Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Justin Murray
“In the wake of World War II, an interesting phenomenon began to build up in the Malenesians …. Visiting anthropologists observed the primitive local residents were building unusual structures. They would flatten the ground in long strips, build wooden towers and construct strange bird idols. The reason they were doing this was, during the war, when Japanese and American soldiers were stationed on the islands, they would airlift resources onto the island. … The hope was, if they built these idols and structures, the airplanes would return and drop food from the sky. … The term created for this phenomena was a Cargo Cult. We in the modern world know that their efforts are little more than a resource waste. Yet the modern world is not immune to the Cargo Cult mentality and we have built substantial portions of our society around one.” (09/20/24)