MUTATO Commentary by Jon Roig
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Planning a trip to Iraq during the holiday season? No, I didn't think so . but why not?
The reasons are abundantly clear if you watch CNN long enough Ÿ they hate Americans there. They ban our films, burn our books, and block our TV channels. The last large tour group of Americans to visit there took laser-guided smart bombs. Is this how Iraq really is? I have no idea, I've never been there. I've never met the people who live there ... but what reason would CNN have to deceive me?
Well, imagine that you've taken a very long trip across the universe. Several light years from home, in an unfamiliar galaxy, you come upon the Earth. It interests you. It's brimming with activity and life, but what are the inhabitants like?
"Assuming for a moment that they would be capable of viewing and understanding TV, I would guess, from their apparent behavior, that they would use this as a means to evaluate our society's notion of what aliens are and how they should be regarded," says UFO enthusiast Keith Blackwell, who runs a alien related site on the World Wide Web (http://www.keith.com/)
People fear the unknown, and in this case, the aliens are the unknown. However, that might not be apparent to a visiting non-human not familiar with our culture and psychology; that movies and TV shows are a kind of outlet for our fears, whether justified or not.
Network TV, which is broadcast and presumably receivable by observers in space, is brimming with anti-alien sentiments. Countless shows, ranging from science-fiction fare like "The X-Files" to reality shows like "Sightings," paint a negative image of alien encounters. Add to that the number of TV movies and films shown on TV that involve humans triumphing over an evil alien onslaught, and it might even appear to the visiting spaceman that Earthlings know exactly how to deal with visitors and have done it before Ÿ we kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out.
That isn't to say there aren't "good aliens" out there, but the aliens we can identify are distinctly human. Alf was just a guy in a furry suit. Sure, he ate cats and came from Melmac, but that's really the only thing that made him different than a talking dog with a twisted sense of humor. Although E.T. was a biped, he didn't look like an Earth creature. Still, he had human emotions we could identify with Ÿ he really CARED about Elliot. He was sensitive and playful. All he wanted to do was phone home, not to enslave the human race.
Compare that to something like this summer's "Species." The alien, a biped like E.T., didn't have anything remotely resembling human emotions. It pointlessly killed things and, in response, a team of experts was gathered together to hunt it. While not the most frightening movie in the world, it links into what I'm talking about.
Given all the possibilities in the universe, an alien isn't likely to resemble a human being in respect to its mode of thought, body form, or emotional states.
If it could comprehend what was being shown on television, perhaps it would have just cause to fear us. With that in mind, is it any wonder all aliens feel like doing is mutilating our cattle, making cryptic crop circles, and kidnapping the occasional person out in the wilderness?
Not one person contacted would venture to guess at the effects of our media on a visiting alien's opinion of Earthlings.
"There is no evidence that aliens have been receiving our transmissions," says UFO expert and researcher Don Ecker of the organization California UFO. "We're mainly concerned with validating the existence of UFO's and prying information from the government. This is not a big concern of mine."
Indeed, not only is it not a big concern of Ecker's, but neither is it a concern of any other UFO organization.
This is rather odd, I would think Ÿ considering we all have a vested interest in welcoming our alien brothers to the planet Earth. It seems that this point isn't being addressed at all, and to date, no experts on alien psychology have supported this theory.
Much research has been done to prove that children learn much of what they know about the world from the television. Politicians, preachers, and many other outspoken individuals have made a big deal of proving that violence on TV begets pro-violence attitudes. The beings we could possibly deal with are not children, although they come to Earth with as little knowledge as any Earth baby Ÿ if they can reach our planet from a destination far, far away they are undoubtedly creatures with advanced technology. And, if the movies have taught us anything, you don't mess with aliens armed with laser guns.
So, I ask you all, to pledge your allegiance in my quest to stop sending all the bad vibes to visiting aliens. Stopping all this negative press and putting an end to all the anti-alien propaganda is the only way to insure future, peaceful alien arrival on the planet Earth.