# stories where something completely normal is misunderstood and feared/worshipped/etc. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2006, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-something-completely-normal-is-misunderstood-and-feared-worshipped-etc/338376 "2006-01-04T09:27:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-something-completely-normal-is-misunderstood-and-feared-worshipped-etc/338376/1 "2006-01-04T09:27:32Z")
I’m not sure what to even call this other than a motif or theme, but I’m fascinated by stories or novels or theories or etc. where something normal is misunderstood or viewed through a cultural lens and then worshipped, feared, or so on. The best example I can think of is the James Tiptree Jr. short story, “The Man who walked home.” The basic gist of the story (and it’s been years, so forgive whatever errors I make) is that an astronaut is caught in some sort of gravitational timewave or something, and as a result becomes stuck in a sort of time loop where he appears in the same spot, briefly, every 10 years or so. The story takes place over centuries as entire villages and different culturess rise and fall, all based around the “miraculous” appearance of “the monster.” A similar example is in _Lord of the Flies_, where the “beast” that the wild children fear and worship is actually the corpse of a paratrooper that was sent to rescue them; his “wings” are the parachute, and so on. I’ve heard all sorts of (mostly crackpot) theories that invoke this idea in relation to historical events or artifacts - that the Ark of the Covenant may have been some sort of piece of alien technology that was just misunderstood by the people of the time, or that Jesus himself was an alien but appeared miraculous to the people of his era, and so on. What are some other fictions - short stories, novels, movies, whatever - that use this idea or motif? What about real-world historical theories (no matter how tinfoil hat they may be) that apply this idea to historical events, people, or artifacts? ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-something-completely-normal-is-misunderstood-and-feared-worshipped-etc/338376/2 "2006-01-04T09:35:26Z")
I find these fascinating, too. Unfortunately, I can’t pull a single one out of my hat. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-something-completely-normal-is-misunderstood-and-feared-worshipped-etc/338376/3 "2006-01-04T10:14:47Z")
Does canine culture count? Philip K. Dick wrote a neat little story in the '50s called _Roog_. It’s told from the POV of a family’s dog. Like he does every week, the dog is awaiting the arrival of the Roog – a behemoth that lumbers along the alley while its evil attendant blatantly steals the table scraps and other valuables that the family keeps secured in a shiny protective cannister and feeds it to it. The dog knows that it is courting death by challenging the Roog, but it’ll do anything for its family, in spite of being hampered by a length of chain and the lamentable fact that _no one listens to its most earnest warnings!_ Leibowitz’ Blessed Relics spring to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-something-completely-normal-is-misunderstood-and-feared-worshipped-etc/338376/4 "2006-01-04T10:47:17Z")
I’m not sure if this _quite_ counts, but in _Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen_, gunpowder was thought to be a miraculous substance given to his priests by the god Styphon. In _Heirs of Empire_ the “Voice of God” was the voice of a Fourth Empire battleship’s AI. The maintainance robots were considered “holy servitors”. In _Code of the Lifemaker_, a lost wrench was recovered by sentient robots, and taken to be a holy icon. In _Footfall_ religious wars are fought over a monolith left by the predecessor race to the fithp; some think the complex markings on and in it represented the face of the species that built it. In reality, it was a representation of the magnetic field for a Bussard ramjet ( interstellar drive ). IIRC, elephant skulls in ancient Greece were thought to be the skulls of cyclops, and the pre Greek ruins built by them ( because surely no mere humans could build better than them ). ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-something-completely-normal-is-misunderstood-and-feared-worshipped-etc/338376/5 "2006-01-04T12:19:28Z")
In _The Gods Must Be Crazy_, a Coke bottle falls from a plane and lands amongst a tribe with no experience of modern technology at all; never having seen blown glass before, they assume it’s a tool of the gods and eventually decide to return it to them. Really good movie, and pretty well-known. ---
**Author:** ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-something-completely-normal-is-misunderstood-and-feared-worshipped-etc/338376/6 "2006-01-04T13:05:26Z")
Galaxy Quest: Aliens believe a fictional TV show is an actual TV documentary ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-something-completely-normal-is-misunderstood-and-feared-worshipped-etc/338376/7 "2006-01-04T13:47:40Z")
In the original series Star Trek “A Piece of the Action” a book on Chicago mobs becomes a holy book transforming a civilization. (In an issue of the 1970s comic book “Kamandi”, Jack Kirby has a future society of monkeys that has discovered the Watergate Tapes, and based a society on _them_. Truly surreal.) Not exactly what you’re looking for, but in the old Twilight Zone episode caled (I think) “The Old Man in the Cave” people worship a computer. In Beneath the Planet of the Apes the underground mutants worship The Holy Bomb. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-something-completely-normal-is-misunderstood-and-feared-worshipped-etc/338376/8 "2006-01-04T14:03:04Z")
I came to mention the Gods must be crazy, but I also came to think of _The Return of the Jedi_, where the Ewoks treat C3P0 as a divine being. He might not be normal to us viewers, but he seems to be of standard fare to the humanoid characters. ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-something-completely-normal-is-misunderstood-and-feared-worshipped-etc/338376/9 "2006-01-04T14:16:12Z")
Real world examples would be the various “cargo cults” (See the [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult)). ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-something-completely-normal-is-misunderstood-and-feared-worshipped-etc/338376/10 "2006-01-04T14:28:02Z")
> [@Papermache Prince](#): > > Real world examples would be the various “cargo cults” (See the [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult)). The novel _Dream Park_ revolved around a cargo cult though the actual people were constructs of a game and actors. Sharon Shinn wrote a couple books (_Archangel_ and _Jovah’s Angel_) about a Biblical era world of humans and angels who, unknown to them, have an orbiting starship as their deity. The whole Spaceship = God thing doesn’t really play into the first book at all (and could be safely ignored without detracting from the plot) but it central to the second book. To be fair to the people and angels involved, the ship _does_ present itself as a deity in its communications so it’s not exactly like worshipping a refridgerator. ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-something-completely-normal-is-misunderstood-and-feared-worshipped-etc/338376/11 "2006-01-04T14:36:34Z")
Well, in the book of Acts Paul and Silas get mistaken for Mercury and Jupiter, respectively, when they go around preaching the Gospel and doing miraculous healings. Later on, they get run out of town by the very same people, probably because Paul manages to convince them that he isn’t a god. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-something-completely-normal-is-misunderstood-and-feared-worshipped-etc/338376/12 "2006-01-04T14:39:32Z")
Doctor Who had a tribe of savages descended from the survivors of a crashed starship, who worshipped its still-functioning computer as a god. (One of the Doctor’s companions, Leela, was a member of that tribe.) Men In Black II (yes, I paid money to see it) had a society of tiny aliens who had based their society around marketing slogans for a video rental store, discovered on a membership card they found. “Two For One on Wednesdays! Large Adult Section in the Back!” ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-something-completely-normal-is-misunderstood-and-feared-worshipped-etc/338376/13 "2006-01-04T15:55:02Z")
Another (very strange) episode of Star Trek had the inhabitants of a planet worship the US Constitution. In Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” stories, the foundation deliberately creates a religion based around its advanced technology for the benefit of its less technologically advanced neighbors. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Wrong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Mr.Wrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Wrong)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-something-completely-normal-is-misunderstood-and-feared-worshipped-etc/338376/14 "2006-01-04T16:07:58Z")
> [@Papermache Prince](#): > > Real world examples would be the various “cargo cults” (See the [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult)). And their fictional rendering, _Island of the Sequined Love Nun_, by Christopher Moore. A very funny book. ---
**Author:** ![aerodave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f08c70/32.png) [@aerodave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aerodave)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-something-completely-normal-is-misunderstood-and-feared-worshipped-etc/338376/15 "2006-01-04T16:10:43Z")
in _Brave New World_, they worship Henry Ford as a sort of deity. Not exactly the same as theother examples, but reminiscent to me. ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-something-completely-normal-is-misunderstood-and-feared-worshipped-etc/338376/16 "2006-01-04T16:12:39Z")
I can remember reading an illustrated novel about archeologists from the future investigating a house from our time (well, from the eighties, I suppose) and completely misinterpreting what they find. The interprete the television as an altar because everything in the room is pointed towards it, the lid of the toilet as a ceremonial collar and the toilet brush was also seen as religious equipment. Can’t for the live remember the title of the book. ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-something-completely-normal-is-misunderstood-and-feared-worshipped-etc/338376/17 "2006-01-04T16:15:53Z")
Check out [By the Waters of Babylon](http://www.tkinter.smig.net/Outings/RosemountGhosts/Babylon.htm) by Stephen Vincent Benét, who gives us a few clues about what we knew the Place of the Gods as before it was holy ruins. ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-something-completely-normal-is-misunderstood-and-feared-worshipped-etc/338376/18 "2006-01-04T16:23:31Z")
Also, and I’m sure someone else will have more detail, but IIRC in _Red Dwarf_ there’s an episode where The Cat finds out that his peoples’ religion is founded on Lister somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-something-completely-normal-is-misunderstood-and-feared-worshipped-etc/338376/19 "2006-01-04T16:26:40Z")
> [@PookahMacPhellimey](#): > > I can remember reading an illustrated novel about archeologists from the future investigating a house from our time (well, from the eighties, I suppose) and completely misinterpreting what they find. The interprete the television as an altar because everything in the room is pointed towards it, the lid of the toilet as a ceremonial collar and the toilet brush was also seen as religious equipment. Can’t for the live remember the title of the book. That would be [Motel of the Mysteries](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0395284252/qid=1136391911/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-5214269-1709561?n=507846&s=books&v=glance), by David Macaulay. Good example. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-something-completely-normal-is-misunderstood-and-feared-worshipped-etc/338376/20 "2006-01-04T16:57:43Z")
I forgot the title and author of the story, but I recall a short story where the main character is blasted back several thousand in time by a lightning strike (ok, it’s a lame plot device, but it was a good story). He was a U. S. soldier stationed in Norway. He finds a village that is being threatened by raiders from the mountains, becomes friends with them and when the raiders attack, he fights alongside them, using the .45 automatic he carries. Everyone thinks he is throwing lightning because they have no concept of a firearm. After the fight, he gets zotted back to the present time. He then realizes that he has become the basis of the Norse god Thor. His .45 has been transformed into Mjolnir, the hammer of lightning. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-where-something-completely-normal-is-misunderstood-and-feared-worshipped-etc/338376.md?page=2)