Uneasy Rhetoric

Back in the 80s (remember them?), Simple Minds had a song called “Ghost Dancing.” It was perhaps their most overtly political song at the time. I have always wondered exactly where the title came from and thought perhaps it was just the band being clever.

Clever, absolutely, but not original. According to this article by Paul Saffo on the UC Berkeley Alumni Association website, the term “ghost dancing” originates from a native mystic who prophesied the fall of the white man and the re-ascendance of native peoples. The tribes, such as they were at the end of the 19th century, interpreted this in various ways and adopted “ghost dances” to hasten the fall of the interlopers. Apparently, the Sioux adoption of the ghost dance, and their violent interpretation of the mystic’s prophecy, led to the death of Sitting Bull and the massacre at Wounded Knee.

Nowadays, the term refers to any movement to reject modern advances and return to more traditional ways:

The Ghost Dance is very much alive today. The global rise of religious fundamentalism is pure Ghost Dance, be it Islamic fundamentalists pining for a return to the Caliphate, Jewish fundamentalists battling moderate secularism, or Christian fundamentalists preaching an imminent Second Coming. The current opposition to evolutionary theory is an indelible example of the Ghost Dancing phenomenon. From this opposition has arisen “creation science,” a deeply contradictory belief system that attempts to use scientific method to discredit scientific theory to prove the literal truth of the Biblical version of creation.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the “ghost dance,” according to the article, is that those who engage in it simultaneously adopt portions of the society or culture that one tries to reject (e.g., fundamentalist Iran embracing a nuclear program). Even further, “ghost dancers” can be those who utterly reject the old in favor of the new, or even of the not-yet invented. They are the ultimate early adopters.

The article is worth reading.

(via BoingBoing)