Re:It's time to abandon the cargo cult metaphor
by TeMPOraL on Monday January 13, 2025 @08:51AM
(#42683394)
I think the reason some people have problems here is that the term "cargo cult" is in the middle of transition from being merely a reference to a story (which you need to explain to someone half the time you utter the phrase), into being an independent phrase with its own established meaning - i.e. taking meaning from how it's used, instead of the original story.
(Now I wonder whether Tamarian language is really referencing stories, or referencing the popular understanding of those stories. Sokath, his eyes closed.)
But if I'm pulling out the 'cargo cult' metaphor, it's because I'm about to criticise someone for unquestioningly repeating things they've seen elsewhere, without understanding the details.
So if I repeat some nonsense urban legend as fact, in order to criticise them for taking nonsense urban legends as fact - that's going to make me look kinda dumb. Even if it is an urban legend I heard from a nobel prize winner - I can't criticise the mote in my brother's eye until I've removed the beam in my own eye.