Do you seriously not see how parading around a parade ground in an effort to summon cargo, especially in close proximity to an airfield, could rapidly transition to the described behaviour you're objecting to? They're so close to being the same that they basically are the same, especially in terms of being the same for the purposes of the metaphor.
You seem unwilling to join those dots, while being all too keen to conjure up other mechanisms based on no evidence whatsoever.
This whole discussion reminds me of when I made the mistake of using the idiom "the devil is in the details" near a religious literalist, who suddenly thought the important question was whether an actual demon was now occupying the details, as opposed to engaging in what the details are.
> Do you seriously not see how parading around a parade ground in an effort to summon cargo, especially in close proximity to an airfield, could rapidly transition to the described behaviour you're objecting to?
Sounds like "evidence-free leaping" to me ;)
The point is that cargo cults are far more complex than Feynman's story would make you believe. I had a wrong picture of cargo cults myself exactly because of Feynman and I learned a lot from the article and its sources.
Thanks for the insult, but of course it has! If you are not already familiar with actual cargo cults and read Feynman's story, it's hard not to get a wrong impression of the phenomenon.
You seem unwilling to join those dots, while being all too keen to conjure up other mechanisms based on no evidence whatsoever.
This whole discussion reminds me of when I made the mistake of using the idiom "the devil is in the details" near a religious literalist, who suddenly thought the important question was whether an actual demon was now occupying the details, as opposed to engaging in what the details are.