoying the natural beauties of these places, you can suddenly stumble upon a building that vaguely resembles an airfield control tower. Or on dummies of aircraft made of wood and straw. And if you're really lucky, then you will meet a local resident in headphones made of coconuts, speaking something intently into a bamboo microphone. You should not be afraid of this, however, you should not laugh at it, because this is nothing more than a religious rite, with the help of which the locals ask the gods to send them "iron birds" with food, tools, clothes and medicines.

John Frum cargo cult and movement flags. Melanesia. Photo: wikipedia.org

This unique religion of the Melanesians was called the "cargo cult".

When it was born, it is impossible to say with absolute certainty. Some researchers believe that in 1774, when the famous traveler landed on the Melanesian island of Tanna John Cook.

For local residents who lived in isolation and for centuries earned their living by fishing, raising pigs and gardening, Cook's visit was a real shock.

White people, from the point of view of the natives, did nothing, but had stocks of food, comfortable clothes, weapons, which were willingly shared with them for small services.

Following Cook, other Europeans began to appear on the island, also bringing with them all sorts of useful items. But then, not finding anything interesting for themselves on the island, the Europeans stopped coming.

Melanesian. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Return of divine gifts

For the inhabitants of the island, this was a new shock. Why did the good gods, who sent whites to them with beautiful and useful things, suddenly become angry with them?

Deciding that the return of the "manna from heaven" is possible only with the help of the right prayers, the natives began to try to repeat the behavior of the whites, believing that it was these "rites" that promised prosperity.

Something similar was experienced by the inhabitants of other Melanesian islands visited by Europeans.

European researchers noted the existence of such strange beliefs as early as the end of the 19th century.

However, in full force they manifested themselves during the Second World War.

The fight against Japan forced the US military to create many military bases in the Pacific Ocean, including in Melanesia.

For fans of the new cult, the arrival of the US military was tantamount to a “second coming.” They prayed correctly, and the whites returned, now not only with ships, but also with flying "iron birds" that bring delicious food, clothes, medicines, as well as completely unseen things like flashlights and radios.

White people willingly and generously paid for help in construction, for the services of guides, and the life of the Melanesians became, in their understanding, happy and carefree.

But then the war ended and the whites left. No more “iron birds” flew in, there were no generous “gifts of the gods”.

The priests of the new religion, which now had a huge number of fans, explained that the Melanesians did not pray well enough to the gods, which is why they no longer send them "gifts from heaven." And the Melanesians began to beg the gods even more zealously about "sending iron birds."

Another look

Those who hear about the "cargo cult" for the first time often smile knowingly - that's how the "freebie" spoils people. However, this is not quite true.

To understand the behavior of the Melanesians, you need to look at the world through their eyes. The white people who come to the islands do not make or produce anything themselves, but they have everything. Where do they get everything from? Of course, they get everything from the gods. And why are the gods generous to white people? Because they know the right prayers and rituals. And if you repeat them, then the "iron birds" with gifts will fly again.

The aborigines began to build runways, control towers, put on homemade headphones, began to shout into bamboo microphones, but the planes did not appear. This means that we do not repeat everything accurately enough, the priests said. The Melanesians stubbornly reproduced the actions of the whites, even began to hold original parades, but there was no effect.

Traditional Melanesian dance. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

But the new religion had an explanation for this case too: the “iron birds” actually fly, they are simply intercepted by white people on other islands (some airfields continued to function, since American settlements remained there). And in general, those “iron birds” that were at first were sent by the gods for the natives, and the vile whites simply “stole someone else’s”.

Why is John Frum worse than Jesus?

When anthropologists reached the islands on a scientific mission a couple of decades later, they were horrified by what they saw.

The “cargo cult” (worship of cargo) captured the Melanesians so much that their traditional economic sectors fell into decay. The islanders began to face a real famine. Anthropologists and psychologists tried to convince the Melanesians, to explain to them that they were wrong, but the natives met these explanations with hostility. In their opinion, the whites, intercepting the "gifts of the gods", simply wanted to deceive them again.

The village of the followers of John Frum. Photo: wikipedia.org / Flickr user Charmaine Tham

Realizing that it was not so easy to cope with the “cargo cult”, the scientists called for at least providing humanitarian assistance to the islanders.

But the appearance of this help for the adherents of the "cargo cult" was a confirmation of their correctness, which is why the new religion only strengthened.

The situation began to change when people from local tribes began to visit the civilized world more often, where they began to understand what was really happening and how.

The "cargo cult" waned, but did not die at all.

On the island of Tanna, from which it all began, a cult flourishes John Frum- some higher being, similar to a soldier of the American army during World War II, who will come, expel dishonest whites and return the "gifts of the gods." In order to bring the "golden age" closer, it is necessary to abandon such aspects of European civilization as money, work on plantations, school education, while maintaining the worship of wooden models of aircraft towers and straw models of aircraft.

Ceremonial cross of John Frum cargo cult, Tanna Island, New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), 1967. Photo: wikipedia.org / Tim Ross

The cult of John Frum has proved remarkably enduring. Its adherents even created their own political party, defending their interests.

It is believed that the “cargo cult” has survived its heyday and will eventually come to naught. One of the scholars who worked with John Frum cultists once asked one of them:

- Since John Frum promised that the "cargo" will come, many years have passed. Why do you still believe in him?

The Melanesian looked attentively at the scientist and said:

— You Christians have been waiting for the second coming of Christ for 2000 years and still have not lost faith in him? Why should I lose faith in John Frum?

During the Second World War, interesting cults arose on some islands of Melanesia (a collection of Pacific island groups) - the so-called "cargo cults" (cargo - cargo carried on a ship), which appeared among local aborigines as a result of contact with civilized aliens, mainly with Americans.

The Americans, who fought the Japanese, placed their military bases on the Pacific islands. They built runways there for planes to land on. Sometimes the planes did not land, but simply dropped the cargo and flew back. In general, a load came or fell from the sky.

The islanders had never seen white people before, so they watched them with interest. Especially since they had so many interesting things: lighters, flashlights, beautiful tins of jam, steel knives, clothes with shiny buttons, shoes, tents, beautiful pictures of white women, bottles of fire water and so on. The natives saw that all these items were delivered as cargo from the sky. It was all so amazing!

After observing for some time, the natives discovered that the Americans did not work to obtain all these fabulous benefits. They did not grind grain in mortars, did not go hunting and did not collect coconuts. Instead, they marked mysterious stripes on the ground, put on headphones and shouted incomprehensible words. Then they shone bonfires or searchlights into the sky, waved flags - and iron birds flew from the sky and brought cargo to them - all these wonderful things that the Americans gave to the islanders in exchange for coconuts, shells and the favor of young natives. Sometimes the pale-faced people lined up in even columns and for some reason stood in rows and shouted various unknown words.

Then the war ended, the Americans rolled up their tents, said a friendly goodbye and flew away on their birds. And there was nowhere else to get lanterns, jam, pictures, and especially fiery water.

The natives were not lazy. But no matter how hard they worked, they did not get canvas tents, or beautiful clothes with a pattern, or tins of stew, or flasks with a marvelous drink. And that was embarrassing and unfair.

And then they asked themselves the question: why did good things fall from the sky to the pale-faced, but not to them? What are they doing wrong? Day and night they turned millstones and dug gardens - and nothing fell from the sky for them. Probably, to get all these wonderful things, you need to do the same as the pale-faced ones. Namely, put on headphones and shout words, and then lay stripes, light fires and wait. Perhaps all this is magical rituals and magic that the pale-faced have mastered. After all, it was quite obvious that all the beautiful things appeared to them as a result of magical actions, and no one had ever seen Americans make them themselves.

When, a few years later, anthropologists reached the island, they discovered that a completely unprecedented religious cult had arisen there. Poles were stuck everywhere, connected by hemp ropes. Some natives made clearings in the jungle, built wicker towers with antennas, waved flags from painted mats, others in headphones made from halves of coconuts shouted something into bamboo microphones. And on the paved clearings there were straw planes. The swarthy bodies of the natives were painted like military uniforms with the letters USA and orders. They marched diligently, carrying wicker rifles.

The planes did not come, but the natives believed that they probably did not pray enough, and continued to shout into bamboo microphones, turn on the landing lights and wait for the gods who would finally bring them the treasured cargo. Priests appeared who knew better than anyone how to properly march and viciously reviled those who shied away from performing all the rituals. During these activities, they no longer had time to grind grain, dig sweet potatoes and fish. Scientists sounded the alarm: the tribes could die of hunger! They began to provide humanitarian assistance, which finally convinced the natives of the correctness of their views, because the wonderful cargo finally began to fall from the sky again!

Adherents of the cargo cult usually do not know production or commerce. Their concepts of Western society, science and economics are very vague. They firmly believe in the dogma that is obvious to them - foreigners had a special connection with their ancestors, who were the only creatures who could produce such wealth that cannot be produced on Earth. So, it is necessary to observe rituals, pray and believe.

Cargo cults similar to each other originated independently on islands that are far from each other not only geographically, but also culturally. Anthropologists have documented two separate cases in New Caledonia, four in the Solomon Islands, four in Fiji, seven in the New Hebrides, and more than forty in New Guinea. Moreover, as a rule, they arose completely independently of each other. Most of these religions claim that on the day of the apocalypse, a certain messiah will arrive along with the "cargo".

The independent origin of such a number of unrelated, but similar cults indicates certain features of the human psyche as a whole. Blind imitation and worship is the essence of cargo cults, the newfound religions of our time.

Many cargo cults have died out, but some still exist today. For example, the cult of the Messiah John Frum on the island of Tanna.

The reverse cargo cult is a refusal to follow the principles and recommendations when borrowing someone else's experience and technology, justified by the fact that the examples taken as a model sometimes deviate from the declared principles or do not fully follow their own recommendations.

For the first time this phrase appeared in a short entry published in January 2010 in the online diary of Ekaterina Shulman, a well-known specialist in lawmaking. This post has this definition:

"... This is such a reverse cargo cult - the belief that white people also have airplanes made of straw and dung, but they pretend more cleverly. And we, pure-souled aborigines, pretend not to be so talented, and this also has a separate pride This religion is especially widespread among the leadership - it is also flattering for them to be cynical and not to believe in airplanes and stew ... "

This entry plays on the metaphor "cargo cult", which has become popular in journalism to denote an activity that consists in carefully reproducing the external attributes of some process, but nevertheless devoid of content. So, Richard Feynman, addressing the graduates of the California Institute of Technology, used this metaphor, speaking of scientists who reproduce the external aspects of scientific work: they publish articles in scientific journals and participate in scientific discussions, but do not pay attention to the results of laboratory experiments.

Initially, the term "cargo cult" or "cargo cult" was used by anthropologists and ethnographers to describe the strange behavior of the population of some Pacific islands, where preachers appeared, declaring that the distant ancestors of these people sent ships and planes with provisions and goods that would soon arrive. The followers of the cult stopped cultivating the land and caring for domestic animals in anticipation of an early prosperity. These beliefs especially spread after the Second World War, under the impression of the logistical operations of the American army (hence the stew in the definition of Ekaterina Shulman). The term "cargo cult" had a derogatory connotation, so anthropologists soon stopped using it in the scientific literature, but thanks to flamboyant publicists such as Richard Feynman, the word began to be used in a wider context. For example, in the programming literature, the cult of cargo refers to the mindless use of programming patterns where they do not bring any benefit to the task at hand.

Thus, the reverse cargo cult is a strange behavior of people who fall into apathy and stop following useful advice, disappointed in them, justifying themselves by the fact that other people do not follow this advice either, but better hide it. Often this metaphor is applied to officials responsible for

the work of public institutions, the structure of which is copied from the corresponding institutions operating in other countries, when the copies look much worse than the original samples. For example, in science, the metaphor of a reverse cargo cult can be applied in a situation where the editor of a scientific journal that publishes pseudoscientific articles, and scientific peer review is replaced by its imitation, justifies the reluctance to establish an article selection process by the fact that in other scientific journals the selection of articles is also biased. .

PS. In English literature, the term "whataboutism" is often found, denoting a hypocritical reaction to criticism in the spirit of "but you yourself ...". A well-known example of such a reaction is Vitaly Churkin's speech to the US Congress in May 1986 after the Chernobyl accident, in which a young Soviet diplomat stated that he would not allow a "command tone" in relation to the USSR and pointed out that disasters at facilities had also occurred in the United States nuclear energy. You can probably say that whataboutism is inherent in the manifestations of the reverse cargo cult, but you can catch subtle differences in the level of sincerity / hypocrisy.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cargo cult, or cargo cult(from English. cargo cult- worship of cargo), also religion of airplane worshipers or cult of heavenly gifts is a term used to describe a group of religious movements in Melanesia. Cargo cults believe that Western goods are created by ancestral spirits and destined for the Melanesian people. It is believed that white people have dishonestly gained control of these items. In cargo cults, rituals similar to the actions of white people are performed to increase these items. The cargo cult is a manifestation of "magical thinking".

Short review

Cargo cults have been recorded since the 19th century, but they became especially widespread after the Second World War. Cult members usually do not fully understand the value of manufacturing or commerce. Their understanding of modern society, religion, and economics may be fragmented.

In the most famous cargo cults, "replicas" of runways, airports and radio towers are built from coconut palms and straw. Cult members build them in the belief that these structures will attract transport planes (considered to be spirit messengers) filled with cargo. Believers regularly conduct military exercises (“drill”) and some kind of military marches, using branches instead of rifles and drawing on the body of the order and the inscription “USA”.

Classical cargo cults were prevalent during and after World War II. A huge amount of cargo was landed on the islands during the Pacific campaign against the Empire of Japan, which made a fundamental change in the life of the islanders. Industrially produced clothes, canned food, tents, weapons and other useful things appeared in huge quantities on the islands in order to provide for the army, as well as for the islanders, who were military guides and hospitable hosts. At the end of the war, the air bases were abandoned, and the cargo ("cargo") no longer arrived.

In order to receive goods and see parachutes falling, planes arriving or ships arriving, the islanders imitated the actions of soldiers, sailors and airmen. They made headphones out of halves of a coconut and put them on their ears while they were in the control towers built of wood. They acted as landing signals from a wooden runway. They lit torches to illuminate these lanes and lighthouses. The cultists believed that foreigners had a special bond with their ancestors, who were the only beings who could produce such riches.

The islanders built life-size wood planes, runways to attract planes. In the end, since this did not result in the return of the divine planes with amazing cargo, they completely abandoned their previous religious beliefs that existed before the war, and began to worship airfields and planes more carefully.

Over the past 75 years, most cargo cults have disappeared. However, the cult of John Frum is still alive on the island of Tanna (Vanuatu). On the same island, in the village of Jaohnanen, there is a tribe of the same name who practice a cult of worship of Prince Philip.

The term became widely known in part due to a speech by physicist Richard Feynman, delivered in and entitled "The Science of Aircraft Worshipers", which was later included in the book "Of course you're joking, Mr. Feynman". In his speech, Feynman noted that airplane fans recreate the appearance of the airfield, down to headphones with "antennas" made of bamboo sticks, but the planes do not land. Feynman argued that some scientists (in particular, psychologists and psychiatrists) often conduct research that has all the external attributes of real science, but in reality constitutes pseudoscience, not worthy of either support or respect.

Other examples of cargo cults

Some Amazon Indians carved models of audio cassette players from wood, with which they spoke to the spirits.

Cargo cult in popular culture

• The cargo cult is described in detail in Victor Pelevin's novel Empire V.
• In the movie "Mad Max 3: Under Thunderdome" there is a semblance of a cargo cult, when the children are waiting for the return of Captain Walker, who must fix their plane and return them to civilization.
• Robert Sheckley's fantastic story "The Ritual" describes the cosmic version of the cargo cult.
• In the science fiction novel Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky, the cult of the Great Worm is described, which is, in fact, the same cargo cult.
• In the film "Water World" there is a semblance of a cargo cult when smokers ("smokers") worship the portrait of the captain of the Exxon Valdez oil tanker Joseph Hazelwood, on which they live and use the remnants of the benefits of civilization: canned food, cigarettes, fuel.
• In the novel Forrest Gump, the characters end up on an island with adherents of a cargo cult.
• In the film Crazy Imitators by Dmitry Venkov, a modern tribe professing a cargo cult is shown.
• In Alfred Bester's science fiction novel Tiger! Tiger! » the protagonist Gulliver Foyle gets to the descendants of a scientific expedition, savages of the XXIV century, professing a cargo cult.
• The song "Cargo-cult" was published on the music album "Unreal" by the Russian rap artist Vladi, a member of the Casta group.

see also

• John Frum is a prophet in one of the cargo cults.

Write a review on the article "Cargo-cult"

Notes

Literature

• Eliade M. Cosmic renewal and eschatology.
• Beryozkin Yu. E.

Links

An excerpt characterizing the Cargo cult

- It's coming! shouted the machinist at that time.
The regimental commander, blushing, ran up to the horse, with trembling hands took hold of the stirrup, flung the body over, recovered himself, drew his sword, and with a happy, resolute face, with his mouth open to one side, prepared to shout. The regiment started like a recovering bird and froze.
- Smir r r na! shouted the regimental commander in a soul-shattering voice, joyful for himself, strict in relation to the regiment and friendly in relation to the approaching chief.
Along a wide, tree-lined, high, highwayless road, with a slight rattle of springs, a tall blue Viennese carriage rode in a train at a fast trot. A retinue and a convoy of Croats galloped behind the carriage. Near Kutuzov sat an Austrian general in a strange, among black Russians, white uniform. The carriage stopped at the regiment. Kutuzov and the Austrian general were quietly talking about something, and Kutuzov smiled slightly, while, stepping heavily, he lowered his foot from the footboard, as if there weren’t those 2,000 people who were looking at him and the regimental commander without breathing .
There was a shout of the command, again the regiment, ringing, trembled, making guard. In the dead silence, the weak voice of the commander-in-chief was heard. The regiment bellowed: “We wish you good health, your lordship!” And again everything froze. At first, Kutuzov stood in one place while the regiment moved; then Kutuzov, next to the white general, on foot, accompanied by his retinue, began to walk through the ranks.
From the way the regimental commander saluted the commander-in-chief, glaring at him, stretching out and getting up, how he stooped forward followed the generals along the ranks, barely holding back his trembling movement, how he jumped at every word and movement of the commander-in-chief, it was clear that he was fulfilling his duties subordinate with even greater pleasure than the duties of a boss. The regiment, thanks to the severity and diligence of the regimental commander, was in excellent condition compared to others who came at the same time to Braunau. There were only 217 retarded and sick people. Everything was fine, except for the shoes.
Kutuzov walked through the ranks, occasionally stopping and saying a few kind words to the officers, whom he knew from the Turkish war, and sometimes to the soldiers. Glancing at the shoes, he shook his head sadly several times and pointed at them to the Austrian general with such an expression that he did not seem to reproach anyone for this, but he could not help but see how bad it was. The regimental commander ran ahead each time, afraid to miss the word of the commander-in-chief regarding the regiment. Behind Kutuzov, at such a distance that any weakly spoken word could be heard, walked a man of 20 retinues. The gentlemen of the retinues talked among themselves and sometimes laughed. Closest behind the commander-in-chief was a handsome adjutant. It was Prince Bolkonsky. Beside him walked his comrade Nesvitsky, a tall staff officer, extremely stout, with a kind and smiling handsome face and moist eyes; Nesvitsky could hardly restrain himself from laughing, aroused by the blackish hussar officer walking beside him. The hussar officer, without smiling, without changing the expression of his fixed eyes, looked with a serious face at the back of the regimental commander and mimicked his every movement. Every time the regimental commander shuddered and leaned forward, in exactly the same way, exactly in exactly the same way, the hussar officer shuddered and leaned forward. Nesvitsky laughed and pushed the others to look at the funny man.
Kutuzov walked slowly and listlessly past a thousand eyes that rolled out of their sockets, following the boss. Having leveled with the 3rd company, he suddenly stopped. The retinue, not foreseeing this stop, involuntarily advanced on him.
- Ah, Timokhin! - said the commander-in-chief, recognizing the captain with a red nose, who suffered for a blue overcoat.
It seemed that it was impossible to stretch more than Timokhin stretched, while the regimental commander reprimanded him. But at that moment the commander-in-chief addressed him, the captain stretched out so that it seemed that if the commander-in-chief had looked at him for a little more time, the captain would not have been able to stand it; and therefore Kutuzov, apparently understanding his position and wishing, on the contrary, all the best for the captain, hastily turned away. A barely perceptible smile ran across Kutuzov's plump, wounded face.
“Another Izmaylovsky comrade,” he said. "Brave officer!" Are you happy with it? Kutuzov asked the regimental commander.
And the regimental commander, reflected, as in a mirror, invisibly to himself, in the hussar officer, shuddered, went forward and answered:
“Very pleased, Your Excellency.
“We are all not without weaknesses,” said Kutuzov, smiling and moving away from him. “He had an attachment to Bacchus.
The regimental commander was afraid that he was not to blame for this, and did not answer. The officer at that moment noticed the captain's face with a red nose and a tucked-up stomach, and mimicked his face and posture so similarly that Nesvitsky could not help laughing.
Kutuzov turned around. It was evident that the officer could control his face as he wanted: at the moment Kutuzov turned around, the officer managed to make a grimace, and after that take on the most serious, respectful and innocent expression.
The third company was the last, and Kutuzov thought, apparently remembering something. Prince Andrei stepped out of the retinue and quietly said in French:
- You ordered to be reminded of the demoted Dolokhov in this regiment.
- Where is Dolokhov? Kutuzov asked.
Dolokhov, already dressed in a soldier's gray overcoat, did not wait to be called. The slender figure of a blond soldier with clear blue eyes stepped out from the front. He approached the commander-in-chief and made a guard.
– Claim? - Frowning slightly, asked Kutuzov.
“This is Dolokhov,” said Prince Andrei.
– A! Kutuzov said. – I hope this lesson will correct you, serve well. The Emperor is merciful. And I won't forget you if you deserve it.
Clear blue eyes looked at the commander-in-chief as boldly as they did at the regimental commander, as if by their expression they were tearing away the veil of conventionality that separated the commander-in-chief so far from the soldier.
“I ask you one thing, Your Excellency,” he said in his resonant, firm, unhurried voice. “I ask you to give me a chance to make amends for my guilt and prove my devotion to the emperor and Russia.
Kutuzov turned away. The same smile of his eyes flashed across his face as at the time when he turned away from Captain Timokhin. He turned away and grimaced, as if he wanted to express by this that everything that Dolokhov told him, and everything that he could tell him, he had known for a long, long time that all this had already bored him and that all this was not at all what he needed. . He turned and walked towards the carriage.
The regiment sorted out in companies and headed for the assigned apartments not far from Braunau, where they hoped to put on shoes, dress and rest after difficult transitions.
- You do not pretend to me, Prokhor Ignatich? - said the regimental commander, circling the 3rd company moving towards the place and driving up to Captain Timokhin, who was walking in front of it. The face of the regimental commander, after a happily departed review, expressed irrepressible joy. - The royal service ... you can’t ... another time you’ll cut off at the front ... I’ll be the first to apologize, you know me ... Thank you very much! And he held out his hand to the commander.
“Excuse me, General, do I dare!” - answered the captain, turning red with his nose, smiling and revealing with a smile the lack of two front teeth, knocked out by a butt near Ishmael.
- Yes, tell Mr. Dolokhov that I will not forget him, so that he is calm. Yes, please tell me, I kept wanting to ask, what is he, how is he behaving? And everything...

Short review

Cargo cults have been recorded since the 19th century, but they became especially widespread after the Second World War. Cult members usually do not fully understand the value of manufacturing or commerce. Their notions of Western society, religion, and economics can be partial and fragmented.

In the most famous cargo cults, "replicas" of runways, airports and radio towers are built from coconut palms and straw. Cult members build them in the belief that these structures will attract transport planes (considered to be messengers of spirits) filled with cargo (cargo). Believers regularly conduct military drills and some kind of military marches, using branches instead of rifles and drawing on the body of the order and the inscription "USA".

The term became widely known in part due to a speech by physicist Richard Feynman, given in and entitled "The Science of Aircraft Worshippers", which was later included in the book You're Joking, Mr. Feynman. In his speech, Feynman noted that airplane fans recreate the appearance of the airfield, down to headphones with "antennas" made of bamboo sticks, but the planes do not land. Feynman argued that some scientists (in particular, psychologists and psychiatrists) often conduct research that has all the external attributes of real science, but in reality constitutes pseudoscience, not worthy of either support or respect.

Other examples of cargo cults

Some Amazon Indians carved models of audio cassette players from wood, with which they spoke to the spirits.

Analogies in Western and Russian culture

The concept of "cargo cult" is often used to describe similar phenomena in Western culture. Usually, this refers to the formal application of certain methodologies without understanding the corresponding processes.

For example, when an enterprise creates an ISO 9001 certification program, this usually does not involve any changes in the technological process, but the very fact of certification can affect the value of the enterprise's assets (since customers are subject to a cargo cult).

Cargo cult in popular culture

• The cargo cult is described in detail in Victor Pelevin's novel Empire V.
• In the movie "Mad Max 3: Under Thunderdome" there is a semblance of a cargo cult, when the children are waiting for the return of Captain Walker, who must fix their plane and return them to civilization.
• Robert Sheckley's fantasy story "The Ritual" describes an interplanetary variant of the cargo cult.
• In the science fiction novel Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky, the cult of the Great Worm is described, which is, in fact, the same cargo cult.
• In the film "Water World" there is a semblance of a cargo cult when smokers ("smokers") worship the portrait of the captain of the Exxon Valdez oil tanker Joseph Hazelwood, on which they live and use the remnants of the benefits of civilization: canned food, cigarettes, fuel.
• In the film "Old Man Hottabych" Old Man Hottabych gives Volka a telephone set - "made of precious marble"
• In the novel Forrest Gump, the characters end up on an island with adherents of a cargo cult.

Notes

Literature

• Eliade M. Cosmic renewal and eschatology.

Links

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See what "Cargo Cult" is in other dictionaries:

Cargo cult- mist. a common name, a term used in paleoastronautical writings, meaning blind imitation in worship. During World War II, an American plane made an emergency landing on a small island in the Pacific Ocean. Universal additional practical explanatory dictionary by I. Mostitsky

Ceremonial cross of John Frum's cargo cult, Tanna Island, New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), 1967. Cargo cult or cargo cult (eng. cargo cult worship of cargo), also the religion of aircraft worshipers or the cult of Heavenly Gifts is a term that ... ... Wikipedia

Ceremonial cross of John Frum's cargo cult, Tanna Island, New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), 1967. Cargo cult or cargo cult (eng. cargo cult worship of cargo), also the religion of aircraft worshipers or the cult of Heavenly Gifts is a term that ... ... Wikipedia

Ceremonial cross of John Frum's cargo cult, Tanna Island, New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), 1967. Cargo cult or cargo cult (eng. cargo cult worship of cargo), also the religion of aircraft worshipers or the cult of Heavenly Gifts is a term that ... ... Wikipedia