{"id":989,"date":"2009-02-05T06:27:34","date_gmt":"2009-02-05T11:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/2009\/02\/05\/repost-principles-of-the-american-cargo-cult\/"},"modified":"2009-02-05T06:27:34","modified_gmt":"2009-02-05T11:27:34","slug":"repost-principles-of-the-american-cargo-cult","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/index.php\/2009\/02\/05\/repost-principles-of-the-american-cargo-cult\/","title":{"rendered":"-rePost-Principles of the American Cargo Cult"},"content":{"rendered":"

Principles of the American Cargo Cult
\nI 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.
\nI 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.
\nI. Ignorance is innocence
\nComplicated explanations are suspect
\nThe world is simple, and there must be a simple explanation for everything.
\nCertainty is strength, doubt is weakness
\nAdmitting alternatives is undermining one’s own belief.
\nChanging one’s mind means one has wasted the time spent holding the prior opinion.
\nYour opinion matters as much as anyone else’s
\nWhen a person has studied a topic, he has no more real knowledge than you do, just a hidden agenda.
\nThe herd should be followed
\nThe contemplative lemming gets trampled
\nPopular beliefs must be true.
\nNo bad idea can survive.
\nPeople are generally smart.
\nEven if a popular belief doesn’t pan out, at least you’ll be in the same boat as everyone else.
\nII. Causality is selectable
\nAll interconnection is apparent
\nOtherwise, complicated explanations would be necessary.
\nThe end supports the explanation of the means
\nA successful person’s explanation of the means of his success is highly credible by the very fact of his success.
\nYou can succeed by emulating the purported behavior of successful people
\nThis is the key to the cargo cult. To enjoy the success of another, just mimic the rituals he claims to follow.
\nYour idol gets the blame if things don’t work out, not you.
\nYou have a right to your share
\nYou get to define your share.
\nYour share is the least you will accept without crying injustice.
\nCelebrate getting more than your share.
\nIII. It’s not your fault
\nIf it’s good for you, it’s good
\nSociety is everyone else.
\nGood intentions suffice
\nYou can always apologize.
\nThere is no long term
\nDon’t miss an opportunity.
\nConsequences are things that happen to others
\nOnly you can hold yourself accountable. Don’t let others make you do that.
\nIf somebody starts the blame game, you can still win it.
\nThere are evil people and institutions, and surely one of them is more responsible than you are.
\nYou are not the problem
\nAn ugly image means a bad mirror.
\nIV. Death is unnatural
\nYou’re special
\nBad things shouldn’t happen to you.
\nPain is wrong
\nLife should not hurt.
\nIt’s a Whiffle World.
\nTragedy is a synonym for calamity
\nBad things are never consequences of one’s own action or inaction.
\nThere will be justice
\nBad people get punished.
\nYou, however, will be forgiven.
\nPrinciples of the American Cargo Cult<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Principles of the American Cargo Cult 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 … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “-rePost-Principles of the American Cargo Cult”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-read"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/989\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}