The Natives Are Getting Restless

If you love the public library, you may want to give www.saveohiolibraries.com a gander. I'm all for tightening the strings, but my gut tells me a 50% cut to public library funding goes too far. And my gut is the one that came up with putting chocolate chip cookies on grilled cheese sandwiches, so you should listen. Ohio has 6 days to sound off on this issue. The link will tell you how to write a form letter or find a demonstration. For the couch-activists, you can just join the Facebook group or tweet a tweet.

...

Just did some heavy reading (well, heavy for me), as rx'd by Crossfit. Check out Cargo Cults of Melanesia.

I want to complain about the subtitle. "These cults typify the impact of Christendom on premodern society." I would change it to:

...the impact of CHRISTIANS WITH MODERN GOODS on premodern society.

Or even drop the Christian thing altogether. The "cargo", in it's many forms, is the key. Without the cargo the natives don't buy what the missionaries are selling, and they definitely don't turn their worldview upside down. If there were atheist missionaries (there aren't...wait, are there?), the article would have read much the same. The major difference being that the natives would weave atheist beliefs into their own beliefs.

I suppose in this scenario millenarian/end-of-the-world activity would be avoidable. But at some point, the premodern culture is going to want that cargo. Maybe they'll barter for it. Maybe they'll fight for it. Same song, different lyrics.

Perhaps I've rambled my way into a coherent point:

This article suggests that when Christan missionaries are supplied a fertile field among members of a premodern society, the salient contribution to that society is a belief in a forthcoming apocalypse.