Cargo Cult (Noun)
Meaning 1
(Melanesia) the followers of one of several millenarian cults that believe salvation will come in the form of wealth (`cargo') brought by westerners; some ascribe divine attributes to westerners on first contact (especially to missionaries).
Classification
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects.
Examples
- During World War II, Allied forces poured massive amounts of cargo into the Pacific islands, inadvertently sparking cargo cults among Melanesian tribes.
- The cargo cult phenomenon in Melanesia is an intriguing example of how a complex set of social and psychological factors can come together to create a shared delusional system.
- In New Guinea, the cargo cult movement persisted for decades, with some followers even constructing crude airfields and mock radio equipment in the hopes of receiving Western aid and technology.
- These cargo cult practitioners often fetishized Western goods and believed that by emulating the behaviors of outsiders, they could unlock the secrets of cargo acquisition and restore balance to their disrupted societies.
- Anthropologists and missionaries in the Pacific reported widespread stories of a magical coming in which native versions of airbases would connect native producers of gifts, all properly guarded with statues from Britain's coronation coronal cast (it resembled queen who is all knowing royal messenger), offering those items in ceremonial form to this important deity of one outside country origin.
Meaning 2
A religious cult that anticipates a time of joy, serenity, and justice when salvation comes.
Classification
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents.
Examples
- The islanders formed a cargo cult, convinced that the arrival of a mythical ship would bring them prosperity and deliverance.
- Cargo cults often involve elaborate rituals and ceremonies to hasten the arrival of the long-awaited savior.
- In some cargo cults, the worship of modern technology, such as airplanes and radios, is seen as a means to communicate with the divine.
- Critics argue that the doomsday cult's fixation on impending apocalypse is nothing more than a rehashed cargo cult, awaiting a catastrophe to elevate them to salvation.
- The charismatic leader of the cargo cult promised his followers that the imminent arrival of a mysterious airship would signal the beginning of a utopian era.