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February 16, 2007
John Frum he come
Modern travel, with all the links to the outside world that it brings, fails to kill this Vanuatu cargo cult: "The movement's head ... said that John Frum was a god who would one day return. ... Every year [islanders] parade in home-made US army uniforms beneath the Stars and Stripes. They hope one day to entice another delivery of cargo." This from a place that turns up on our daily weather forecast.
Half of me is hoping that they're doing this deliberately to be a "quaint" tourist attraction. The other half is hoping that they really are untouched by anything since World War II. I'm not sure which is the evil half.
February 16, 2007 | Permalink
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Comments
I'm a little surprised that no enterprising prankster has ever arranged an airdrop of 'cargo' to coincide with one of these ceremonies.
Though I'm not sure what would qualify as 'cargo' these days since the cultists presumably now know about packaged foods etc..
Posted by: Dave Clements at Feb 16, 2007 10:00:58 PM