MooPig Anthology and Stuff Department :: "Cargo Cults"

Are We all really a Herd of Sheeple?
Retrieved by Pat Darnell  |  Nov 17, 2013  |  Bryan TX

[picture LINK unknown]

MooPig Anthology and Stuff Department had been reading about "Cargo Cults," when this article stuck out from the rest. The article is irreverent of indigenous people who practice one or another cults. The reason for the contempt is that it implies that all of us earth dwellers subject ourselves to believing in "higher power" cults that turn out to be simply "advanced technology."

Read the Article HERE:

Cargo Cults - Humans Will Believe Anything | Sick Chirpse: "So how does a feeble human brain readjust to fit in all of this new and unexpected shizzle? Well, simply put, it’s all assigned to a higher power – The ultimate solution for confusion in the uneducated human. The inhabitants decided to try and get back to the glory days by inventing odd cults and new rituals. Some of these Cargo Cults still remain to this day, including one in Tanna (a remote island) where more than half a century on, they continue with their unsuccessful rituals. They try their best to mimic the soldier’s activities in a hope that they too can summon the same wealth and technology that those mystical foreigners had managed to steal." (Lazer Horse. June 18. LINK)

'via Blog this'

[Picture by Pat Darnell] Cargo Cult, or ... just Supplies?

CONCLUSION
The article suggests that these kinds of cult followings can be eradicated through education. MooPig Wisdom thinks that cults will never be eradicated. Sure, one can read about traits and practices of people and become wise to a cult, which is what anthology is all about, but humans apparently need something to believe in. So no matter what kind of "tosh" is removed from belief systems, another whole set of rituals are borne to make a new belief system with a cult following.

Following a belief with rituals and such is said most often to "fill a void" in the heart of the follower. And your Lords and Masters are counting on all of us falling for the latest cults.


____________________Reference
http://www.sickchirpse.com/cargo-cults/
http://withfriendship.com/user/sathvi/cargo-cult.php

Idiocentrism: Self-publisher John Emerson

Retrieved by Pat Darnell
Does Barbarism define Nomadic? I think so.

...2000 years of barbarians in 50 minutes
[SOURCE]
(Based loosely on a talk given at Reed College Paidea, January 21, 2005).

The weakness of the nomads was logistics. Since their food source (sheep) and everything they owned was portable, they didn’t need to defend their rear the way civilized armies did. But if an attack wasn’t immediately successful, or if they were forced into an area without sufficient grass, then they would have to call off the attack and go home. For these reasons the early purely nomadic societies were only an intermittent threat to the civilized world, whose much greater wealth often made it possible for them to buy off the nomads with tribute.

According to Steensgaard, at least up until the sixteenth century the political “protection cost” of the Asian trade (taxes, tribute, military action) was always greater than the direct cost (manpower, supplies, ships, goods to exchange), and the Mongol Empire enormously reduced this protection cost, which showed up in Europe as enormous markups in price required to pay off all the intervening taxing jurisdictions.

The Mongol Empire was thus a precursor trade empire and blazed the way for the modern world. When the Mongol collapse cut off access to China, the riches of China provided a powerful incentive for Europeans of many nations to start looking for a sea route. For better or worse, one thing led to another, and the globalizers of today, at least, owe an unacknowledged debt to Chinggis Qan. (Emerson, John; no date. Idiocentrism Home Page HERE)

This is the History of Everything, Roughly, as Spun by John J. Emerson Musings and Candor, it is a good study in self-publishing:

A positive mental attitude is your first step toward success and happiness. Put a smile on your face! Nobody likes a sourpuss