Source: Brownstone Institute
by El Gato Malo
“The ‘cargo cult’ represents an important concept and seems especially so of late. Early observations of such behavior emerged in island cultures exposed to European explorers. Ships unlike anything previously dreamed of arrived full of strange people with wondrous trade goods for exchange. … at some point, the newcomers left. The locals wanted more trade and to attempt to foster it, many adopted rituals whereby they would create what essentially amounted to effigies of ships and float them on the sea in hope that this would make the trade goods come once more. … Cargo cult thinking has become endemic in the ideas of so-called ‘modern’ government and mistaking the signifier of a thing for the thing itself is a very dangerous and expensive proposition when you can distort markets by throwing trillions of dollars at them.” (11/20/23)