“Shake a leg!”
“Not funny.”
I listened to a recent radio show on NPR that featured a space scientist and a religionist speculating on how discovery of intelligent, extraterrestrials might affect us earthlings. Would aliens pose a threat to human existence? What if aliens were silicon rather than carbon based, would salvation be irrelevant because they would be able to replace their worn out parts and live forever? And would bible literalists be nonplussed over whether humans or aliens were created in the image of God?
Having grown up in the 1950’s and early 1960’s, I am well acquainted with science fiction movies and books. Who cowered under his movie seat when Gort, the giant, metallic robot from “The Day The Earth Stood Still,” emerged from a flying saucer to encounter a military deployment on the grounds of the Washington Monument
We certainly know that aliens are a commonly used artistic conceit that permits us an honest view of our fears and aspirations and foibles. Who marveled at the view of society offered through Valentine Michael Smith, a human raised by Martians, in “Stranger In A Strange Land?” And my take on the entire discussion involving how the discovery of extraterrestrial, intelligent aliens might affect us was by thinking about how we treat people who seem different from us. That is, by thinking about how men and women view each other or how we view different racial groups; individuals who have different sexual preferences; persons with disabilities, people with differing political perspectives, or folks with different religious views. Do we treat each other as aliens from whom we need to be fearful? Do we use insensitive behaviors that emphasize our stereotypes? I recall the black cook at a summer camp telling me, “You can touch me, it won’t rub off.” We do not have to agree with each other. However, when we demonize each other, I think we set ourselves up to react to destroy rather than to accommodate.
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