Transcription
Cargo cult is a name given to several religions which arose among tribal societies that came into contact with Western civilizations. These religions started when the technologically primitive hunter-gatherers saw Western manufactured goods for the first time, such as radios, clothing, and metals offloaded from planes. They called them cargo, which they concluded must come from their ancestors in Paradise.
The tribe's people believed that their deities and deceased relatives created these manufactured goods for them, but the white foreigners stole them instead. For this reason, the cargo cults began rituals around imitating what they saw the westerners do, such as build runways for planes to land, so that they could attract the items that their ancestors allegedly created and the white people stole.
Along this great ocean route, ten cargo planes connect Hong Kong with Australia. They land each day at Port Moresby. The cargo cult has its temples almost everywhere nearby. This is one; its altar is standing nine thousand feet above sea level. The dummy plane is at the edge of the landing strip; at the other end, the control tower. The natives of the Roseau and Mikhail tribes are waiting for some plane to land on their strip, attracted by the bamboo mile. They believe that planes come from Paradise; their ancestors sent them, but the white man, a crafty pirate, manages to get his hands on them by attracting them into the big trap of Port Moresby.
"You build your plane too," says the cargo cult doctrine, "and wait with faith. Sooner or later your ancestors will discover the white man's trap and will guide the planes on your landing strip. Then you will be rich and happy." They wait motionless, searching the sky. There is no other world beyond these mountains, so the large birds that roar up there above the clouds cannot, would come from Paradise. There are only their ancestors in Paradise; therefore, only their ancestors can have built the planes. The spirits of the deceased cannot know the white men; therefore, all those wonderful things that the planes carry were meant for their descendants. They've left the mission; they've forgotten their prayers, and here they are waiting faithfully at the doorway to the sky.
Cargo cults are marked by a number of common characteristics, including a myth that the material wealth was stolen from them by the white men that intercepted the manufactured goods created by their ancestors, meant for them. According to these myths, these goods are intended for the local indigenous people, but the foreigners have unfairly gained control of these objects through malice or mistake. Thus, a characteristic feature of cargo cults is the belief that spiritual agents will, at some time in the future, give much valuable cargo and desirable manufactured products to the cult members.
The most widely known period of cargo cult activity occurred among the Melanesian islands in the years during and after World War II. The vast amount of military equipment and supplies that both sides air-dropped or air-lifted to the airstrips to troops on these islands meant drastic changes to the lifestyle of the Islanders, many of whom had never seen outsiders before. Manufactured clothing, medicine, canned food, tents, weapons, and other goods arrived in vast quantities for the soldiers, who often shared some of it with the Islanders who were their guides and hosts. With the end of the war, the military abandoned the air bases and stopped dropping cargo. In response, charismatic individuals developed cults among the native tribes that promised to bestow on their followers deliveries of food, arms, jeeps, clothing, and other material goods. The cult leaders explained that the cargo would be gifts from their own ancestors that the white men could not create this on their own but stole it from them, and that one day these items and technology would find their way to the primitive tribespeople.
Attempts to get cargo to fall by parachute or land in planes or ships again. Islanders imitated the same practices they had seen the military personnel use. Cult behaviors usually involved mimicking the day-to-day activities and dress styles of the US soldiers, such as performing parade ground drills with wooden rifles, carving headphones from wood, and waving the landing signals while standing on the runways. They even lit signal fires and torches to light up the runways and lighthouses at night.
The John From cult, one of the most widely reported and longest-lived, started before the war and became a cargo cult afterward, where cult members worshipped certain unspecified Americans, having the name John From or Tom Navy, who they claimed had brought cargo to their island during World War II and whom they identified as being the spiritual entity who would provide cargo to them in the future. You know, then nothing again. [Music] [Music]
One day at sundown, on an empty beach, a man appeared. People were astonished. Those who first saw him said he wore a white man's clothes. He stood some forty yards away from them at the water's edge. They couldn't see his face, but he spoke to them, and he spoke in our language. He always came and stood in the same place, and the people used to wait for him to appear. Lots of people went down to the beach and made houses there, and there were so many houses packed close together by the shore that you couldn't get through. But here at night he used to come and talk. His name was John From.
"God bless America, land that the love, love gotten behind her and guide her through the night with the Land Rover to the berry to the ocean white with Bob. God bless America, my heart, sweetheart." John's words to our big men were clear. He said to them, "For many years you have been ignorant of the world; you don't know anything about the countries of the world, but I, John, know them. John said, 'There are many nations of the world, but you shouldn't have faith in any of the others; only America is your friend; only America. Remember that one day America will come and help you again.'"
Once John called all the people together, and he said, "You really have a lot of trouble having to go so far for all the things that you need, but one day everything will come right through to this place. Then you won't have to do so much hard work; there will be roads so the trucks can come right through, and there'll be a store here for you, and one day you'll have houses all made of corrugated iron to sleep in." He promised everything, and our fathers really didn't believe that this would happen, as there wasn't a road at that time, and they couldn't understand how all these things would come true, because at that time it was very, very hard for them to earn money. But finally they thought about it and said, "Yes, this is a man, a man who is telling the truth."
And John said to us, he said, "I, John, I am the road to Jesus; I am preparing the road to Jesus; I am the road." Some people criticize us, and they say that we've waited a long time for John's promises, but this is exactly like the Bible. You go to church, you pray, and those things you ask for don't come easy. He promised two specific things: he said that one day the Americans would come, and we know that they did come, so we know he's telling the truth. And John also says, "If you obey my orders, I will come again."
"No, I'm a black man, and I honor this eagle. All of us from this island honor this eagle in America; we're the same; that's why one day we'll be part of America." Yes, they also sang this song: "Way down upon the swinging River..." I'll try and play that one. [Music] "Far, far away..." [Music] "That's where my heart is..." [Music]
The made-up mythology and fantasy of the cargo cults also turns up as a phenomenon in modern Western woke culture, which is in denial about the reality of how agricultural civilization was diffused around the world during the Holocene and instead makes up a fake alternative history which is exploited to push a political agenda. For example, Netflix this week announced that it'll be depicting Cleopatra as sub-Saharan African when she's obviously white, of Macedonian descent, as were all of the Ptolemy rulers who lived in Egypt. Ptolemy was a general of Alexander the Great who became ruler of Egypt around 300 BC, and his dynasty lasted until Cleopatra's demise and the start of the Roman period around 30 A.D. That said, the further one goes back into Antiquity, the more fair—meaning more blonde and ginger—the ruling elite becomes.
For example, Ramesses the Great was the 19th Dynasty pharaoh who reigned over 3,000 years ago. The mummy of Ramesses the Great was forensically tested, and while he did use henna in his old age, microscopic inspection of the roots of Ramesses II's hair proved that the king's hair originally was red, which suggests that he came from a family of redheads. Queen Tiye, the great Royal wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, mother of Pharaoh Akhenaten, and grandmother of King Tut, was also a redhead, as can clearly be seen here using a CT scan. DNA results of Takabuti, the famous 2,600-year-old ancient Egyptian mummy on display at the Ulster Museum, shows that her DNA is more genetically similar to Europeans than modern Egyptian populations. The DNA results are published in Nature Communications. Scientists obtained DNA from ninety individual mummies dating back up to 3,400 years ago, conducting full genome sequences of ancient Egyptians for the first time, concluding that the ancient Egyptian nobility and Pharaohs were more closely related to modern Europeans and inhabitants of the Near East rather than present-day Egyptians. Now keep in mind that the ancient Near East demographics may not exactly match modern populations, a concept that many people struggle with. Ancient is not the same as today or modern. That goes for India, China, the Americas, and of course, ancient Egypt. [Music] "Far from the Earth..."
My name is Robert Sepper. I'm an anthropologist. My published work is available on Amazon and through all other major book outlets. If you'd like to support my work, you can do that through patreon.com. There should be a link in the description. Please subscribe for future updates, leave your thoughts below, have a wonderful weekend, and I hope to see you again soon.