The American Cargo Cult

[unixronin]

Link from sailor_jim Johnston.

I wrote these principles after reflecting on the content of contemporary newspapers and broadcast media and why that content disquieted me.  I saw that I was not disturbed so much by what was written or said as I was by what is not.  The tacit assumptions underlying most popular content reflect a worldview that is orthogonal to reality in many ways.  By reflecting this skewed weltanschauung, the media reinforces and propagates it.

I call this worldview the American Cargo Cult, after the real New Guinea cargo cults that arose after the second world war.  There are four main points, each of which has several elaborating assumptions.  I really do think that most Americans believe these things at a deep level, and that these misbeliefs constantly underlie bad arguments in public debate.

Comments

[yndy.livejournal.com]

Interesting.

I can't say as I disagree with the premise... but I think there are some areas that are lacking a bit...

such as:

~ Want = Need... wanting something badly enough makes it a need, because if you need it, then it should be a right... and if it's a right, you have the grounds to claim it from someone else who has it if you do not.

~ Numbers define truth... if enough people believe something, then it must be True. So if I get you to believe the same thing I do, then I'm one step closer to possessing the Truth.

there are more

[mrmeval.livejournal.com]

As an aside, if consensus of the majority defines truth, controlling information is paramount. -- I forget who that quote is by.

[captoblivion.livejournal.com]

An interesting set of premises. It in many ways seems to be a logical offshoot of the writings of Harry Stack Sullivan, purveyor of "good me / bad me / not me" in the 1950s (if memory serves).

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I can't honestly claim to be familiar with the name.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I deleted the duplicate, btw.