Does Burning Man have influence over world affairs? Hard to say, but I find it interesting that the “Cargo Cult” meme is now finding its way into the mainstream media. Max Keiser is a financial journalist/comedian who has a regular show on Russia Today. A recent episode delved into the Cargo Cult, and similarities between this historical concept and foolish natives who believe that our economic prosperity is in the hands of wise unelected officials who only have our best interests at heart…
“This is not the return of Disco. This is a Cargo Cult!” Perhaps it’s just pure coincidence that Max is now talking Cargo Cult. But I doubt it – here’s hoping we see him and Stacy out on the Playa some time soon.
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I immediately thought of this fun little romp of a read when I heard the theme- and this best-selling book came out in 1997. Here is the synopsis- I can see the similarities!
Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore – Take a wonderfully crazed excursion into the demented heart of a tropical paradise — a world of cargo cults, cannibals, mad scientists, ninjas, and talking fruit bats. Our bumbling hero is Tucker Case, a hopeless geek trapped in a cool guys body, who makes a living as a pilot for the Mary Jean Cosmetics Corporation. But when he demolishes his bosss pink plane during a drunken airborne liaison, Tuck must run for his life from Mary Jeans goons. http://chrismoore.com/love_nun.html
Oh please. It’s coincidence. I had a long conversation with a friend about cargo cults a couple months before the theme was announced. It was cool to be able to say, “hey that thing we were talking about is the theme for Burning Man next year”, but I didn’t think “hmm, my influence over Larry Harvey is increasing and he’s clearly reading my mind”.
There’s been a little spike in interest in Cargo Cults since the theme announcement, but there have been much bigger spikes over the last few years: http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=cargo%20cult
I watch RT just hoping to catch the Max Keiser report, a hilarious, usually dead-on report on US economic affairs.
set your DVR! All episodes are also available on YouTube and maxkeiser.com