Cargo Cults

• in WW2, tons of troops have first contact with pre-industrial cultures.
• These cultures tend to, have a "big man" political system
  • sustenance farming, hunter-gatherer society, scarcity
  • if you're able to give more gifts and survive, you're more powerful
  • More power, creates more power
  • Can't reciprocate? "rubbish man"
• So what happens when thousands of men come who are able to toss a pack of gum or cigarets to everyone?
• but also the technology and manufacturing and materials
• religion forms mimicking the behaviours of the soldiers
  • march with sticks
  • coconut radios
  • leaf airplanes, stick runways, stone offices
• The John Frum cult, one of the most widely reported and longest-lived, formed on the island of Tanna, Vanuatu. This movement started before the war, and became a cargo cult afterwards. Cult members worshiped certain unspecified Americans having the name "John Frum" or "Tom Navy" who they claimed had brought cargo to their island during World War II and whom they identified as being the spiritual entity who would provide cargo to them in the future

Some cargo cults are still active. These include:

• The John Frum cult on Tanna island (Vanuatu)
• The Tom Navy cult on Tanna island (Vanuatu)
• The Prince Philip Movement on the island of Tanna, which worshipped the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II.

According to ancient Yaohnanen tales, the son of a mountain spirit travelled over the seas to a distant land. There, he married a powerful woman and in time would return to them. He was sometimes said to be a brother to John Frum.[2]

The people of the Yaohnanen and Takel area believe in the divinity of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the consort to Queen Elizabeth II. They had seen the respect accorded to Queen Elizabeth II by the colonial officials and concluded that her husband, Prince Philip, must be the son referred to in their legends.

It is unclear just when this belief came about, but it was probably some time in the 1950s or 1960s. It was strengthened by the royal couple's official visit to Vanuatu in 1974, when a few villagers had the opportunity to actually see Prince Philip from a distance. The Prince was not then aware of the sect, but it was brought to his attention several years later by John Champion, the British Resident Commissioner in the New Hebrides.

In April 2021 the sect mourned Prince Philip's death. Village Chief Albi said that he was "terribly, terribly sorry" that he died and tribal leader Chief Yapa sent his condolences to the Royal Family and the people of the UK.

Kirk Huffman, an anthropologist familiar with the group, said that after their period of mourning the group would probably transfer their veneration to Prince Charles, who had visited Vanuatu in 2018 and met with some of the tribal leaders.

It seems like if the technological advanced society had a guideline or rule or general order NOT to interfere in the with the internal and natural development of alien civilizations

The Prime Directive

• Starfleet General Order 1
• General Order 1
• non-interference directive

The Prime Directive US involvement in the Vietnam War was a superpower interfering in the natural development of southeast Asian society; the creation in the original series is attributed to a statement of such

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