SKIP'S CARGO-CULTISM SECTION

HERE IS A PAGE OF INFORMATION, PICTURES, LINKS, AND OTHER STUFF DEALING WITH THE CARGO-CULT RELIGION. CARGO-CULTISM IS RARE WORLD-WIDE AND OFTEN MISUNDERSTOOD. THERE ARE VERY FEW (KNOWN) ACTIVE CARGO-CULTISTS REMAINING IN THE WORLD, AND PRACTICALLY NONE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. READ ON TO DISCOVER THE FASCINATING WORLD OF CARGO-CULTISM....

THE ORIGIN OF CARGO-CULTISM IS LOST IN THE MISTS OF TIME. AMONG THE EARLIEST MENTIONS OF CARGOCULTISTS WAS IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY. SOCIOLOGISTS OBSERVED CARGOCULT ACTIVITY AMONG PRIMITIVE TRIBES INDIGENOUS TO VARIOUS OCEANIC ISLANDS AS THESE PEOPLE WERE EXPOSED TO EUROPEAN CULTURE DURING VISITS BY SAILING VESSELS. SOME TRIBAL UNITS ACTUALLY BLENDED CERTAIN TENETS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION WITH ANCESTRAL MYTHOLOGICAL WORSHIP. THE WORD "CARGO" IN THIS CASE IS USED TO REFER TO ITEMS, GOODS, AND ARTIFACTS BROUGHT IN BY FOREIGN TRAVELLERS, TRADERS, AND MILITARY PERSONNEL. SINCE THESE ARTIFACTS ARE TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED, AS COMPARED TO INDIGENOUS GOODS, THEY REPRESENT A SUPERIOR WAY OF LIFE. CULTISTS OFTEN BELEIVE THAT THE ACQUISITION OF CARGO WILL LEAD TO A BETTER AND MORE PROSPEROUS LIFE. WHILE CARGOCULTISM HAS BEEN AROUND FOR AGES IN VARIOUS FORMS, THE RELIGION BECAME MUCH MORE WIDE-SPREAD DURING THE WAR YEARS OF THE 1940'S. THESE ARE THE CARGOCULTISTS THAT MOST OF US THINK OF WHEN CARGOCULTISM IS REFERRED TO. MOST OF THE FEW REMAINING KNOWN ACTIVE CARGOCULTS DATE FROM THIS ERA. THE MAPS OF OCEANIA SHOW MUCH BLUE SPACE SPRINKLED WITH TINY DOTS REPRESENTING LITERALLY THOUSANDS OF TINY ISLANDS AND ATOLLS. MANY MORE REMAIN UNCHARTED. UPON A CERTAIN PERCENTAGE OF THESE TINY FRAGMENTS OF LAND, MANY TRIBES EXISTED FOR CENTURIES IN A VERY PRIMITIVE LEVEL OF TECHNOLOGY, LITERALLY STILL LIVING IN THE STONE AGE. FOR GENERATIONS THEY LIVED, GREW FOOD, HUNTED, FISHED, RAISED THEIR CHILDREN, GREW OLD AND DIED ON THE BEACHES AND IN THE JUNGLES BENEATH THE BLUE PACIFIC SKIES. THEY HAD WHAT THEY NEEDED TO SURVIVE, AND KNEW NOTHING OF A DIFFERENT WAY OF LIFE. FOR MANY, THIS LIFESTYLE ENDED WITH WWII. IN THE ERA FOLLOWING THE COWARDLY ATTACK ON THE UNITED STATES NAVAL FACILITY AT PEARL HARBOR, AMERICA EMBARKED UPON THE LARGEST EXPANSION OF MILITARY MIGHT EVER SEEN. SHIPS, GUNS, AEROPLANES, JEEPS, AND THE MYRIAD GOODS NECESSARY FOR MODERN WARFARE WERE PRODUCED IN MASS QUANTITIES. SOLDIERS, SAILORS, AND AIRCREWS WERE TRAINED BY THE THOUSANDS. SOON THEY WERE FIGHTING THROUGHOUT THE FAR-FLUNG WASTES OF OCEANIA. AS ALL KNOW, IT WAS A MAMMOTH TASK TO LIBERATE THE PACIFIC FROM THE WELL ENTRENCHED IMPERIAL JAPANESE FORCES. HUNDREDS OF FORWARD STAGING AREAS, BASES, AIRSTRIPS, AND OTHER MILITARY FACILITIES WERE RAPIDLY CONSTRUCTED UPON HITHERTO UNDISCOVERED ISLANDS. THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES LIVING ON THESE ISLANDS WERE TOTALLY AMAZED WHEN SUDDENLY THE SKIES RESOUNDED WITH THE ROAR OF HUNDREDS OF RADIAL AIRCRAFT ENGINES, WHILE THE VERY SEAS TREMBLED WITH THE THROB OF MASSIVE SHIP'S PROPELLERS. THE HEALTHY, FIT, AND MOSTLY YOUNG MEN WITH THEIR MACHINES SEEMED LIKE GODS WHO COULD TRANSCEND DISTANCE AND TIME. THEIR VERY POSSESSIONS TOOK ON A MYTHICAL SIGNIFICANCE. WHEN THEY ARRIVED, THEY BROUGHT WITH THEM AN ERA OF UNBELEIVABLE PROSPERITY FOR THE NATIVES. LOCALS WERE HIRED TO ASSIST IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS. NEW AND TASTY FOOD WAS SHARED WITH THE LOCALS. EVEN THE CAST-OFF JUNK WAS HIGHLY PRIZED BY THE NATIVES. FOR A MAN WHO HAS ONLY AS CRUDE STONE KNIFE, A SHARP PIECE OF SCRAP STEEL IS A GIFT FROM HEAVEN!! AS THE ALLIED FORCES CONTINUED TO ADVANCE, THEY MOVED ON, LEAVING BEHIND THE REMNANTS OF AN ADVANCED CIVILIZATION AND THE MEMORIES OF A WONDERFUL PERIOD OF PROSPERITY AND WELL-BEING. AT THIS POINT, CARGOCULTISM GETS A FOOTHOLD ON THE ABANDONED ISLAND. TRIBESMEN OFTEN ASSUMED THAT THEY MUST HAVE ANGERED THE GODS, CAUSING THEM TO LEAVE WITH THEIR CARGO. THE ELDERS AND PRIESTS MADE SACRIFICES, CONDUCTED ELABORATE RITUALS, AND TRIED A MYRIAD OF THINGS DESIGNED TO HASTEN THE RETURN OF MORE CARGO. THE STUDY OF CARGOCULTISM REVEALS MANY FASCINATING STORIES OF THE VARIOUS PRACTICES USED BY THESE PRIMITIVES TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL. THERE ARE INSTANCES WHERE OLD AIRSTRIPS WERE LABORIOUSLY KEPT CLEARED AND MAINTAINED, LIGHTED WITH ROWS OF TIKI-TORCHES, AND WATCHED OVER BY NATIVE PRIESTS WHO RITUALLY CHANTED POORLY-REMEMBERED SACRED CARGO-PRAYERS, SUCH AS "YOU ARE CLEARED FOR LANDING." "READY THE DROP-ZONE FOR FOOD-DROP", AND HUNDREDS OF OTHER THINGS THAT THEY HAD HEARD GI'S SAY WITH EXCELLENT RESULTS IN THE PAST. SOME WENT AS FAR AS TO BUILD BAMBOO CONTROL-TOWERS, COMPLETE WITH RADIO AERIALS FASHIONED FROM VINES. IN PARTS OF NEW GUINEA, IT IS RECORDED THAT WHOLE VILLAGES ORGANIZED THEMSELVES INTO BOGUS MILITARY BASES, COMPLETE WITH DUMMY GUNS AND OTHER GEAR, IN THE ANTICIPATION THAT THIS WOULD WIN FAVOUR WITH THE GODS, WHO WOULD MAGICALLY REPLACE THEIR FAKES WITH GENUINE GEAR THAT WORKED. THIS IS THE BASIS OF THE CARGOCULT BEHAVIOR SEEN IN THE POPULAR PRESS, CARTOONS, AND MOVIES. TO BE CONTINUED.....#1106982340PES

CARGO-LINKS

THIS PAGE IS AN ON-GOING CONSTRUCTION-PROJECT...MUCHO MORE TO COME...CHECK BACK LATER..!!!!!

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