New Air Prophets Aren't Just Randomly Proposing Different Visions of New Air Society

In times of crisis, the nuer pastoralists in southern sudan will often elevate people who would be considered insane or schitzophrenic and follow them as prophets. A person who might otherwise have spent his life as something analogous to the village idiot, would suddenly be found to have remarkable powers of foresight and persuasion. The whole phenomenon of crazy prophets in newaire society seems to be a recent phenomenon, starting around the turn of the twentieth century.